AFC cheat sheet

Bloom's taxonomy orders cognitive objectives from remembering and understanding through applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

Andragogy (Knowles) assumes adult learners are self-directed, experience-rich, problem-centered, and internally motivated.

Gagné's nine events of instruction: gain attention, state objectives, recall prior knowledge, present content, guide learning, elicit performance, give feedback, assess, enhance retention.

Formative assessment occurs during learning to adjust instruction; summative assessment occurs after learning to judge achievement.

Kirkpatrick's four evaluation levels are reaction, learning, behavior, and results, in that ascending order.

Constructivism holds that learners build knowledge by integrating new information with prior schemas rather than receiving it passively.

Maslow's hierarchy orders needs as physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization before higher growth.

A learning objective is well-formed when it names an observable behavior, a condition, and a criterion of acceptable performance.

Item difficulty index p equals the proportion of examinees answering correctly; values near 0.5 maximize discrimination.

Item discrimination is often the difference in correct rate between the top 27% and bottom 27% of scorers.

A distractor that attracts high scorers more than low scorers signals a flawed or miskeyed item.

Criterion-referenced tests compare performance to a standard; norm-referenced tests compare performance to other examinees.

Test reliability is consistency of scores; the standard error of measurement shrinks as reliability rises.

Validity is the degree to which scores support the intended interpretation; reliability is necessary but not sufficient for it.

Cronbach's alpha estimates internal consistency; a value of 0.70 or higher is commonly cited as acceptable for high-stakes use.

Equating adjusts scores across test forms so that a given scaled score represents equivalent ability regardless of form difficulty.

Kolb's experiential learning cycle: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation.

Reflective practice (Schön) distinguishes reflection-in-action during the task from reflection-on-action after it.

Deliberate practice requires a defined task, immediate feedback, repetition, and progressive difficulty beyond current skill.

A preceptor should match supervision intensity to learner competence, fading support as independence grows.

Competency is judged by observed performance against a standard, not by time served or self-report.

Debriefing after an experience converts raw events into transferable lessons; it should follow the experience closely.

Situated learning (Lave and Wenger) places skill acquisition in authentic communities of practice with legitimate peripheral participation.

Feedback is most effective when it is specific, timely, behavior-focused, and paired with an actionable next step.

Informed consent requires disclosure of risks and benefits, comprehension, voluntariness, and capacity to decide.

Confidentiality may be breached only under defined exceptions such as imminent harm, legal mandate, or valid consent.

A conflict of interest exists when a secondary interest could improperly influence judgment about a primary obligation.

The four principles of biomedical ethics are autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice.

Justice in ethics concerns fair distribution of benefits and burdens, not merely equal treatment.

Dual relationships are problematic when the secondary role impairs objectivity or exploits a power differential.

Research ethics codes require independent review, minimization of harm, and honest reporting of results.

Whistleblowing is ethically defensible when the wrongdoing is serious, internal channels have failed, and harm is imminent.