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INTRODUCTION:There is lack of clarity on the impact of using simulation as a teaching strategy in novice learners. This study aims to determine whether the number and duration of training sessions influence the acquisition and retention of laparoscopic skills in naı ¨ve learners.METHODS: One hundred medical students were assigned in a 1:1 ratio to 1 of 2 groups. Group A underwent a single orientation and supervised practice session of 3 hours duration. Group B underwent distributed teaching with 3 learning sessions of 1 hour each spread over 3 consecutive weeks. Each participant received visual and manual demonstration of 3 basic laparoscopic tasks. Participant performance were evaluated before (pretest) and after the intervention (immediate post-test), and at 3-and 6-month intervals.RESULTS: Pretest and immediate post-test scores were comparable between the 2 groups. The 3-month interval test showed a significant difference between the 2 groups, with higher scores in group B (difference ¼ e2.90; p ¼ 0.000). The 6-month interval test showed no significant differences in performance between the 2 groups (p ¼ 0.178).In both groups, there were significant improvements in performance between the pretest and the immediate post-test (p ¼ 0.000). However, at 3-and 6-month tests there was a significant decline in the performance of both groups compared with the immediate post-test (p ¼ 0.000). CONCLUSION:In learners naı ¨ve to laparoscopy, distributed teaching resulted in better acquisition of psychomotor skills at 3 months post-test assessment (p ¼ 0.000). However, both teaching strategies yielded similar retention of skills at the 6-month assessment, suggesting the need for repeated intervention.