Learning embryology: fun or fear? students’ perspective

ABSTRACT

Background: Embryology forms an important part of Anatomy in medical curriculum. As a subject it is difficultfor the first year students. The aim of the study was to make the subject simple, to inculcate interest and to reachto different types of learners as possible and to assess the effect of various teaching methods on learning.Methods: First year medical students were taught Embryology using different methods over one academic yearby one faculty member. In addition to black board and power point as the main methods of teaching, supplementarymethods like videos, props, models, handouts & quiz were also used. These were compared on different parametersof teaching-learning process like conceptual understanding, recollection & long term memory, reproducibility &writing in exam, structure and sequence of events, drawing of diagrams, clinical application, overall effectivenessand fun in the process of learning. A comparison of different methods of teaching was done in the form a writtenfeedback questionnaire.Results: It was observed that 73.9% students preferred Black board, 21.73% preferred Power point and 4.34%opted for videos as the choice of method. The study also revealed that 76.08% of students preferred a combinationof different methods for the embryology lectures, where as 15.21% preferred only Black Board, 6.52% preferredonly Power Point and 2.17% of students preferred only Videos as the method for learning Embryology.Most of the parameters of teaching Embryology were better fulfilled by black board method specially drawing ofdiagrams (82.60% students). However for clinical application of the subject, power point (50.43% students) waspreferred. The students’ response revealed that Quiz was a fun loving method of learning (40%students), whereas(31.3%students) enjoyed videos on Embryology. The overall effectiveness of Black board was found to be (60.86%),Power point (18.2%), Videos (8.69%), Props (4.34%), Quiz (3.47%), Handouts (2.6%) and Models (1.73%).Conclusions: A multi-modal approach was made to facilitate and enhance the learning process of the subject. Thestudy revealed that blackboard was the most valued method for teaching-learning Embryology.