Perspectives on teaching biostatistics for undergraduate medical students using team-based learning

Health professions educators are constantly challenged to find out new strategies to motivate students and keep them interested in Statistics. Recently, some medical schools have adopted a methodology called team-based learning (TBL) which combines individual and small-groups learning in an interesting way. On one hand, TBL seems to be very attractive since it encourages students to develop new skills, formulate and answer questions and create opportunities of understanding the statistical concepts through real-world problems. On the other hand, TBL methodology requires a well-planned strategy and teacher/faculty preparation. Also, students have to be prepared. Implementation of TBL is not only a teacher ́s decision but a collaborative work. The purpose of this paper is to present some examples of activities based on TBL which can be explored and discuss critically advantages and disadvantages of the method.