Practice and exploration of the "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode in human anatomy

Abstract

Purpose Human anatomy is a core course of basic medicine and the first professional course for medical students. Traditional teaching includes "teacher-centered" instruction, passive learning, and a lack of interaction between teachers and students as well as between students. The aim of this study was to develop a "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode to address the mentioned drawbacks. Methods A total of 141 clinical medical students from grades 2016 and 2017 of Chengde Medical University participated in this study. The students were randomly divided into four classes: two experimental classes and two control classes. The experimental classes experienced a "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode, while the control classes experienced a traditional teaching method. Formative assessments and questionnaires were used to assess the students' preferences and obtain feedback. Theoretical and experimental tests were carried out to detect the students' scores at the end of the semester. ResultsThe results of the questionnaires demonstrated that 100% of the students agreed that the multielement teaching mode was better. In the experimental test, the students in the experimental group achieved a mean score of 16.50 ± 0.3203, which was significantly higher than that of the control group 12.65 ± 0.4731 (P < 0.01). In the theoretical test, the average score of the experimental group was 45.86 ± 0.6273 and that of the control group was 46.59 ± 0.6636; thus, there was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). ConclusionThe application of a "student-centered" multielement fusion teaching mode obtained strong approval from the students. This teaching mode not only improved students' interest in learning and increased the interaction between teachers and students as well as between students but also enhanced students' competence and will lay a solid foundation for their future careers.

“Student-centered” versus “teacher-centered” teaching in human anatomy: correspondence

“…In addition, although it is reasonable to expect Doctors to be adaptable, in the early stages of medical education, the focus should be on building a strong theoretical knowledge base before entry into clinical practice. This is supported by the study itself [ 3 ], as there was no statistical significance in theoretical test results for the experimental and control groups, proving that lecture-based learning was just as effective for learning theory during early stages. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that other facets of student-centred teaching may develop skills (e.g.…”

“…We would like to offer our perspective on the publication “Practice and exploration of the “student-centered” multi-element fusion teaching mode in human anatomy” [ 3 ]. They concluded that “student-centered” learning helped students learn basic medical knowledge supported by statistically significant results for experimental tests in the experimental group when compared to the control group.…”

“…However, the success of multi-element fusion teaching is also dependent on the willingness of the group being taught. The qualities of extraversion and openness would be important in aiding effective role substitution teaching, and although [ 3 ] attempted to mitigate social stresses through a ‘safe classroom climate’, due to differences in personality types and learning styles, certain teaching methods which require openness and extraversion may not suit the learners learning style [ 1 ], and in fact may cause additional stress. In addition, although it is reasonable to expect Doctors to be adaptable, in the early stages of medical education, the focus should be on building a strong theoretical knowledge base before entry into clinical practice.…”

“…We believe that lecture-based learning still has a critical role to play in teaching and cannot be eradicated, further proven by [ 3 ], as lectures were still utilised as one of the teaching methods in the multi-element fusion teaching. It offers a remote learning resource if recorded, which is useful in the COVID-19 era and for students who were absent for in-person sessions.…”

“…Conversely, lecture-based learning is only as effective as the one delivering it. Therefore, we would like to suggest that perhaps lecturers could increase interaction and engagement with the audience by utilising the methods of peer instruction and role substitution within the lecture as supported by experiment itself [ 3 ].…”