Effectiveness of Small Group Discussions for Teaching Specific Pharmacology Concepts.

Autor: Arja SB; Avalon University School of Medicine, Willemstad, Curacao Netherlands Antilles., Ponnusamy K; Avalon University School of Medicine, Willemstad, Curacao Netherlands Antilles., Kottathveetil P; Avalon University School of Medicine, Willemstad, Curacao Netherlands Antilles., Ahmed TFA; Avalon University School of Medicine, Willemstad, Curacao Netherlands Antilles., Fatteh R; Avalon University School of Medicine, Willemstad, Curacao Netherlands Antilles., Arja SB; Avalon University School of Medicine, Willemstad, Curacao Netherlands Antilles.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Medical science educator [Med Sci Educ] 2020 Mar 04; Vol. 30 (2), pp. 713-718. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Mar 04 (Print Publication: 2020).
DOI: 10.1007/s40670-020-00938-9
Abstrakt: Small group discussions are used in medical education to reinforce learning and to promote the application of knowledge. Small group discussions can involve a variety of tasks, such as critical thinking, self-directed learning, problem-solving, and brainstorming. The objective of this study is to find out if small group discussions can improve students' learning of specific pharmacology topics and students' performance on assessments. In the present study, small group discussions were utilized for six unique topics in the pharmacology course, and knowledge-based tests were administered before and after small group discussions to examine their efficacy. Statistically significant improvement in knowledge gains was observed for antimicrobials and neuropharmacology topics, but not for anticancer agents. Students' performance in topics that had group discussions was better on summative assessments compared with the overall performance on the summative assessment in the pharmacology (study group; summer 2018). Students' (study group; summer 2018) overall grade on the summative assessment of the pharmacology course was better than overall pharmacology grade on the summative assessment of students who had no group discussions (control group; winter 2018). Students' perceptions of the small group discussions were satisfactory, suggesting group discussions may be an enjoyable way to improve students' performance in some pharmacology topics.
Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
(© International Association of Medical Science Educators 2020.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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