Incorporating active learning into a traditional curriculum.

During the past three academic years, "self-learning exercises" (SLEs) have been incorporated into the Medical Physiology course for first-year students at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Roughly 20-30% of the material covered in the course is presented to the students in the form of these exercises, instead of in lectures. The exercises are intended to help the students develop skills in active learning and problem solving. Formal analysis of student performances on multiple-choice exam questions showed that the SLEs did not significantly impair learning evaluated by this traditional means. Student feedback was strongly negative the first year and prompted a number of revisions in the format of the SLEs, which seem to have made them more palatable, without negating their emphasis on active learning and application of material.