Self‐Directed learning: A matched control trial

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Abstract
There is a conflict between the limited period of schooling for medical students and the unlimited expansion of knowledge in medicine. In response, the trend in medical education has been to move away from the conventional goal of information transfer and toward a goal of cultivation of medical students’ abilities and intelligence, including self‐directed learning. In 1983, students admitted to Sun Yatsen University of Medical Sciences were randomly divided into a pilot group that experienced self‐directed learning (SDL) and a conventional learning group. The SDL group (n = 102) received self‐learning guidelines and a 30% to 57% reduction in the number of lecture hours. The SDL students organized their own group discussions. They then took the same examinations as the control group. For all examinations that met reliability criteria, the total scores for the SDL group were higher than or equal to the total scores for the control group, indicating successful cultivation of the students’ self‐learning abilities. The readjustments that have subsequently been made in the school's curricula are also described.

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