Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The What or the How: a Review of Teaching Tools and Methods in Medical Education

  • Review
  • Published:
Medical Science Educator Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Medicine is a field that has evolved through the ages and continues to do so with the advancement of basic, clinical, and technological sciences. Accordingly, the roles and requirements of the medical doctor have also been subject to evolution. It is basically based on the need to develop effective and adaptable graduates that can tackle new problems as they arise in an ever-changing environment, which shifted the emphasis of medical education to the acquirement of generic skills, competency-based learning, and recognition for an increasing level of student autonomy. Medical education and its tools, the foundation upon which physicians base their competence in practice, have as a result, had to adapt to meet the ever growing demands of the profession. This review aims at (a) identifying teaching tools such as lecture-based learning, case-based learning, problem-based learning, team-based learning, flipped classrooms, and blended learning and (b) bringing to attention their development, purpose and how they compare in medical education in North America through time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. World Health Organization. World Directory of Medical Schools. 1st ed. Geneva: WHO; 1953.

  2. Duvivier RJ, Boulet JR, Opalek A, van Zanten M, Norcini J. Overview of the world's medical schools: an update. Med Educ. 2014;48(9):860–9.

  3. Karle H. How do we define a medical school? reflections on the occasion of the centennial of the Flexner report. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2010;10(2):160–8.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Brauer DG, Ferguson KJ. The integrated curriculum in medical education: AMEE guide no. 96. Med Teach. 2015;37(4):312–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Flexner A. Medical education in the United States and Canada: a report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. New York: Carnegie Foundation, 1910(Bulletin No 4)

  6. Barzansky B. Abraham Flexner and the era of medical education reform. Acad Med. 2010;85(9 Suppl):S19–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dezee KJ et al. Medical education in the United States of America. Med Teach. 2012;34(7):521–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Neufeld VR, Woodward CA, MacLeod SM. The McMaster M.D. program: a case study of renewal in medical education. Acad Med. 1989;64(8):423–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Harden RM. What is a spiral curriculum? Med Teach. 1999;21(2):141–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cantillon P. Teaching large groups. BMJ. 2003;326(7386):437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Antepohl W, Herzig S. Problem-based learning versus lecture-based learning in a course of basic pharmacology: a controlled, randomized study. Med Educ. 1999;33(2):106–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Murdoch-Eaton D, Whittle S. Generic skills in medical education: developing the tools for successful lifelong learning. Med Educ. 2012;46(1):120–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Frank JR et al. Competency-based medical education: theory to practice. Med Teach. 2010;32(8):638–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Stoddard HA, O'Dell DV. Would Socrates have actually used the "Socratic method" for clinical teaching? J Gen Intern Med. 2016.

  15. Oh RC. The Socratic method in medicine—the labor of delivering medical truths. Fam Med. 2005;37(8):537–9.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Cannon WB. The case method of teaching systematic medicine. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 1900;142(2):31–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bowe CM, Voss J, Thomas Aretz H. Case method teaching: an effective approach to integrate the basic and clinical sciences in the preclinical medical curriculum. Med Teach. 2009;31(9):834–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Thistlethwaite JE et al. The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education. A BEME systematic review: BEME Guide No. 23. Med Teach. 2012;34(6):e421–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Srinivasan M et al. Comparing problem-based learning with case-based learning: effects of a major curricular shift at two institutions. Acad Med. 2007;82(1):74–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Neville AJ. Problem-based learning and medical education forty years on. A review of its effects on knowledge and clinical performance. Med Princ Pract. 2009;18(1):1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wood DF. Problem based learning. BMJ. 2003;326(7384):328–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Dupuis RE, Persky AM. Use of case-based learning in a clinical pharmacokinetics course. Am J Pharm Educ. 2008;72(2):29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Enarson C, Cariaga-Lo L. Influence of curriculum type on student performance in the United States medical licensing examination step 1 and step 2 exams: problem-based learning vs. lecture-based curriculum. Med Educ. 2001;35(11):1050–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Parmelee D et al. Team-based learning: a practical guide: AMEE guide no. 65. Med Teach. 2012;34(5):e275–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Koles PG et al. The impact of team-based learning on medical students' academic performance. Acad Med. 2010;85(11):1739–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Nieder GL et al. Team-based learning in a medical gross anatomy and embryology course. Clin Anat. 2005;18(1):56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Thompson BM et al. Team-based learning at ten medical schools: two years later. Med Educ. 2007;41(3):250–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Okuda Y et al. The utility of simulation in medical education: what is the evidence? Mt Sinai J Med. 2009;76(4):330–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. McGaghie WC et al. Effect of practice on standardised learning outcomes in simulation-based medical education. Med Educ. 2006;40(8):792–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Kelsey R et al. An online heart simulator for augmenting first-year medical and dental education. Proc AMIA Symp. 2002:370–4.

  31. Chakravarthy B et al. Simulation in medical school education: review for emergency medicine. West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(4):461–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. McLaughlin JE et al. The flipped classroom: a course redesign to foster learning and engagement in a health professions school. Acad Med. 2014;89(2):236–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Hawks SJ. The flipped classroom: now or never? AANA J. 2014;82(4):264–9.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Street SE et al. The Flipped Classroom Improved Medical Student Performance and Satisfaction in a Pre-clinical Physiology Course. Medical. Sci Educ. 2015;25(1):35–43.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Kwesi T, Nidia F, Joseph B. Blended learning: history, implementation, benefits, and challenges in higher education. In: Lydia K-B, Esther N, editors. Practical applications and experiences in K-20 blended learning environments. Hershey: IGI Global; 2014. p. 18–27.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Lewin LO et al. Improving education in primary care: development of an online curriculum using the blended learning model. BMC Med Educ. 2009;9:33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Pereira JA et al. Effectiveness of using blended learning strategies for teaching and learning human anatomy. Med Educ. 2007;41(2):189–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Chumley-Jones HS, Dobbie A, Alford CL. Web-based learning: sound educational method or hype? A review of the evaluation literature. Acad Med. 2002;77(10 Suppl):S86–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Link TM, Marz R. Computer literacy and attitudes towards e-learning among first year medical students. BMC Med Educ. 2006;6:34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Greenhalgh T. Computer assisted learning in undergraduate medical education. BMJ. 2001;322(7277):40–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Ruiz JG, Mintzer MJ, Leipzig RM. The impact of E-learning in medical education. Acad Med. 2006;81(3):207–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Frehywot S et al. E-learning in medical education in resource constrained low- and middle-income countries. Hum Resour Health. 2013;11:4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Hoy MB. MOOCs 101: an introduction to massive open online courses. Med Ref Serv Q. 2014;33(1):85–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Liyanagunawardena TR, Williams SA. Massive open online courses on health and medicine: review. J Med Internet Res. 2014;16(8):e191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Cheston CC, Flickinger TE, Chisolm MS. Social media use in medical education: a systematic review. Acad Med. 2013;88(6):893–901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inaya Hajj Hussein.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mourad, A., Jurjus, A. & Hajj Hussein, I. The What or the How: a Review of Teaching Tools and Methods in Medical Education. Med.Sci.Educ. 26, 723–728 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0323-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0323-y

Keywords

Navigation