Peer Instruction-Based Feedback Sessions Improve the Retention of Knowledge in Medical Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Peer Instruction (PI) is an interactive teaching-learning process between colleagues and has been applied in various universities throughout the world. This active teaching methodology improves students’ performance and their capacity to resolve problems when they perform activities with their study colleagues. There are no systematic studies about the use of PI in assessment feedback. The aim of our study is to identify whether the use of PI on assessment feedback improves the retention of basic concepts in medical programs. For this study 226 undergraduate students (Y2 = 115, Y3 = 111) enrolled in a Brazilian medical school were invited to participate. After taking the regular exam (RE), the students of the control group (125) could individually receive feedback (review of the exam) from the professor according to the course routine, and the students in the study group (101) were invited to participate in an immediate intervention after the RE with a feedback developed session using the peer instruction teaching method. At the conclusion of the feedback session, the students again answered the post-feedback exam (PFE) so that we could identify any changes in the answers compared with the regular exam taken before feedback and 6 months later, we applied a diagnostic exam (DE) of identify whether the students retained the concepts covered in the previous exams. The control and study groups are statistically significantly different in the RE (p = 0.0014) and DE (p < 0.000). The study group demonstrated better performance in both exams than the control group. When we gave feedback, using PI immediately after the exam, retention of basic science knowledge jumped to 39%, increasing by 15%. The students that had assessment feedback had the opportunity to discuss their misconceptions. These students had the highest number of correct answers with assimilate knowledge and fewer assimilation of wrong answers, therefore, students who received immediate feedback had less tendency to make the same conceptual errors. PI in the feedback was effective in improving retention of basic science knowledge.