Evidence for med school teaching methods?

[sibitrum]

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After many presentations/reading med school websites, I am curious what the research literature suggests the best methods are. At many schools, their pre-clinical curriculum is presented as self-evidently the best. Does anyone know which methods, e.g. PBL, TBL, lecture, organ-based systems, integration, etc., are the best and/or can you point me to quality research about these methods? I can come up with a compelling story for why each style might be superior, but I'd rather not base decisions off of speculation.

Anecdotally, I've heard a diverse set of viewpoints, including that some are better, some are just more fun, and that it often comes down to what the student puts into it.

 

[theseeker4]

After many presentations/reading med school websites, I am curious what the research literature suggests the best methods are. At many schools, their pre-clinical curriculum is presented as self-evidently the best. Does anyone know which methods, e.g. PBL, TBL, lecture, organ-based systems, integration, etc., are the best and/or can you point me to quality research about these methods? I can come up with a compelling story for why each style might be superior, but I'd rather not base decisions off of speculation.

Anecdotally, I've heard a diverse set of viewpoints, including that some are better, some are just more fun, and that it often comes down to what the student puts into it.

This question is unlikely to yield more than additional anecdotes. The best you can do is read up on it, and based on descriptions and your own preferences, decide what schools you would most like to attend based on their curriculum. Personally, I doubt any method is "better" than the other across the board, I simply like lectures and learn-on-your-own style better than working in small groups, so I am happy the school I will be attending has no PBL or the like.

 

[45408]

Some of it depends on how you learn best. I always thought the "interactive case-based discussions" involved people trying too hard (including myself) to make sure they got credit for participation and/or people trying not to say anything, resulting in awkward silences, because they're too cool for school. Besides, a bunch of M1s don't know nothing about nothing, so they throw out some buzzwords and hope it sticks.

I was partial to lectures, in part so that I could skip them without being noticed. 😀

 

[LizzyM]

Different learning styles means that what is good for one person might not be good for another. As with college, so much of finding the right school is finding the right fit with your learning style.

 

[NickNaylor]

I've heard that the literature suggests that PBL didn't yield the results it was expected to, but I have no idea if that's actually correct or not.

 

[alexandertg6]

I would be curious to know if there is a mean board score by school chart somewhere? I realize there are many variables beyond the curriculum, but it might be interesting to see. If this is a really dumb question, just ignore it.

 

[LizzyM]

As far as I know, average board scores by school are a closely guarded secret. Furthermore, they correlate with MCAT so you could figure that the schools with the highest MCATs will, on average, have higher board scores than school with lower average MCATs.

Furthermore, this is not proof that one teaching method or curriculum is superior to another because in the best case scenario, students have chosen to attend a school that fits with their learning style and in a worst case, students have been stuck attending a school with a curriculum that doesn't suit their learning style. Furthermore, schools vary in the way they handle board prep with some schools being very generous in time for full-time prep & others, maybe not so much.

 

[alexandertg6]

As far as I know, average board scores by school are a closely guarded secret. Furthermore, they correlate with MCAT so you could figure that the schools with the highest MCATs will, on average, have higher board scores than school with lower average MCATs.

Furthermore, this is not proof that one teaching method or curriculum is superior to another because in the best case scenario, students have chosen to attend a school that fits with their learning style and in a worst case, students have been stuck attending a school with a curriculum that doesn't suit their learning style. Furthermore, schools vary in the way they handle board prep with some schools being very generous in time for full-time prep & others, maybe not so much.

Thanks for the response! this is a question I should just be sure to ask during the general information session of interviews