Poster and model competition: a novel, inventive, and intriguing teaching-learning method for first-MBBS students

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Physiology is one of the foundation subjects of the medical curriculum worldwide. A student cannot grasp the subject thoroughly with didactic lectures alone. As a result, students are developing less interest in learning. Therefore, teachers of Physiology are employing novel, innovative interest-generating learning tools like quizzes, role-plays, seminars, etc besides traditional didactic lectures. Academically poster presentation has been used as a method to resort knowledge. A Poster presentation is a visual treat to the eye and provides an eagle’s view of the topic. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES A Poster or a Model aims to convey visually and deliver the willful message in an intelligible, crystalline, novel, innovative, interest-generating, unambiguous manner. The study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences for first-year MBBS students. The topic selected was “Cardiovascular Physiology.” The knowledge of the Cardiovascular system is fundamental in understanding crucial concepts, medicine, history-taking of the patient, examination of the CVS in the patient, applied aspects, and pharmacotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS A Poster and Model competition was planned on the same topic and the formal announcement was made regarding the same in routine first-MBBS theory class well in advance, 30 days before the competition day. We divided the class into 14 teams with 14-15 students in each team to ensure a sufficient number in each team if any student dropped. Each team was assigned a different sub-topic for poster and model competition ensuring coverage of the entire portion of cardiovascular physiology. The allotment of the sub-topic was done randomly using the student’s roll numbers. Seven faculty voluntarily agreed to guide students through their poster making, 2 teams were allotted to each faculty by a lottery system to reduce the bias.The study approval was taken from Institutional Ethics Committee. A pre-validated questionnaire was used to take the feedback from both the students and the faculty. The questions were to be answered on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 where 1 strongly disagrees to 5 strongly agree. RESULTS Out of 200 students,111 participants gave feedback.The male students were 51.4% (n=57) and the female were 48.6% (n=54). The age of the students ranged from 17 to 22 years with a mean of 19.4 ± 1.36 years. Among the faculty, only one male (14.3%) was present, and the rest 85.7% (n=6) were female lecturers. The mean age of the faculty was 36 ± 9.06 years. The unpaired t-test was applied to all answers and p < 0.05 was taken as significant.Answers was graded as low score(1-2),medium score(3) and high score(4-5). CONCLUSION The poster/model competition did inculcate enthusiasm in the students. It allowed the students to change their resisting feeling toward the subject which is gratifying for a teacher. This also allowed the faculty to understand the students better. They can identify adverse students by conducting such activities and refine their teaching methods to get better outcomes. Poster/model competition can be used as a novel, innovative interest-generating teaching-learning tool to encourage students and fortify their learning.