The Impact and Significance of Small and Large Group Teaching and Learning in First Year Medical Curriculum in Anatomy

For every educator/teacher adopting effective teaching and learning strategies forms an area of importance as it redresses academic integration. Teaching in medical setting not only requires transfer of basic level information but the skills/techniques required to learn and retain effectively has to be passed to the pre-clinical students at an early stage, the knowledge disseminated has to be simple but effective for developing further connections and representations. Pre-clinical educators are thus associated with not only teaching but enabling students to learn on how to progress, retain, and apply what has been already taught. Therefore, drawing upon many previous works, in this study we explore the role of small and large group teaching and learning in first year medical undergraduate students in promoting the most meaningful teaching and learning experiences for medical anatomy. Our results, suggest both small and large group teaching has its advantages and disadvantages, but the impact left by small group teaching and learning is far greater as it is observed that through this process the student remain more focused on the problems they encountered or didn't understand while learning. Small group teaching sessions were also highly interactive and enabled further discussion on complex topics. In conclusion, large group teaching and learning is essentially a one way process, while small group teaching is more focused, interactive, and leads to the development of concepts/principles.