The Efficacy of Interdisciplinary Near-Peer Teaching Within Neuroanatomical Education—Preliminary Observations

Abstract

Near-Peer Teaching (NPT) is increasingly becoming an integral part of the medical curriculum. When considered alongside the increasing popularity of interdisciplinary education, it seems appropriate to explore NPT within an interdisciplinary context. In these observations, 3rd-year medical students taught 2nd-year psychology students neuroanatomy. The session was evaluated using three objective and subjective assays. A knowledge assessment test showed significant improvement after teaching, and there were significant improvements on self-perceived knowledge/attitudes towards neuroanatomy, as well as positive feedback on the use of NPT. These observations evidence the successful use of Interdisciplinary Near-Peer Teaching (INPT) within a neuroanatomical curriculum.

Teaching doctors how to teach

“…The Southampton NPT programme adopts a pedagogy rst approach and has subsequently published several studies indicating e ective knowledge gain following NPT sessions equal to that of faculty-led teaching sessions. (8,17,25) These studies have also demonstrated successful learning in an interdisciplinary context and show that students consistently prefer NPT led sessions to faculty teaching and perceive the sessions as more engaging, interesting and exciting. (8,17,25) Other examples of successful NPT programmes include using third and fourth-year medical students to teach musculoskeletal ultrasound, (14) and fourth-year students to facilitate diversity-focused case-based discussions.…”

“…(8,17,25) These studies have also demonstrated successful learning in an interdisciplinary context and show that students consistently prefer NPT led sessions to faculty teaching and perceive the sessions as more engaging, interesting and exciting. (8,17,25) Other examples of successful NPT programmes include using third and fourth-year medical students to teach musculoskeletal ultrasound, (14) and fourth-year students to facilitate diversity-focused case-based discussions. (15) The latter example further illustrates an additional advantage of NPT, in that NPT may be used to facilitate socio-cultural diversity training.…”

“…(7) NPT can be broadly de ned as a student learning from another student who is one or more years more advanced on the same curriculum. (8) NPT can be considered a form of peer-assisted learning (PAL). ( 8) Despite some discrepancies in how best to de ne NPT and PAL, the core di erence lies within the relative stages of education.…”

Near-Peer Teaching in Conjunction with Flipped Classroom to Teach First-Year Medical Students Basic Surgical Skills

“…Near-peer teaching (NPT) represents an alternative teaching approach that relieves the burden of traditional faculty-led teaching [ 13 ]. In this approach, the instructor is a person who is one or more years senior to another while being on the same level of educational training — for instance, senior medical students and junior medical students [ 4 , 5 , 14 – 16 ]. A large body of literature exists on NPT that spans across multiple domains, including general teaching, higher education, and, more recently, medical education [ 17 ].…”

“…A large body of literature exists on NPT that spans across multiple domains, including general teaching, higher education, and, more recently, medical education [ 17 ]. Though a comprehensive review on NPT is beyond the scope of this paper, multiple randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, quantitative studies, qualitative studies, and expert opinions have been published supporting the efficacy of NPT within medical education [ 16 , 18 – 23 ]. There are distinct theoretical features of NPT that underlie the effectiveness of this approach.…”