The Effect of Student Working Group Establishment on Teaching General Embryology Course to Medical Students

Quantitative and qualitative enhancement of educational activities is an essential issue. Learners’ cooperation in the teaching process in order to increase teaching effectiveness and promotion is considered significant. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of establishment of student working group on the teaching general embryology course to medical students. Ten students (1%) of medical embryology course were selected to analyze the topics to be taught before each session according to lesson plan, and observe the whole teaching process during lesson presentation. Then, having asked the other students’ viewpoints and discussing with one another, they provided the teacher with a written report on the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching and its problems. The teacher analyzed the problems proposed by the working group to improve teaching process in the next session. At the end of the semester, a questionnaire was administered to all the participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The mean of students’ scores was 74.26%. The most important findings obtained in this study included positive role of film projection in teaching the materials (95.34%), significance of presentation of various pictures from different books (88.4%), changing students’ attitude toward application of embryology in different diseases (86%), and repetition of previous session’s pictures (83.75%). The weak points mentioned, however, were physical problems of the classroom and deficiency of audio visual equipment. Student working group has a positive impact on the teaching medical general embryology.