Student's perception and effectiveness of outlined handouts as an instructional tool on students' performance in physiology laboratory sessions

Abstract

Background: Laboratory-based learning (LBL) is a part of physiology curriculum. Certain identifiable barriers like students arrive at practicals with no clear idea of technique employed, skills required to conduct experiment or understand underlying scientific principles and at the same time they rarely take notes, appear disengaged from demonstration and struggle with the procedure both during and after laboratory sessions, and hinder adequate LBL by the student in physiology laboratory sessions (PLS). Aims and Objectives: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of instructor prepared outlined handouts, as an instructional tool, to overcome the barriers for student LBL and also to obtain the perception of the students on the handouts as learning material. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 students were randomly divided as study group (SG) and control group (CG). Handouts were provided to the SG. Pre-test and post-test were conducted for both the groups. Perception on handout was obtained from the SG. Results: There was statistically significant increase in the performance in the SG compared to the CG. There was also positive perception of students toward the handouts during the instruction sessions. Conclusion: Outlined handouts with graphical illustrations in PLS, used in our study as an instructional tool, have shown to help students to perform better.