The Effect of Teaching Cognitive Strategies on the Academic Achievement of Medical Students

Abstract

Introduction: Students' academic achievement is one of the important indicators in assessing university education. It seems that the use of cognitive strategies plays an important role in making desired changes in learning and academic achievements. Therefore, in this research, the effect of teaching cognitive strategies on the academic achievement of medical students was studied. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on two groups of 50 medical students of Iran University of Medical Sciences, using a two-group pretest-posttest test method. In the experimental group, in addition to presenting the content of the course, cognitive strategies were presented and practiced for 20 minutes in 6 sessions. The data collection tool was an educational test (pre-test, post-test and final end-of-period test). The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (paired and independent t-test) and analyzed using SPSS20. Results: All students participated in the study. There was no significant difference between the scores of students in the two groups before the training of cognitive strategies (P=0.28). However, there was a significant difference between the scores of the two groups after the intervention and the training (P = 0.01).The average end-of-period test scores increased in both groups compared to the pre-test but this increase was higher in the experimental group than in the control group. Conclusion: Teaching cognitive strategies in university education is effective and it will promote the learning skills of learners and consequently their academic achievement. Therefore, considering it is recommended in educational planning.