Abstract
Pharmacology is a core and prerequisite course in major medical fields. In many academic centers, it is provided as a teacher-centered lecture course. In this article, I present twelve tips to help pharmacology teachers have more vital pharmacology classes. The tips are most useful for teachers who teach pharmacology as a traditional preclinical discipline and use lecturing as their main teaching method. Some of the tips presented can also be used for teaching in other lecture-based courses.
Highlights
Pharmacology is a basic medical science discipline that provides a scientific foundation for the next-coming therapeutic courses
Are some examples of stories that I use in my lectures that have positive impressions on my students: (a) the story of penicillin discovery,[30] (b) the story of sulfonamide discovery and dawn of chemotherapy, 31 (c) the history of thalidomide teratogenicity,[32] (d) the story about digitalisinduced xanthopsia in the Dutch postimpressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh,[33] and (e) a short review of the scientific life of Alfred Goodman Gilman (Nobel prize laureate and one of the editors of the definitive textbook “The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics”).[34]
I always think of how the knowledge and skills of a showman or an actor could help me present a lecture with more enthusiasm and vitality, how I could improve my PowerPoint slides, how lively and engaging my speech would be if sometimes I could switch from an inert, jargon-ridden, boring style to a belletristic one
Summary
Pharmacology is a basic medical science discipline that provides a scientific foundation for the next-coming therapeutic courses. Teachers should organize educational content and use appropriate audiovisual aids to present their lecture.
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