&[Iota]mplementation and evaluation of a near‐peer teaching program in a Neuroanatomy course for medical students

Abstract

Medical education is gradually shifting from traditional, lecture‐based formats to novel approaches combining evidence‐based, innovative teaching methods. The present study assesses the gradual implementation of a near‐peer teaching program in Neuroanatomy. Near‐peer teaching was introduced in the neuroanatomy laboratory over a course of 5‐years (2010–2015), starting with no peer teachers and a single faculty member and ending with 52 pear teachers for an average class size of 230 second year medical students. 532 students completed a 25‐question Likert scale questionnaire that surveyed three general areas: (1) the students' opinion of the Neuroanatomy course, (2) the effect of peer‐teaching on knowledge acquisition and (3) the contribution of the peer teacher. The results showed that a high percentage of students (71.27%) who attended both lectures and lab exercises, believed that lectures alone are not sufficient for neuroanatomy comprehension. The majority of students (75%) agreed or strongly agreed that peer‐teaching helped their understanding of neuroanatomy, with 77.5% of those surveyed agreeing or strongly agreeing that peer teachers motivated them and helped them to look for answers to their questions. When asked whether they believed that peer teachers facilitated a positive learning environment, 85% replied that they agreed or strongly agreed. The increased implementation of the peer‐teaching program across the years was positively correlated to the student responses that peer teachers positively contributed to their learning and motivated them to find answers to questions (p<0.001). While this study does not provide a comparative, randomized evaluation of peer teaching, the evidence provided from over 500 students surveyed strongly suggests that peer‐teaching can be a powerful education tool in Anatomy.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.