Improving medical education in Iran: an action research in changing the curriculum and teaching and learning methods

Abstract

This article is the report of an action research carried out in a medical university aimed at developing the teaching staff's professional skills and revising the curriculum of medical education. The academic members were reoriented towards active methods in teaching and learning basic sciences with a view to upgrading the quality of medical education and improving the curriculum. The action research was carried out in Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services in Tehran during 1999-2000. The participants were 42 academic members and 686 students of the first and second years of the basic sciences in the medical school. The courses selected for the study were anatomy, parasitology, immunology, histology, biochemistry, English, physiology and bacteriology. A number of different activities were carried out before and during the period of the action research in order to prepare both the teachers and the students for the change. These activities included educational workshops, skills learning sessions, individual guiding and consulting sessions, feedback and evaluation consulting sessions, collective decision-making and exchange of views at all stages of the project and briefing sessions for a number of the students. The traditional lecture based method of teaching was gradually replaced by the active methods, emphasised in these sessions. The academic members were encouraged to write lesson plans that incorporated active learning methods. The project was evaluated through frequent observations, various interviews and different questionnaires. The results indicated that the project was fully successful in changing attitudes and developing the necessary skills among the academic members of the school, improving class curriculum and the quality of education. The project was not significantly successful in changing the attitudes of the students. the main reasons behind this lack of success were attributed to the high number of students enrolled in each course, an intensive syllabus and limited facilities.