Reexamining Relevance: A Discourse Analysis of Basic Science in Medical Education

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session One
  In Invited Roundtable: Understanding Stories of Science Education and Field Persistence (Table 16)

Abstract

Despite calls to distribute basic science teaching throughout medical school and address the large volume of material in the preclerkship curriculum, structures of medical education remain largely unchanged. This study aims to conduct a critical discourse analysis using Fairclough’s approach to examine discourses of basic science amount, placement, and the role of educators in the medical education literature. We have assembled a data set of papers including commentaries and position pieces from a set of seven widely cited medical education and specialty journals published 1/1/13 through 12/31/24. After screening 247 abstracts we have 171 papers for inclusion in our corpus. At the meeting we will present a complete set of preliminary findings along with implications for medical education.

Authors

• Tracy Boswell Fulton, University of California - San Francisco

• Anika Dhingra, University of California San Francisco

• Anna MacLeod, Dalhousie University

• Marieke Van der Schaaf, University Medical Centre Utrecht

• Bridget Colleen O'Brien, University of California - San Francisco