What if everything we think we know about how to learn is wrong? Dr. Justin Kreuter is here to show all of us how we can get information into and out of our brains effectively!
Dr. Justin Kreuter
The Bad News
Sadly, as Dr. Kreuter outlines for us in this timely and fast-paced interview, approaches like that do not work very well! The research is clear: The “old” ways are simply not effective in leading to long-term retention. More importantly, listening to a lecture is a bad way to “master” the material so you can actually use it in real life (and isn’t that what learning is all about?).
The Good News
While learning science is clear on what does not work, it’s also giving us some answers on what DOES work! We are starting to better understand what our brains need in order to process and retrieve information in a more clear and effective manner. Education of all sorts, including medical education, is changing quickly! Justin is passionate about these changes, and he is here to help you and I become better learners!
Dr. Justin Kreuter
The Bad News
Sadly, as Dr. Kreuter outlines for us in this timely and fast-paced interview, approaches like that do not work very well! The research is clear: The “old” ways are simply not effective in leading to long-term retention. More importantly, listening to a lecture is a bad way to “master” the material so you can actually use it in real life (and isn’t that what learning is all about?).
The Good News
While learning science is clear on what does not work, it’s also giving us some answers on what DOES work! We are starting to better understand what our brains need in order to process and retrieve information in a more clear and effective manner. Education of all sorts, including medical education, is changing quickly! Justin is passionate about these changes, and he is here to help you and I become better learners!
About My Guest:
Justin Kreuter, MD (@KreuterMD) completed his Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency at Dartmouth, and went on to do a Transfusion Medicine fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (where he is now on-staff). Dr. Kreuter’s clinical responsibilities include the blood donor program and HLA laboratory. His research is focused on medical education and improving management of patients who are refractory to platelet transfusion. He is a leader in improving education in transfusion medicine by innovative methods, including helping to develop creative visual projects such as the crazy-fun “Transfusion Toons” cartoon series by Theresa Malin, MLS(ASCP)CM (@TMalinMLS). Seriously, stop what you are doing and go look at Transfusion Toons right now!
The image below, which summarizes this episode, was created by Theresa Malin MLT(ASCP)CM (@TMalinMLS). Click the image for a larger, downloadable version.
Take the quiz and see what you learned!
Resources Recommended by Dr. Kreuter:
- Great NEJM article released just after this podcast: Schwartzstein RM and Roberts DH. Saying Goodbye to Lectures in Medical School — Paradigm Shift or Passing Fad? N Engl J Med 2017; 377:605-607
- Free e-book: Education Theory Made Practical, Volume 1
- Video explaining flipped classrooms: Blended Learning and Flipped Classroom
- Helpful website: The Learning Scientists
- Article on “reflective practice”: Maestre JM et al. The making of expert clinicians: Reflective practice. Rev Clin Esp. 2014;214:216-220
- Article on learning theory: Schumacher DJ et al. Developing the Master Learner: Applying Learning Theory to the Learner, the Teacher, and the Learning Environment. Acad Med. 2013;88:1635–1645
- Doctors and Learning Styles: Armstrong E et al. How Can Physicians’ Learning Styles Drive Educational Planning? Acad Med. 2005;80:680-684
- Applying learning science to health professions education: Gooding HC et al. Twelve tips for applying the science of learning to health professions education. Medical Teacher 2017;39:26-31
- Book: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown et al (NOTE: Not an affiliate link; I get no financial benefit if you buy)
- Book: Self-directed Learning by Malcolm Knowles (NOTE: Not an affiliate link; I get no financial benefit if you buy)
Recently i have enrolled in an online programm(of 8 weeks duration) : Educational Design for Learning and i was reading David Kolb’s theory of Experiential learning with its four interrelated stages of Abstract Conceptualisation, Active experimentation, concrete experience and Reflective observation.In the same programm also learnt about Malcolm Knowles six characteristics of adult learners like Need to know, self-concept, Experience, Readiness to learn, Orientation to learn and Motivation to learn. Dr. Kreuter’s podcast on ” How to learn” was a much needed add on and the references quoted (the ones that were freely downloadable were quite useful). Unfortunately few of the articles are not free for reading and downloading but i believe they would also be quite informative. Thanks a lot Dr. Joe Chaffin Sir for bringing out such a wonderful and out of the box topic in your chain of podcasts on Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine
Dr. Kahar, I understand how this episode could appear “out of the box” at first glance. This podcast is all about learning, and it’s my mission to help people learn the core, or “essential” topics in blood banking and transfusion medicine as well as I can for as long as I can! I think, as you do, that understanding how our brains process information for long-term retention is really crucial, and it has informed some of what I do with the podcast (including adding interactive quizzes and attempting to make transcripts available). Thanks for your input. I apologize for some of the articles requiring institutional registration; I feel pretty strongly that I should not post them for free when they are not being made publicly available that way by the journal.
-Joe