Evaluation of the effectiveness of student-centered teaching model in medical microbiology education

Abstract

Background: The student-centered teaching model involves reforms in training mode, teaching methods, assessment systems, class roles and learning behaviors, aiming to improve the teaching quality effectively, which has become an inevitable trend for maximizing teaching efficiency. Medical microbiology is the study of the pathogenic microorganisms related to human infectious diseases, playing a crucial role in the training of medical professionals. However, there is a lack of data demonstrating the effectiveness of this teaching modelin the medical microbiology education of undergraduate medical students. This study aims to evaluate it. Methods: This study focused on undergraduate clinical medicine students at Harbin Medical University from grade 2018 to 2021. The teaching team began implementing a student-centered teaching model and incorporating online content into the class from grade 2019. The effectiveness of the teaching model was evaluated by comparing the usual scores and final exam scores of different grades under different teaching models used Pearson correlation. An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted after the course in grade 2020 and 2021 to assess students' opinions on the student-centered teaching model. Results: The final exam scores of students from grade 2019, 2020, and 2021 using the new teaching model (85.29±0.51, 76.84±0.60, 80.88±0.55) were significantly higher than those of grade 2018 under traditional teaching model (75.83±0.55). There was a significant correlation between usual scores and final exam scores(grade 2019 r =0.3936, grade 2020 r =0.2819, grade 2021 r =0.1953, P < 0.05). Results from the questionnaire showed that 61.62% students of grade 2020 (183/297) and 65.90% students of grade 2021 (201/305) believed that the new teaching model helped integrate knowledge and understand the key contents, 60.27% (179/297) and 67.87% (207/305) of the studentsfelt it increased their desire to learn clinical professional courses, 65.66% (195/297) and 71.80% (219/305) of the studentsthought it enhanced problem analysis and solving abilities, 58.59% (174/297) and 62.30% (190/305) of studentsbelieved it stimulated their interest in studying medical microbiology. Conclusions: The student-centered teaching model significantly improved student learning efficiency in medical microbiology courses, enhanced the development of higher-order skills, and promoted students' awareness of active learning through various assessments.