Medical Students Who Prepare for a Lecture Learn More Than Those Who Do Not: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Purpose: Medical students tend to attend lectures unprepared before studying the literature for an examination. Would students not profit more from lectures if they study the literature first?Method: One hundred and two students from a Saudi-Arabian medical school were included in the study. Half of them received a four-page text to be studied before a 15-minutes lecture; the other half received the lecture first and then the text. Knowledge level was tested using a concept retrieval test at three points in time, before the experiment, after reading the text, and after attending the lecture. This enabled studying the effects of the various treatments separately.Results: The mean student-scores were as follows: After lecture-only: 54.7±23.5, after reading-only: 45.7±11.2, lecture-then-reading: 69.9±15.8 and reading-then-lecture: 78.2±17.4. The combination of lecture and reading in both groups was statistically significantly different from lecture-only. Reading-then-lecture was significantly better than lecture-then-reading.Conclusion: In contrast to existing practices of students in medical education, it is better to study first before attending a lecture.

Keywords: Lectures; self-study; concept retrieval test.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-8-06

Publication date:March 31^st 2020