Introduction of active learning method in learning physiology by MBBS students

An impact on medical student knowledge outcomes after replacing peer lectures with small group discussions

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Active learning has been proven as an effective teaching method that increases students' academic performance, satisfaction, and promotes life-long learning. A previous study showed that a peer lecture was time-consuming for both faculty members and students without any increase in knowledge outcome achievement of students when comparing to faculty lectures. Therefore, we replaced all peer teachings, taught in 2015, with faculty lectures and small group discussions in an organ-system part which focused mainly on applications of medical microbiology in 2016. The organ-system part was further divided into 3 sections according to type of organ systems. The knowledge outcome achievement was compared using MCQ scores. Peer lectures were mainly used as a teaching method only in 2015 (91.5%, 43 hours from a total of 47 hours) while none of them was used in 2016. On the other hand, SDG were mainly used as a teaching method only in 2016 (73.9%, 51 hours from a total of 69 hours). Students of 2016 had significantly higher average MCQ scores than those of 2015 only in the section 3 (80.8% as compared with 60.5%; p value < 0.001). There was no significant difference in section 1, section 2, and overall MCQ scores. Apart from routine teaching preparation, there was no out-of-class preparation time for faculty lectures and SGD while peer teaching required at least 0.5-2 hours of extra out-of-class preparation time from at least 1 faculty member and 10-12 students per 1 hour of teaching. In conclusion, SGD provided equal or more knowledge outcome achievement of the student with less time-consuming than peer lecture. Therefore, at least in our teaching environment, SGD was proved to be a better option than a peer lecture for teaching applications of medical microbiology.

Medical student perceptions about active methodologies in the study of physiology in medical schools in Salvador, Brazil

In the field of medical education, it is possible to consider that the acquisition of professional competences can gain new contours when considering the use of active methodologies. It is important to analyze the perception of the students about the use of them in medical courses, as well as to reflect on their challenges and potentials. In the present study, a semistructured questionnaire of student perception was applied immediately after the execution of different types of active methodologies in the discipline of physiology in two medical courses. The results suggest a highly positive evaluation of the use of active methodologies by the student body of the two institutions. The students evaluated positively the application of the method (94.6%) and the perception about the learning (84.1%). On the other hand, when questioned about the substitution of the traditional expository method by the active methodologies, there was a tendency to the centrality of the answers, with 84.0% of the responses concentrated at positions 2, 3, and 4 on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum) on the Likert scale. There were no statistically significant differences when comparing variables of age, sex, and previous graduation. Although there was no consensus regarding the full replacement of traditional for active methodologies, one can conclude that the students' perception about the introduction of said methodologies in the teaching of physiology in medical courses is positive, regardless of the subgroups evaluated. These results encourage the insertion of these and other methodologies into medical courses.