Improving Knowledge Integration in Medical Education through Creative Tasks: Addressing the Challenges Exacerbated by the War in Ukraine

Abstract

Knowledge integration is a common challenge in medical education, but its importance is even more pronounced in times of crisis and prolonged disruption of the educational process. In this article, we explore how the use of creative and generative teaching and learning activities, including presentations, drawing association maps, role-playing, and video production, influences students’ knowledge integration in a medical degree programme in Ukraine that has been affected by the ongoing war in the country. By analyzing students’ responses to reflection prompts and the teacher’s notes, we found that using these activities made the students’ learning process more visible to other students and the teacher, relieved some of the pressure on the students, and encouraged students to form learning communities. At the same time, the unfamiliar nature of these activities can reveal new sensitivities in students. The application of these activities also requires more preparation time and concentration on the part of the teacher. Based on our findings, we propose that creative and generative activities are particularly flexible in helping to support knowledge integration in both academically well-performing and weaker performing students. We also suggest that their contribution to maintaining meaningful social relationships between students is particularly important in times of disruption caused by external factors. KEYWORDS : knowledge integration, medical education, disruption, creative activities, creative pedagogies