The Effect of ECG Instructional Materials on Medical Students’ Reasoning Strategy

Abstract

Directionality of reasoning has traditionally been associated with level of expertise. In this study designed to examine the effect of instructional material upon reasoning strategy, two approaches to teaching electrocardiograph (ECG) interpretation to medical students were experimentally studied. Two ECG instructional texts were designed with the same instructional content bur differing in organization. The experimental text was organized around features of the ECG whereas the control text was organized around traditional diagnostic categories. Although there was no difference in diagnostic accuracy between the intervention groups, significant differences between the groups existed for the association of ECG feature identification with accurate diagnosis; students using the experimental text appeared to employ forward reasoning and students using the control text employed backward reasoning.