Avaliação do teste do progresso de uma faculdade de medicina pelos pressuposto da taxonomia solo

Abstract

Introduction: The preparation of future graduates of medical schools for a responsible and qualified healthcare practice is a great challenge. The goal is to qualify them to solve complex problems that demand higher order cognitive skills. Therefore, the evaluation of the acquisition of such competencies becomes fundamental. One of the methods of evaluation that has been widely used in medical schools is the Progress Test (PT), which has as one of its purposes the verification of the longitudinal cognitive performance of students during the course. Cognitive theories have brought advances in educational research concerning the adequacy of evaluation methods to the curriculum, as well as facilitating and guiding the principle of progressivity in the teaching-learning process. In this study, the Structure of Observing Learning Outcome (SOLO) Taxonomy was used to evaluate and categorize the PT items applied in the first semester of 2022 in the medical course at the University José do Rosário Vellano - Belo Horizonte Campus (TPU2022-1). The SOLO Taxonomy (ST) allows for the cognitive analysis that is required to perform certain tasks, enabling a comprehensive observation of the student’s understanding, and is composed of five progressive levels of learning complexity: prestructural, unistructural, multistructural, relational and extended abstract. These cognitive complexity levels are subdivided into two categories, superficial and deep. Superficial learning (SL) is based on the retention of factual details, through memorization, and deep learning (DL) is related to the organization and structuring of knowledge. The Classical Test Theory (CTT) was also used in our study and it was calculated for each multiple-choice index (MCI) of TPU2022-1 the difficulty index (DFI) and discrimination index (DI) and correlated them with the SOLO rating. Objective: to evaluate the quality of the TPU2022-1, analyzing its items by the assumptions of ST and correlating them with the CTT. Materials and Methods: descriptive, exploratory study with a quantitative and qualitative approach. In accordance with the principles of ST, the analysis and characterization of the items of the TPU2022- 1 test and the correlation with the DFI and DI were performed. Conclusion: a balance was verified between SL and DL in the total items and a direct relation between DL and MCI levels composed of clinical cases that required problem-solving skills, cognition, and knowledge integration, fostering clinical reasoning. There was no statistically significant difference between the SOLO categories concerning the MCI and the DI mean scores.