Empowering Students to Create Their Dramatizations Increases Understanding of Physiology.

Complex subjects such as physiology can be challenging for students to learn. These challenges are not uncommon in implementing learning process in physiology and affect learning outcomes. Dramatization is an interactive and effective method to improve learning outcomes. In a project designed by senior medical students, junior medical students were guided in creating dramatizations related to three topics. Senior students were trained and assisted to prepare scenarios and making videos. The dramatizations were then carried with junior medical students to help them better understand physiology and pathophysiology topics. A group of junior students receiving the same topics in a lecture format served as a control group. Pre-test and post-test questionnaires were used to measure the improvement of learning outcomes. Assessment results showed an increase in performance in both groups. This study shows that dramatizations provide an effective alternative to lecture for instructing junior medical students.