Integrated Group Study with Lecture in Teaching Sensory and Motor Pathways in Cross‐sectional Anatomy

Abstract

IntroductionFirst year dental students are trained to interpret clinical presentations of injuries on brainstem or spinal cord. Therefore, it is necessary for them to understand the three major sensory and motor pathways (dorsal column/medial lemniscal system, anterolateral system, corticospinal tracts) that go through brainstem and spinal cord, including their functions and cross‐sectional anatomy.AimThe present lesson was designed for first year students at Boston University School of Dental Medicine to learn the three sensory and motor pathways by using cross‐sectional figures of brainstem and spinal cord, and help students to apply the knowledge in clinical cases.MethodsThree sessions with the same contents were held on two days. Two sessions were held on the first day containing 30 students in total, and the last session was held on the fifth day containing 20 students. The lesson started with a pre‐quiz, and then students worked in groups of 4 to 5 people to order cross‐sectional figures of brainstem and spinal cord. Then, the instructor gave a lecture to explain the answer, followed by a brief review on sensory and motor pathways. In the second group activity, students were asked to label the three pathways on the cross‐sectional figures. In the third group activity, students were given the location of a lesion on brainstem, and then were asked to discuss the potential clinical presentations. Instructor explained the answers after each activity. At the end, students took a post‐quiz. Both pre‐quiz and post‐quiz had a full score of 5, containing 2 questions on clinical cases, 1 question on pathway, 2 questions on cross‐section anatomy. All questions were multiple choice. The levels of difficulty in two quizzes are similar.ResultsThe average scores from pre‐quiz and post‐quiz were compared by conducting a t‐test. Students showed significantly improvement in the post‐quiz as compared to pre‐quiz (pre: 1.50+/−1.07; post: 3.12+/−1.05; p<0.00001). Both pre and post scores of students attending on the fifth day were significantly higher as compared to the pre and post scores of students on the first day (pre: day1=1.20; day5=1.95; p=0.01; post: day1=2.76; day5=3.65; p=0.003). A t‐test was conducted to compare group differences of the improvements (first day vs. fifth day). Improvements of students were defined as the differences between post and pre‐quiz scores, and the improvements were not significantly different based on the day of the session (p=0.69).ConclusionStudents showed significant improvement in understanding cross‐sectional anatomy of three major sensory and motor pathways after group study integrating with lectures. In addition, the effectiveness of this teaching methods was not affected by the baseline scores of students.