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

BACKGROUNDPhysiology 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 eagles view of the topic. AIMS AND OBJECTIVESA 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 METHODSA 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 students 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. RESULTSOut 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). CONCLUSIONThe 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.