The effect of question generation activity on students’ learning and perception

Introduction: Student-generated questions can be a very helpfultool in medical education. The use of this activity can allow thestudents to feel more involved in the subjects covered and mayimprove their knowledge and learning. The aim of this study wasto identify the effect of question-writing activity as a stimulusfactor on learning in midwifery students and determine theirperception about this activity.Methods: This quasi-experimental study with two groups ofpre- and post-tests was conducted on two groups of midwiferystudents who had taken the immunology course. Two classesof midwifery students (N=62) participated and were randomlyassigned to two different groups. One class was selected as theexperimental group (n=32) and the other class was consideredas the control group (n=30). The experimental group’s studentswere asked to write questions covering different topics of thesyllabus components taught during 15 weeks from February 2016to May 2016. They were asked to write, answer and explain theirmultiple-choice questions (MCQs). The students’ performance inimmunology course was compared between the two groups at theend of the semester. After their final exam, we asked them to fillin a questionnaire on their views about this activity. The data wereanalyzed by independent t- test using SPSS software, version 18.Results: The differences between pre- and post-test meanscores of the experimental and control groups were 24.53±5.74and 20.63±5.58, respectively. The results of independent t-testshowed that these differences in the two groups were significant(p=0.009). Nevertheless, most of the students stated that questionwritingactivity as a learning tool is an unfamiliar exercise andunpopular learning strategy.Conclusion: Results showed that question writing by students hasbeen found to promote learning when it is implemented as a partof the teaching curriculum in immunology course; therefore, thisactivity could be effective in improving the students’ learning.Keywords: Teaching, Learning, Classroom teaching, Student