Studying Diagnostic Reasoning in Medical Education
BioWorld
BioWorld is a computer based learning environment
that was first designed to promote scientific reasoning in high school
students. It provides a realistic environment for students to learn about
diseases through solving specific patient cases (Lajoie, Lavigne, Guerrera,
& Munsie, 2001). Solving a patient case in BioWorld not only consist
of submitting the right diagnostic but it also requires to select and
organise evidence that support and justify decisions through the case
resolution process. Pilot work with medical students, residents and staff
physicians was conducted using BioWorld cases and conclusions recommended
the use of this learning environment for medical education (Faremo, 2004).
CaseBuilder
One key aspect of adapting BioWorld to a medical
audience is to revise and construct cases at an appropriate level. In
our attempts to create and develop valid cases in medical education, we
have experimented with different methodologies and scenarios to structure
case creation. The companion authoring tool, CaseBuider (Lajoie et al.,
2001) which was designed to allow both instructors and researchers to
modify cases easily also enable to explore instructional activities for
case creation. Case scenarios are built, selected and validated as part
of a participative design approach with medical student and staff.
Visit our website to learn more about our research:
- Research: current project, documentation, demo and details about BioWorld and Case Builder
- People: list of people involved in the project
- References: list of presentations, articles and other publication related to the projec
