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Student Group Seminars‐ An Useful Tool for Active Learning of Physiology in Medical Schools
Author(s) -
Ghosh Sarmishtha
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.lb713
Subject(s) - likert scale , presentation (obstetrics) , context (archaeology) , class (philosophy) , computer science , medical education , active learning (machine learning) , construct (python library) , point (geometry) , psychology , multimedia , medicine , artificial intelligence , geometry , mathematics , paleontology , developmental psychology , biology , radiology , programming language
Medical students need to keep abreast of available medical information, organizing and processing them properly in these days of exponential increase in medical information and technology. A need was felt to develop a teaching – learning module which would not only introduce a different approach of active learning of basic sciences but also train the students in gathering, organizing, processing and presenting information. Five common clinical problems associated with the central nervous system, not taught in a didactic lecture class were chosen for seminars. Three week were allotted for search of relevant materials from books, journals and online sources and the students were encouraged to construct a presentation out of that and present a seminar using varied audiovisual aids in front of their peers group and faculty. A structured feedback from the students using a 5 point Likert scale showed 80% considered the method to be very useful in improving both written and oral communication skills. Library records showed 70% increase in usage of the Library for both printed versions and online searches. 60% reported that it motivated them towards self directed learning and improved overall confidence in them. 77% rated group seminars as an important teaching‐learning component, useful for understanding basic science in clinical context. It is hence concluded that student group seminars can be used as an additional tool for effective learning of physiological concepts, improving skills of information retrieval and management together with increased overall confidence to help them handle problem based learning sessions in later days of their clinical training. The work was conducted as part of FAIMER Fellowship by the author.