Survey of Laboratory Science Students' Views about the Advantages of Quizes during the Semester Including Microbiology Course

Introduction Traditional teacher-centered methods of teaching and learning are passive and affected by teacher's functions and horizons. Today, active teaching methods include teaching  students to be able to observe the situation for exploring and thinking deeper about the issue or problem . So the aim of this study is to survey students' views about the advantages of quizzes  in studying microbiology course. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2011 in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. Study population was all 24 students of the fifth semester of laboratory science. First, the students were taught about quizzes  and methods, and then they  were given a questionnaire containing 11 questions. These questions were classified in three domains: student motivation, class participation, and lower side activities. Students' responses were assessed according to the following scores: 1= strongly disagree to or less than 25%, 2= disagree, or between 26 and 50%, 3= agree, or between 51 and 75%, 4= strongly agree or more than 76 percent. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were assessed with the help of experts and  Cronbach's alpha test. Result At learning increase domain 55.17%, increasing student motivation 62.07%, participating in class 34.4% and decreasing the side activities 10.34%, from the view point of the students, quizzes were effective in teaching microbiology course. Conclusion The results of this study show that quiz taking  is an effective way to increase student learning, so it is recommended that instructors increase the effectiveness of their teaching methods by applying them in their teaching schedule.