The effect of case‑based teaching and flipped classroom methods in comparison with lecture method on learning and satisfaction of internship students in surgery

Teaching is one of the most important needs of human societies, and selecting the best method of teaching is so important to improve the teaching as well as learning of students. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of case‑based teaching (CBT) and flipped classroom methods in comparison with lecture method on students’ learning and satisfaction at internship of Department of General Surgery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

This experimental study was performed on fifty medical surgery internship students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Students were randomly divided into two groups of control group and intervention group. The data were collected by a posttest after holding every class and a researcher‑made form for evaluating students’ satisfaction after the end of the project. The results of this study were analyzed by SPSS 21 software using descriptive statistical methods (mean and standard deviation) and paired t‑test.

The comparison of the mean posttest scores in the three classes showed that the mean scores of the students in the intervention group in the first and second sessions unlike the third session were higher than that in the control group; this difference was statistically significant in the first session (P = 005) and the third session (P = 0.002). Students’ satisfaction with case‑based learning method (4.03 ± 0.87) was higher than that of lecture method (2.88 ± 0.78).

In CBT and flipped classroom, students’ learning and the quality of teaching were improved. In addition, students were more satisfied with this method in comparison with the lecture method. However, it should be noted that the success of using this teaching method depends on choosing the appropriate subject.