Neuroanatomy teaching in the flipped classroom: Attitudes and effect on medical students' performance

BACKGROUND: Neuroanatomy is essential to clinical neurosciences and is one of the most difficult components of the anatomy curriculum. Flipped classrooms are one of the pedagogical approaches that have been found to enhance students' abilities and encourage in-depth learning. The current study aims to assess the attitudes and effects of flipped classrooms on neuroanatomy teaching among medical students compared to traditional classrooms. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was carried out during the period January through June 2023. The effectiveness of teaching neuroanatomy in flipped classrooms versus traditional classrooms was assessed using formative assessment and a pre-designed structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed of four sections assessing different domains on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). RESULTS: The total sample reached 214 students. Most students' attitude statements covering skills, knowledge and learning process, and length of time were significantly in favor of flipped teaching at the expense of traditional teaching. Then mean examination grades were significantly higher for pre-test flipped and post-test flipped in comparison to pre-test and post-test traditional examination. CONCLUSIONS: Although the flipped classroom is an effective method of learning neuroanatomy as compared to traditional classes, it faces some challenges in its implementation. Such challenges need awareness and solutions from educational institutions.