LEARNING APPROACHES OF MEDICAL STUDENTS IN A CASE-BASED LEARNING CURRICULUM IN PRE-CLINICAL YEAR

Abstract

Objective: To determine the learning approaches of medical students in their pre-clinical years in a case based learning curriculum. Study Design: Descriptive (Quantitative) study. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan 2017 to Jul 2017. Materials and Methods: Two hundred students from 2nd year MBBS participated in the study by filling a 52 items questionnaire-Approach and study skills inventory for students. Students’ scores were measured separately for surface, deep and strategic approaches. Gender difference regarding the preferred approach of students was also found out. Analysis was carried out by using student t-test on Microsoft Excel Sheet. Results: There is a significant difference (p-value <0.05) between the number of surface learners when compared with number of deep and strategic learners. A preference for the deep or strategic approaches has been noticed in both female and male students. Conclusion: The study provided evidence that even in very initial years of medical studies where case based learning has been introduced as a student-centered strategy, it is promoting a deep or strategic learning approach in medical students. These approaches have been considered helpful in making students lifelong learners. It also helps in identifying the surface learners at the same time. Their identification will help and guide teaching faculty and the curriculum planners about the scope of different teaching modalities to be used in the best interest of the students.

Keywords

• case-based learning
• learning approaches