Comparison of symposium versus didactic lecture in learning physiology topics among 1st-year MBBS students

Abstract

Background: The new competency-based medical education represents a paradigm shift from a teacher-centered to student-centered learning. Symposium ensures the active participation of students as compared to didactic lectures (DL). It is necessary to introduce methods that encourage the active participation of students. Aims and Objectives: The aims and objectives of the study are to compare the effectiveness of symposium and DL as teaching methods among 1st-year MBBS students and to evaluate the feedback regarding the teaching methods from students. Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 100 1st-year MBBS students to evaluate the effectiveness of symposium and DL as teaching methods in physiology. Six relevant topics in physiology were chosen. A pre-test in the form of MCQ was used to assess knowledge regarding the topic. Students were divided into groups “A “and “B” based on their roll numbers. Group “A” attended the symposium, while the group “B” students attended DL. At the end of the session, the same questionnaire was provided to all students (post-test) to assess the knowledge gained. The groups crossed over after three topics. Feedback was taken from students at the end of six sessions. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 software. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to test the statistical significance of the difference in the mean of different tests from baseline to post-test findings, and a Mann–Whitney U-test was used for comparing the feedback score between two teaching methods. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in the post-test scores in the symposium group in three topics. On evaluating the feedback form, 93.2% of students opined that symposium-based learning was more interesting. Also, 54.1% of students preferred symposium over DL. Conclusion: Symposium is an effective learning method that improves students’ learning outcomes in physiology.