Active learning by play dough modeling in the medical profession.

Learning the nervous system has always been a difficult task for undergraduate students. In particular, the complexity of the system and the condensed time available present a difficult challenge. Regardless of audiovisual aids (blackboard, PowerPoint presentations, ready-made models, or CD-ROMs), deep learning is difficult to achieve. Therefore, we developed an active learning component to teach about the nervous system based on the Chinese proverb “When I hear, I forget; when I see, I remember; and when I do, I understand.” Active learning produces meaningful learning, improves attitudes toward learning, and increases knowledge and retention (9), but is still not fully institutionalized in the undergraduate sciences. A few studies (3, 7, 8) have compared the effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations, student seminars, quizzes, and use of CD-ROMs with blackboard teaching and didactic lectures. In all these studies, it was found that active learning methods made a better impact than passive learning, but the active involvement of all the students was equally lacking. In the literature, we encountered only one study (5) that incorporated the making of clay models by the students themselves, to learn better. Play dough is an easy to use learning tool that can help students turn both concrete and imaginary things into colorful models. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to highlight the use of play dough in modeling the nervous tracts and also to compare the outcomes of such active learning by modeling over passive learning in medical students who were undergraduates in the first phase of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program in India. Random selection was done from a class of 100 students. Students were grouped into 2 groups, each composed of 50 students (a control group and a study group). The selection was done by instructing all the 100 students to be seated in the classroom anywhere they wished, and each student was asked to say aloud a number, from 1 to 100, in serial order. The odd numbers constituted the control group, and the even numbers constituted the study group. All students had the same academic qualifications (all of them had passed class XII of the Central Board of Secondary Education in India, with the same curriculum and science as one of the subjects), and there were no statistical differences between the control and study groups with respect to age or sex. Students were informed about the study, and written consent was obtained. Approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the institution. All 100 students were first taught about the different sensory and motor tracts using the blackboard, ready-made models, PowerPoint presentations, and CD-ROMs (passive learning) during a 75-min lecture. Immediately after the lecture, the 50 students in the control group were assessed with a questionnaire of 15 questions, each scoring a maximum of 4 points, making the total maximum score achievable 60 points (Table 1). The answer to each question was given 1, 2, 3, or 4 points, depending on its correctness and depth. The questionnaire was given immediately after class and then again 15 and 30 days later without any further instruction. Students in the study group were engaged in making models of the sensory and motor tracts under the supervision and guidance of the teachers. Students were first asked to prepare cross sections of the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, midbrain, thalamus, and cerebral cortex, using colored dough, and these sections were either placed on a flat surface or pierced to a steel/glass rod one above the other in that order. Later, students were instructed to make the tracts using dough wrapped around a flexible copper wire with different colored dough for different order neurons. Thus, the lateral spinothalamic tract, anterior spinothalamic tract, dorsal tract, and pyramidal tract were made. The tracts were then either placed or pierced appropriately in their respective places in the different sections of the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, midbrain, thalamus, and cerebral cortex. After finishing the task, students were asked to demonstrate and explain the course of the different tracts that they had modeled. Immediately after this activity, students were assessed by the same questionnaire as in the control group and then again after 15 and 30 days without any further instruction. The activity took an additional 60 min to complete in a time normally reserved for discussion sessions. Statistically, results were compared between the two groups (the control group and the study group). Control group scores were named as follows: