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Entering Medical Student Expectations From:
Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians, a joint publication of
the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute (HHMI) – 2009. |
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(Examples of each Learning Objective are provided in the text of the report.)
from the Defining Competency section:
Notwithstanding the focus of this initiative, the
committee believes that the specific guidance and recommendations presented for
undergraduate competencies are not limited to the student engaged in premedical
education, but are also valuable for the subsequent study of any career in the
health or life sciences.
Entering Medical Student
Expectations
Overarching Competency at
the Time of Entry into Medical School:
Demonstrate both knowledge of and ability to use basic principles of mathematics and statistics, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and biology needed for the application of the sciences to human health and disease; demonstrate observational and analytical skills and the ability to apply those skills and principles of biological situations.
Competency E1: Apply quantitative reasoning and appropriate
mathematics to describe or explain phenomena in the natural world.
Learning Objectives:
1. Demonstrate quantitative numeracy and facility with the language of mathematics;
2. Interpret data sets and communicate those interpretations using visual and other appropriate tools;
3. Make statistical inferences from data sets;
4. Extract relevant information from large data sets;
5. Make inferences about natural phenomena using mathematical models;
6. Apply algorithmic approaches and principles of logic (including the distinction between cause/effect and association) to problem solving;
7. Quantify and interpret changes in dynamical systems.
Competency E2: Demonstrate understanding of the process of
scientific inquiry, and explain how scientific knowledge is discovered and
validated.
Learning Objectives:
1. Develop observational and interpretive skills through hands-on laboratory or field experiences;
2. Demonstrate ability to measure with precision, accuracy, and safety;
3. Be able to operate basic laboratory instrumentation for scientific measurement;
4. Be able to articulate (in guided inquiry or in project-based research) scientific questions and hypotheses, design experiments, acquire data, perform data analysis, and present results;
5. Demonstrate the ability to search effectively, to evaluate critically, and to communicate and analyze the scientific literature.
Competency E3: Demonstrate knowledge of basic physical
principles and their applications to the understanding of living systems.
Learning Objectives:
1. Demonstrate understanding ob mechanics as
applied to human and diagnostic systems;
2. Demonstrate
knowledge of the principles of electricity and magnetism (e.g. charge, current
flow, resistance, capacitance, electrical potential, and magnetic fields);
3. Demonstrate
knowledge of wave generation and propagation to the production and transmission
of radiation;
4. Demonstrate
knowledge of the principles of thermodynamics and fluid motion;
5. Demonstrate
knowledge of quantum mechanics, such as atomic and molecular energy levels,
spin, and ionizing radiation;
6. Demonstrate
knowledge of principles of systems behavior, including input-output relationships
and positive and negative feedback
Competency E4: Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles of
chemistry and some of their applications to the understanding of living
systems.
Learning Objectives:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of atomic structure;
2. Demonstrate
knowledge of molecular structure;
3. Demonstrate
knowledge of molecular interactions;
4. Demonstrate
knowledge of thermodynamic criteria for spontaneity of physical processes and
chemical reactions and the relationship of thermodynamics to chemical equilibrium;
5. Demonstrate
knowledge of principles of chemical reactivity to explain chemical kinetics and
derive possible reaction mechanisms;
6. Demonstrate
knowledge of the chemistry of carbon-containing compounds relevant to their
behavior in an aqueous environment.
Competency E5: Demonstrate knowledge of how biomolecules
contribute to the structure and function of cells.
Learning Objectives:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of the structure,
biosynthesis, and degradation of biological macromolecules;
2. Demonstrate
knowledge of the principles of chemical thermodynamics and kinetics that drive
biological processes in the context of space (i.e. compartmentation) and
time: enzyme-catalyzed reactions and
metabolic pathways, regulation, integration, and the chemical logic of
sequential reaction steps;
3. Demonstrate
knowledge of the biochemical processes that carry out transfer of biological
information from DNA, and how these processes are regulated;
4. Demonstrate
knowledge of the principles of genetics and epigenetics to explain heritable
traits in a variety of organisms.
Competency E6: Apply understanding of principles of how
molecular and cell assemblies, organs, and organisms develop structure and
carry out function.
Learning Objectives:
1. Employ
knowledge of the general components of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, such
as molecular, microscopic, macroscopic, and three-dimensional structure, to
explain how different components contribute to cellular and organismal
function;
2. Demonstrate
knowledge of how cell-cell junctions and the extracellular matrix interact to
form tissues with specialized function;
3. Demonstrate
knowledge of the mechanisms governing cell division and development of embryos;
4. Demonstrate
knowledge of the principles of biomechanics and explain structural and
functional properties of tissues and organisms.
Competency E7: Explain
how organisms sense and control their internal environment and how they respond
to external stress.
Learning Objectives:
1. Explain maintenance of homeostasis in living
organisms by using principles of mass transport, heat transfer, energy balance,
and feedback and control systems;
2. Explain
physical and chemical mechanisms used for transduction and information
processing in the sensing and integration of internal and environmental
signals;
3. Explain
how living organisms use internal and external defense and avoidance mechanisms
to protect themselves from threats, spanning the spectrum from behavioral to
structural and immunologic responses.
Competency E8: Demonstrate an understanding of how the
organizing principle of evolution by natural selection explains the diversity
of life on earth.
Learning Objectives:
1.
Explain
how genomic variability and mutation contribute to the success of populations;
2.
Explain how evolutionary mechanisms contribute
to change in gene frequencies in populations and to reproductive isolation.