%0 Journal Article
%T Student responses to the introduction of case-based learning and practical activities into a theoretical obstetrics and gynaecology teaching programme
%A J¨˛lio Massonetto
%A Cl¨˘udio Marcellini
%A Paulo Assis
%A S¨Śrgio de Toledo
%J BMC Medical Education
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6920-4-26
%X Small-group discussions of cases and practical activities were introduced for the teaching of a fourth-year class in 2003 (Group II; 113 students). Comparisons were made with the fourth-year class of 2002 (Group I; 108 students), from before the new programme was introduced. Students were asked to rate their satisfaction with various elements of the teaching programme. Statistical differences in their ratings were analysed using the chi-square and Bonferroni tests.Group II gave higher ratings to the clarity of theory classes and lecturers' teaching abilities (p < 0.05) and lecturers' punctuality (p < 0.001) than did Group I. Group II had greater belief that the knowledge assessment tests were useful (p < 0.001) and that their understanding of the subject was good (p < 0.001) than did Group I. Group II gave a higher overall rating to the course (p < 0.05) than did Group I. However, there was no difference in the groups' assessments of the use made of the timetabled hours available for the subject or lecturers' concern for students' learning.Students were very receptive to the new teaching model.In Brazil, medical school courses last for six years and demand full-time study. In our school, the curriculum follows the traditional model, and it is divided into the basic cycle (first and second years), clinical cycle (third and fourth years) and pre-intern cycle (fifth and sixth years; full-time outpatient and hospital practice).The practice of institutional self-evaluation, especially for educational institutions, has become part of the country's recent culture [1]. It has come about as a result of the democratic transition that Brazil went through from 1986 onwards and with the introduction of quality control principles in the past decade. In our school, we introduced an annual subject evaluation programme (SEP) in 2000, for the purposes of self-evaluation. Every year, in the middle of the second semester, all students in each year-group fill out a standard questionnair
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/4/26