Assessment of educational outcomes of small group discussion versus traditional lecture format among undergraduate medical students

Abstract

Background: In present scenario, medical students are over burdened with high academic load making learning more complicated than simple. In the recent past a lot of importance has been given for active learning by implementing various approaches like tutorials, seminars, small group discussionsetc. Small group discussion enhances student-faculty interaction, improves communication skills and provides a platform to exchange of ideas, which will result in deeper learning and better academic achievements by students. Present study was conducted to find out educational outcomes of SDG. The objectives of study were to assess and compare the educational outcomes of student’s performance by 2 methods of teaching- Didactic lectures versus SGD and to assess student’s perception towards small group discussions in Community Medicine.Methods: Total 140 students of 7th semester participated in educational experimental quasi study. These participants were divided in to two groups on bases of systematic random sampling. Group A (Roll.no. 1 to 70) and Group B (Roll.no. 71 to 140). For conducting effective SDG, students were divided in 7 subgroups (10 students in each group). Demography (for group A) and family planning (for group B after cross over) topics were selected for SGD. Feedback from students were also recorded.Results: The post test scores of SGD, group A (15.6±3.55) were higher in comparison with that of the lecture session of group B (8.81 ± 2.8). After the crossover, the students exposed to SGD, group B (13.85±3.81) scored more than the students exposed to the lecture group, group A (9.08±2.94).perception of feedback on SGD shows that 80% of the students strongly opine that SGD has improved their performance.Conclusions: Result has shown that SGDs had a positive impact on performance of the students, the mean values in post-tests of both groups were statistically significant. Around 80% of student strongly agreed that SGD is comprehensive tool for in-depth learning by teacher-student interaction and 79% felt that SDG is better than didactic lecture. Significant changes in student’s performance and retention capacity were observed.

Comparison of the effectiveness of lectures based on problems and traditional lectures in physiology teaching in Sudan

“…Some studies showed that involvement of students in a large room or a lecture hall through voluntary participation in additional active learning exercises with aid of software [13] and use of game-like format of the review session and its custom-designed software, that combines interactivity, team learning and peer-to-peer instruction [14], resulted in an improvement in understanding and application of physiological concepts and enriched students’ learning experiences. Many Studies showed that students prefer learning approaches in which the students have more active role than the TL like case based learning [15], team based learning [16], small group discussion [17] and flipped classroom.…”

Diskusi Dengan Leaflet Versus Ceramah Dengan Lembar Balik Dalam Meningkatkan Pengetahuan, Sikap Dan Keyakinan Wus Mengenai Gaki Di Perdesaan Endemik Gaki

“…29 Begitu pula dengan penelitian Joshi et al yang mendapati 15 hari setelah intervensi kapasitas retensi peserta pada diskusi kelompok lebih tinggi daripada ceramah. 30 Metode ceramah memberikan tingkat retensi pengetahuan terendah dari metode belajar lainnya dan berkontribusi paling rendah terhadap fungsi kognitif. 31 Namun, ceramah dapat memberi pengaruh baik terhadap retensi peserta, diantaranya jika dilakukan dengan cara sebagai berikut: memberdayakan peserta dan membuat mereka tetap fokus, melibatkan mereka, menggerakkan peserta dan membuat mereka bersedia mempelajari lebih lanjut tentang topik yang dibahas, memberikan wawasan baru dan merangsang pemikiran serta analisis, membuat orang berpikir dan memotivasi mereka untuk mengembangkan keterampilan baru.…”

Study of comparative analysis Self-directed Learning and Problem Oriented Learning Sessions in Cardio- Respiratory Physiology.

“…In this form of teaching and learning the facilitator is acting as a moderator and supervisor. [16][17][18][19][20] the approach for solving these case scenarios are theoretical and are generated by the learner. The individual groups investigate the probable and possible outcomes or solutions of the problems which will be shared in the next or other group session.…”

“…[21,23] The current curriculum, which expects at least one third of alignment and integration; both horizontal and vertical widely promotes use of self-directed learning which will help the learner to understand the subject or topic in intricate manner, improving knowledge retention, enhancing their critical thinking skills which is the need of current age and time. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] the present research was undertaken to analyse the bene ts of active learning in teaching physiology.…”