Small group discussion followed by presentation as a revision exercise at the end of a teaching module in biochemistry.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the effect of student-dominated small group discussion followed by faculty-moderated presentation as a revision exercise after completion of a teaching module in biochemistry. We assessed the understanding of graduate medical students on the topic and the gain in retention of information, if any, after 15 days. METHODS: Small group discussions involving 11-12 students in each group were conducted on 12 application-oriented problems in 'amino acid metabolism'. A group leader among the students helped to conduct the discussions. While two-thirds of the problems were taken up after the discussion during faculty- or student-moderated interactive presentations, the remaining were not. The effects on low-, medium- and high achievers were evaluated by a pre-test and post-test with multiple choice questions immediately after the session. A subjective feedback was also obtained. To test short-term memory, a post-test with the same multiple choice questions was conducted after 15 days. RESULTS: The exercise was effective and equally beneficial for low-, medium- and high achievers. The gain was maximum when faculty moderated the presentation session. The students' retention of their gain after 15 days was complete. All the students wanted more such sessions in future. CONCLUSION: Student-dominated small group discussion followed by a faculty-moderated presentation is an effective, revision exercise for undergraduate medical students.