A simple-writer summary of:

Kryklywy, J.H., Roach, V.A. & Todd, M.R. (2021) Assessing the efficacy of tablet-based simulations for learning surgery-like instrumentation. PLOS-ONE, 16(1): e0245330.

By the first Author’s mother

This paper questioned if computers were as good to learn from as books or real life. The training was to learn things used by nurses and doctors in surgery and know it, find it and hand it off quickly. In real life, it can be hard to find the chance to learn by doing real things and there can be problems if learning is not done right.

To study this, three groups of pretend, safe things, with made up names were created. Students were taught three ways to learn these things in an order. After 30 minutes of learning, a pretend situation in real life set of things was used to see how well they knew the things names, and how well they could pass them off. This was also done one week later.

Real life learning was the best way to learn, while book and computer learning were the same (but a bit worse) after 30 minutes. After one week, computer learning was as good as real life learning! Book learning was still a bit worse. Since real life learning is hard to set up and can have problems, doing computer learning can help by having people learn more often and in a safer way. Fewer time spent with real life learning would be needed to have the same skill.