Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: To function in today’s society, students need to become more competent in working directly with knowledge. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge building perceptions of medical students. Methods: Data were gathered from 694 students. The Student Perceptions of Classroom Knowledge-Building scale was used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate factor structures. Kruskal-Wallis analysis and the t-test were used to compare academic years, gender and curricular language. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model-data fit. However, since the lack of regulation and teacher directedness subscales correlated negatively with other subscales, these two subscales were extracted from the analysis of data. The reliability coefficient of ‘lack of regulation’ subscale was also low. Cronbach alpha coefficients were varying between 0.77 and 0.87 for analyzed subscales. There was a significant difference in favor of first year students and the Turkish stream. And scores on knowledge building declined through the years. Conclusions: Results showing that the scores on knowledge building declined through the years might be a result of the difficulty of the medical curriculum and preferred examination type of medical school. The findings about learning in a second language which was negatively related to collaborating, knowledge building and self-regulation of students is remarkable for organization of instruction. Further studies are needed to explore this finding

Authors and Affiliations