Challenging students to formulate written questions: a randomized controlled trial to assess learning effects

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pathology Learning
• Active Learning Strategies

Background:

• Dialogue is often underutilized in small-group work, hindering active learning.
• Encouraging question generation during group work can promote deeper engagement.
• Gender differences in learning necessitate investigation within educational interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of generating and prioritizing written questions on student learning in pathology.
• To investigate potential gender-based differences in response to this active learning intervention.

Main Methods:

• A prospective randomized study was conducted with 459 (bio)medical students in a General Pathology course.
• The intervention involved students individually generating a question on disease mechanisms, followed by group selection of the two most relevant questions for discussion.
• Tumor pathology scores on the course examination served as the primary outcome measure, with gender as a factor.

Main Results:

• The intervention group achieved a mean score of 7.2, compared to 6.9 in the control group (p=0.22).
• Male students in the intervention group scored 0.5 points higher than controls (p=0.05).
• Female students showed a smaller increase of 0.1 points (p=0.75).

Conclusions:

• Formulating and prioritizing questions appears to positively impact male students' learning in pathology.
• This method offers a potential strategy to enhance learning specifically for male students, who may otherwise underperform compared to female peers.