Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Mar 4;30(2):713-718.
doi: 10.1007/s40670-020-00938-9. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Effectiveness of Small Group Discussions for Teaching Specific Pharmacology Concepts

Sireesha Bala Arja  1 , Kumar Ponnusamy  1 , Praveen Kottathveetil  1 , Tarig Fadlallah Altahir Ahmed  1 , Reshma Fatteh  1 , Sateesh Babu Arja  1
Affiliations

Effectiveness of Small Group Discussions for Teaching Specific Pharmacology Concepts

Sireesha Bala Arja et al. Med Sci Educ. .

Abstract

Small group discussions are used in medical education to reinforce learning and to promote the application of knowledge. Small group discussions can involve a variety of tasks, such as critical thinking, self-directed learning, problem-solving, and brainstorming. The objective of this study is to find out if small group discussions can improve students' learning of specific pharmacology topics and students' performance on assessments. In the present study, small group discussions were utilized for six unique topics in the pharmacology course, and knowledge-based tests were administered before and after small group discussions to examine their efficacy. Statistically significant improvement in knowledge gains was observed for antimicrobials and neuropharmacology topics, but not for anticancer agents. Students' performance in topics that had group discussions was better on summative assessments compared with the overall performance on the summative assessment in the pharmacology (study group; summer 2018). Students' (study group; summer 2018) overall grade on the summative assessment of the pharmacology course was better than overall pharmacology grade on the summative assessment of students who had no group discussions (control group; winter 2018). Students' perceptions of the small group discussions were satisfactory, suggesting group discussions may be an enjoyable way to improve students' performance in some pharmacology topics.

Keywords: Assessments; Group-based learning; Pharmacology; Small group discussions; Teaching and evaluation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Knowles MS. “Self-directed learning”, a guide for learners and teachers. N.Y. Cambridge Books; 1975.
    1. Piaget J. The construction of reality in the child. New York, Basic Books; 1954.
    1. Von Glaserfeld E. Constructivism in education. In: Husen T, Postlethwaite TN, editors. The international encyclopedia of education. Oxford/New York: Pergamon Press; 1989.
    1. Armson H, Kinzie S, Hawes D, Roder S, Wakefield J, Elmslie T. Translating learning into practice. Lessons from the practice-based small group learning program. Can Fam Physician. 2007;53:1477–1485. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banerjee I. Problem based learning (PBL)- approach to learn medicine: an experience from a medical school of Nepal. J Biomed Sci. 2014;1(1):3–5. doi: 10.3126/jbs.v1i1.10926. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources