The Physiological Court

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physiology
• Active Learning Strategies

Background:

• Student achievement can be enhanced through active learning methodologies, integrated with traditional lectures.
• A student-centered collaborative design, termed a "Physiological Court," was implemented for group debate.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance and perception of medical students after integrating short lectures with collaborative work and debate.
• To assess the impact of active learning on the understanding of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axes.

Main Methods:

• The study involved 50 second-year medical students participating in a "Physiological Court" activity focused on endocrine axes.
• Students prepared study materials and engaged in face-to-face group debates.
• Cognitive monitoring tests (CMT) with multiple-choice questions (MCQ) and perception surveys were administered post-activity.

Main Results:

• 92% of students reported a positive perception of the integrated learning activities.
• 83% of students achieved scores above 7.0 on the cognitive monitoring test.
• The percentage of incorrect answers on the CMT was low at 5%.

Conclusions:

• The integration of short lectures with active methodologies, specifically a "Physiological Court" debate, positively impacted student perception and performance.
• This approach is effective for teaching endocrine system physiology to second-year medical students.
• Collaborative, student-centered learning enhances engagement and knowledge retention in medical education.