Comparison of Self-directed Learning and Didactic Lecture in Teaching Clinical Anatomy to 1st Year MBBS Students

Introduction: Anatomy is an important basic science that lays the foundation for clinical courses in MBBS curriculum. To make it interesting and clinically useful, several innovative teaching–learning methods are introduced in competency based medical education, where the students take the responsibility for their learning. In health care professional studies, self-directed learning (SDL) is considered an indispensable learning parameter. Objectives: (1) To compare the effectiveness of SDL with didactic lectures in learning clinical anatomy among 1 st year medical students. (2) To assess the retention of knowledge by students through SDL. Materials and Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional comparative observational study conducted on 124 Phase I MBBS between the ages of 18 and 25 years of both sex students of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, Rohini, Delhi. They were divided into 2 batches (Batch A and B) of 62 each. On the 1 st day, Batch A was given a didactic lecture, while Batch B underwent an SDL session with all the study materials provided. A multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) was administered through a Google form after a didactic lecture and SDL session to each group. On the 2 nd day, the batches were reversed, and another similar topic was dealt with, and assessment was done through the MCQ test. Knowledge retention was assessed by another MCQ test of the same topics, conducted 4 weeks after the SDL session. A paired t -test score comparing both methods reported that the after SDL was more compared than didactic lectures. Results: Mean ± standard deviation a paired t -test comparing both methods reported that the scores after SDL were more compared to didactic lectures. Conclusion: SDL as a teaching–learning method in anatomy is a more effective method for learning, improving, and retention of knowledge for students. Hence, students choose SDL as it improves the understanding of the subject and helps to clear up doubts.