Interactive Learning Allows Medical Information to ‘Stick’
Flipped-classroom and interactive learning allows students at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University to retain information better.
FORT WORTH – Dozens of students from the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University didn’t know what to think when they walked into class at Arnold Hall and saw envelopes placed on their desks.
“Honestly, I was a little bit skeptical and confused,” said Isabela Agi Maluli, MS-1. “I was like, ‘what are we doing today?’ I was just really overwhelmed, and I just wanted to hear a lecture.”
The brown envelopes, packed with cue cards and scissors along with red, yellow and green markers, were part of a non-traditional class session for the medical students.
“We are doing a very interactive hands-on model building,” said David Goff, M.D., who is an Assistant Professor at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “It’s not just a lecture where we throw information at them, interacting will help the information stick.”
Interactive learning requires students to touch, feel, hold and move things to get a better understanding of the material. Goff is hoping to publish this innovative, interactive student learning modality to share with other medical schools.
“I’m a hands-on learner,” said Sereen Osman, MS-1. “Looking at table charts and graphs helps me to visualize and store it in my brain. Doing the interactive learning makes it easier for me.”
Students built a hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which is the control center for the endocrine system and controls and maintains our metabolism and balance.
It’s part of the flipped-classroom model in which students prepare for the material prior to class and then expand on it during class.
Dr. Goff says data shows how impactful interactive learning can be and that students learn by coming up with ways to remember the content.
“I’m trying to create a picture in their brain so that down the road when they are treating somebody, they think about that picture in their brain more than reading something or trying to memorize it,” Goff said.
“I’m really thankful to Dr. Goff and the school for doing this,” Osman said. “I feel like I learned a lot and I was more involved and more engaged and I can’t wait to use this more going forward.”