A way forward for teaching and learning of Physiology: Students’ perception of the effectiveness of teaching methodologies

Objective: To compare the perception of medical students on the usefulness of the interactive lectures, case-based lectures, and structured interactive sessions (SIS) in teaching and learning of Physiology.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from January to December 2012 at Bahria University Medical & Dental College, Karachi, which had qualitative and quantitative aspects, assessed by self- reported questionnaire and focused group discussion (FGD). The questionnaire was distributed to 100 medical students after completion of first year of teaching of MBBS Physiology. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 15. Differences were considered significant at p-values <0.05 after application of Friedman test. Responses of FGD were analyzed.

Results: All the teaching methodologies helped in understanding of precise learning objectives. The comprehension of structure and functions with understanding of difficult concepts was made best possible by SIS (p=0.04, p<0.01). SIS enabled adult learning, self-directed learning, peer learning and critical reasoning more than the other teaching strategies (p< 0.01).

Conclusion: SIS involved students who used reasoning skills and power of discussion in a group to comprehend difficult concepts for better understanding of Physiology as compared to interactive and case-based lectures.