Centre for Health Professions Education

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Browsing Centre for Health Professions Education by Subject "Ability -- Testing"

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    Development of an aptitude test that measures language and visual-spatial abilities to identify potential academic vulnerability of students in anatomy
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Humphries, Petro; Louw, Alwyn Jacobus Nicolaas; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Centre for Health professions education
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Students first entering the university, struggle not only with the culture, but more importantly with studying in a language that is not their first / home language. Students at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) come from areas where they had little or no prior exposure to the ancient European languages, from which all medical terms are derived. It has been my experience that the students do not only have to understand the new Anatomy language, but they also require the ability to transfer what they learn in two dimensions from their prescribed textbooks, to what they see in the dissection hall. It is my belief that students in the Anatomy Department at SMU, struggle with both the English language and with visualising and orientation of anatomical structures in space. This could be a serious stumbling block when attempting to grasp Anatomy as a subject. It is therefore important to ascertain to which extent these two factors play a role in academic success, and whether it could lead to being academically vulnerable in Anatomy. The aim of this study was three-fold. Firstly, to determine whether an internally developed aptitude test can be utilised to determine the language- and visual-spatial abilities of Anatomy students and thus predict academic vulnerability. The second aim was to determine the validity and internal consistency of the aptitude test. Lastly, the study aimed to determine whether there was any correlation between the results of the aptitude test and the first test in Anatomy. The aptitude test consisted of a section that tested language abilities (paragraph construction; sentence construction; comprehension; spelling, antonyms, synonyms and homophones; word relationships) and a section that tested visual-spatial skill (spatial ability; anatomical mental rotation; cause and effect). The results indicate that the aptitude test had the ability to distinguish which language- and visual-spatial abilities the students had difficulty in performing. Results indicated that students had trouble in writing a paragraph, as well as with the comprehension section of the test. Students did not seem to have difficulty in spelling of medically related words. Overall, the students performed better in the visual-spatial section of the test, than in the language section of the test. About thirty percent of students had difficulty in mentally rotating anatomical structures and in predicting the outcomes of nerve lesions and muscle attachments. The aptitude test had good content and predictive validity. The test also had a degree of internal consistency. No positive correlation could be made between the aptitude test and the first Anatomy test. In conclusion, answering essay type questions might be difficult for students. They might also struggle with drawing inferences from theory text and from pictures. Students are not supposed to have trouble in transferring knowledge between theory and spot test. However, they struggle with this and more research is needed into this phenomenon. The discrimination and difficulty indices and internal consistency indicated that the test requires some adaptation before its use in future, to accurately predict academic vulnerability.