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Perceptions of second year medical students to interactive tools, games, and audience response systems incorporated to teach pharmacology
Author(s) -
Gorman A. Laurel,
Berry Andrea
Publication year - 2012
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.26.1_supplement.719.3
Subject(s) - clicker , audience response , perception , psychology , critical thinking , interactive learning , student engagement , audience participation , medical education , multimedia , mathematics education , computer science , medicine , neuroscience , operating system
Second year medical students were surveyed to determine perceptions of the effectiveness of innovative, interactive methods employed to teach pharmacology in clinically integrated, systems‐based modules. METHODS Interactive techniques included clicker audience‐response questions, game‐based competitions, and interactive automated slides completed with audience participation. An anonymous survey was distributed to students assessing perceptions of the techniques in encouraging engagement, knowledge acquisition, and critical thinking. Observations of student participation were made comparing traditional sessions with more interactive sessions. RESULTS Students had very positive perceptions of interactive techniques, consistently agreeing or strongly agreeing that they promoted classroom engagement, encouraged critical thinking/group discussion, and increased interest in learning pharmacology. Observations included an increase in the number of student‐generated questions as well as a wider distribution of students participating in the interactive sessions. CONCLUSIONS Second year medical students perceived that incorporation of interactive exercises and clicker‐style games into pharmacology sessions were effective learning tools that promoted engagement, interest, and critical thinking about pharmacology concepts.