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Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception

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Martin‐Piedra, Miguel A., Saavedra‐Casado, Salvador, Santisteban‐Espejo, Antonio, Campos, Fernando, Chato‐Astrain, Jesus, Garcia‐Garcia, Oscar Dario, Sanchez‐Porras, David, Luna del Castillo, Juan de Dios, Rodriguez, Ismael Angel, Campos, Antonio·2023·Anatomical Sciences Education
DOI 10.1002/ase.2171PMC PMC10078720
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Abstract

Students' metacognitive skills and perceptions are considered important variables for high‐quality learning. In this study, students' perceptions were used to identify histological threshold concepts (integrative, irreversible, transformative, and troublesome) in three health sciences curricula. A specific questionnaire was developed and validated to characterize students' perceptions of histological threshold concepts. A sample of 410 undergraduate students enrolled in the dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy degree programs participated in the study. Concepts assessed in the study were clustered to ten categories (factors) by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concepts linked to tissue organization and tissue functional states received the highest scores from students in all degree programs, suggesting that the process of learning histology requires the integration of both static concepts related to the constituent elements of tissues and dynamic concepts such as stem cells as a tissue renewal substrate, or the euplasic, proplasic and retroplasic states of tissues. The complexity of integrating static and dynamic concepts may pose a challenging barrier to the comprehension of histology. In addition, several differences were detected among the students in different degree programs. Dentistry students more often perceived morphostructural concepts as threshold concepts, whereas medical students highlighted concepts related to two‐dimensional microscopic identification. Lastly, pharmacy students identified concepts related to tissue general activity as critical for the comprehension and learning of histology. The identification of threshold concepts through students' perceptions is potentially useful to improve the teaching and learning process in health sciences curricula.

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FIGURE 1 Overall scoring of threshold concepts by 64 dentistry students, 244 medicine students, and 102 pharmacy students (n = 410). The questionnaire was validated with exploratory factor analysis, which grouped 37 threshold concepts into ten different factors. Means (±SD) values for ten factors were obtained from the Likert scale scores ranging from 1 (total disagreement) to 5 (total agreement). HBO, hierarchical body organization; HD, histogenesis and development; HIO, histological information arising from two‐dimensional observation; MBC, morphostructural basic concepts; MEA, microscopic examination analysis; MM, microscopic magnification; OHO, organ histofunctional organization; TE, tissue engineering; TFS, tissue functional states; TO, tissue organization. The most relevant concepts for the learning of histology were those related to tissue organization, tissue functional states, and histological information arising from two‐dimensional observation. Tissue organization concepts received the highest scores from students in all degree programs
FIGURE 1 Overall scoring of threshold concepts by 64 dentistry students, 244 medicine students, and 102 pharmacy students (n = 410). The questionnaire was validated with exploratory factor analysis, which grouped 37 threshold concepts into ten different factors. Means (±SD) values for ten factors were obtained from the Likert scale scores ranging from 1 (total disagreement) to 5 (total agreement). HBO, hierarchical body organization; HD, histogenesis and development; HIO, histological information arising from two‐dimensional observation; MBC, morphostructural basic concepts; MEA, microscopic examination analysis; MM, microscopic magnification; OHO, organ histofunctional organization; TE, tissue engineering; TFS, tissue functional states; TO, tissue organization. The most relevant concepts for the learning of histology were those related to tissue organization, tissue functional states, and histological information arising from two‐dimensional observation. Tissue organization concepts received the highest scores from students in all degree programsCC BY · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Martin‐Piedra, M. A., Saavedra‐Casado, S., Santisteban‐Espejo, A., Campos, F., Chato‐Astrain, J., Garcia‐Garcia, O. D., Sanchez‐Porras, D., Luna del Castillo, J. D. D., Rodriguez, I. A., & Campos, A.
Affiliations
  • Tissue Engineering Group Department of Histology Faculty of Medicine University of Granada Granada Spain
  • Universidad de Granada (ES)
  • Universidad de Cádiz (ES)
  • Department of Biostatistics Faculty of Medicine University of Granada Granada Spain
  • Department of Histology B Faculty of Dentistry National University of Cordoba Cordoba Argentina
ORCID
Venue
Anatomical Sciences Education
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2022-02-08
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
171-182
ISSN
  • 1935-9772 (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-9780
DOI
10.1002/ase.2171
PMC
PMC10078720
OpenAlex
W4207048479
Cited by
8
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2
FWCI
1.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Anatomical Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RISalud Institutional Health Repository of Andalucía (submittedVersion)
  • RODIN (Universidad de Cádiz) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Institutional Repository of the University of Granada (University of Granada) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Universidad de Granada (19‐30, 19‐31)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Innovations in Medical Education
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Anatomy and Medical Technology
  • Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
Keywords
threshold concepts, histology education, student perceptions, dental students, medical students, pharmacy students, tissue organization, stem cells, tissue renewal, microscopic identification, metacognition
MeSH terms
Anatomy, Curriculum, Humans, Learning, Perception, Students, Medical

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1002/ase.2171
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Martin‐Piedra, M. A., Saavedra‐Casado, S., Santisteban‐Espejo, A., Campos, F., Chato‐Astrain, J., Garcia‐Garcia, O. D., Sanchez‐Porras, D., Luna del Castillo, J. D. D., Rodriguez, I. A., & Campos, A. (2023). Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception. Anatomical Sciences Education. https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.2171