Framework and Needs Assessment for Conceptual Changes in an Integrated Preclinical Medical Curriculum

Research spanning many decades has led to the identification, description, and analysis of misconceptions in biology and related disciplines, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, genetics, cell biology, physiology, and evolution. So-called “concept inventories” have been developed to identify common learner-held misconceptions of fundamental concepts in these disciplines. Testing with these inventories pre- and post-teaching is used, for example, to evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical methods meant to address misconceptions by conceptual change at levels typically ranging from middle school to the undergraduate years. However, less studied are whether and which biomedical misconceptions are still held by learners who reach the undergraduate medical level and whether such misconceptions impede passing high-stakes exams that serve as gatekeepers between the preclinical and clinical years of medical education. Such persistent misconceptions might also impact clinical decision making and diagnosis, affecting patient outcomes. Several such studies have focused on physiology; less is known regarding the prevalence of cell biology misconceptions. Based anecdotally on grading of short essay responses on preclinical assessments to questions involving cell biology at our institution, I hypothesize that misconceptions persist into the preclinical years in some students. Preliminary analysis of multiple-choice question (MCQ) and similar short essay question response data recapitulates the common finding that the precise nature of misconceptions makes them difficult to detect unambiguously from MCQ responses alone. Individual concept inventory items used in exams when they match curricular content learning objectives are not always validated for such piecemeal use, making the detection of relevant misconceptions difficult in the context of an ongoing curriculum. Given the amount of content that medical learners are required to master in the relatively short time span of the preclinical years, it is difficult to address directly, such as with additional specific learning activities, misconceptions that were not corrected in the premedical undergraduate years. Thus, here, the objective was to review and assimilate literature to develop a framework and tools for assessing needs for conceptual changes within our integrated preclinical medical curriculum, specifically within cell biology domains in biomedical science. Supported by the UIWSOM Office of Research and Innovation This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.