Sri Lankan Medical Students’ preferences for Biochemistry Teaching Methods

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Biochemistry is extremely difficult in preclinical medical education because of the monotonous use of lectures, tutorials, practical and end of semester load with end of semester examination. Although several studies have been carried out on learning biochemistry in Europe and America, Asian studies are very few and literature in the Sri Lankan context is lacking. We aimed to assess the best teaching tool for teaching Biochemistry in Medical Faculty is the main objective of this study. Methods: In this study, 177 second-year medical students of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rajarata, Sri Lanka were enrolled. Using a self-administrated method, two non-compulsory evaluating questions were given to the candidates when they sat for the Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) in 2nd MBBS. Results: The students gave high positive ratings to the lectures. The preferred order of the teaching method included lectures followed by student-staff interaction, panel discussion and the least preference was seminar. Conclusions: The findings of our study highlight the large gap between lectures and seminars in teaching biochemistry. In light of these questions, we discussed and recommended alternative approaches to teach using a hybrid method. Sri Lankan medical faculty will need to make an effort to change this learning attitude by improving proper teaching methods in biochemistry. Keywords: Biochemistry; Objective Structured Practical Examination; Teaching; Lecturer