Education Commons^™

Medical Biochemistry Without Rote Memorization: Multi-Institution Implementation And Student Perceptions Of A Nationally Standardized Metabolic Map For Learning And Assessment, Douglas B. Spicer, Kathryn H. Thompson, Michelle S. Tong, Tina M. Cowan, Tracy B. Fulton, Janet E. Lindsley

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Despite the growing number of patients worldwide with metabolism-related chronic diseases, medical biochemistry education is commonly perceived as focusing on recall of facts irrelevant for patient care. The authors suggest that this focus on rote memorization of pathways creates excessive cognitive load that may interfere with learners’ development of an integrated understanding of metabolic regulation and dysregulation. This cognitive load can be minimized by providing appropriate references during learning and assessment. Biochemistry educators collaborated to develop a medically relevant Pathways of Human Metabolism map (MetMap) that is now being used at many medical schools as a nationally standardized resource during …