Perception of medical students toward teaching aids during physiology lectures: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The students’ learning depends on three forms of sensory modalities, that is, visual, aural, and kinesthetic collectively known as VAK. In view of this, the teacher should adapt the teaching style that fits with each student’s learning style. Objective: To assess students’ perception toward didactic lecture using chalk and board and PowerPoint (PPT) during physiology lectures and to assess students’ preference of teaching aid for didactic lecture. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among 100 medical students of first-year MBBS of 2014 batch in Physiology Lecture Hall, Belgavi Institute of Medical Sciences, Belgavi, Karnataka, India. Five physiology didactic lectures were taught by using chalk and board and five lectures were taught with the help of powerpoint (PPT). Students’ feedback was collected by administering prestructured and pretested questionnaire. The students were asked to rank each item of questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale. The students were also asked about their preference of teaching aid. Students’ responses were analyzed by using nonparametric test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and student’s ‘t’ test. Result: Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare different parameters between powerpoint (PPT) and blackboard (BB). The total score was assessed by Student’s ‘t’ test. Students felt and preferred didactic lecture using blackboard over powerpoint. A total of 46.73% students preferred BB teaching over PPT whereas 32.60% students preferred BB aided with PPT. Conclusion: In this study, students opined that didactic lecture using chalk and board was better compared with PPT in the parameters such as stimulating interest, taking down notes or diagrams, flow of thought, recalling tough points, facilitation of interaction between student and teacher, and overall effectiveness of presentations; the difference being statistically significant. The students preferred BB teaching over PPT.