Praveena Sabbani1 , V. Sunanda2 , Sujatha Pasula3
BACKGROUND In majority of the medical colleges in India, theory classes are being conducted as didactic lectures, which is a passive method of teaching. In this method of didactic lectures, the student’s attention span will decrease after 20 minutes & retention of memory will be less. Therefore, there is a need to introduce interactive teaching methods like interactive student-LED seminars and small group discussions etc. In this scenario, we have introduced student’s seminar on a particular topic and studied its effectiveness in student’s learning. The purpose of the study was to know the perception of 1st MBBS students towards this interactive student led seminar method of teaching and a pre-test and post test was conducted to evaluate the students learning by this method. METHODS Study was undertaken on 150 students of 1st year MBBS. A pre- and post-test questionnaire from the vitamins topic is given before and after the session on student led seminar and a feedback was obtained by giving the questionnaire based on Likert scale to know the effectiveness of seminar in learning process. RESULTS More than 70% students responded positively to most of the questions given in the questionnaire. Post-test assessment showed improvement in scores of students after seminar presentation compared to pre-test. Results showed that seminar method of teaching-learning is an effective way of learning, which is interactive, promotes active students participation, stimulates critical thinking and improves communication skills. CONCLUSIONS Seminar presentation can be considered as an active and effective method of learning technique. Students’ attitude is very decisive for an active learning method like seminar and it should be promoted in routine practice.
