Teaching Women's Reproductive Rights to Undergraduate Medical Students Using a Modified Jigsaw Approach

Discussions about women's reproductive rights are often underrepresented in medical education despite the potentially large impact on patient care. A modified jigsaw teaching format, where students first learn in small groups and then recombine to teach peers, was developed to introduce medical students to critical historical events influencing women's reproductive rights and health care in the US.

In total, 159 second-year medical students participated in a 3-hour educational session between 2023 and 2024. Students completed presession surveys collecting demographic information, preexisting knowledge, and agreement with attitudinal statements about gender in medicine. Groups of two to six students were assigned a specific topic and objectives to research. Each group presented their research to the class, followed by a facilitated class-wide discussion emphasizing common themes and patterns. Students then completed postsession surveys to assess changes in knowledge or attitudes. The session was evaluated using Likert-scale ratings of student agreement with learning statements and several open-ended questions.

Student knowledge scores about the session topics increased significantly from pre- to postsession (p < .001). Similarly, perspectives and attitudes about gender in medicine changed significantly for four of nine measured statements. Students found the session to be a fun and engaging way to learn the content.

This modified jigsaw teaching modality enhances students' knowledge, awareness, and attitudes about women's reproductive rights, and allows students to hone essential peer teaching and public speaking skills. This teaching approach can be utilized to foster effective, active learning for various topics across medical school curricula.