Small group medical teaching is challenging and rewarding. When performed well, it allows clinicians to guide their own learning and rephrase the material in their own words. They can clarify questions with the facilitator and their peers and synthesise new concepts and slot them into their existing experience to build new linkages.
Lessons
Introduction to Small Group Medical Teaching
Lesson 1 – General Features of Small Group Teaching
What makes something “Small Group Teaching” – is it numbers of participants, is it the size of the classroom, is it the type of discussion or teaching style employed? In…
Lesson 2 – Teacher and Learner Characteristics
Small group learning is commonly found in university and post graduate education because of its ability to better meet the needs of adult learners. In order for the learning to…
Lesson 3 – Type 1 – Seminars and Large Group Tutorials
Seminars and Large Group Tutorials These types of small group encounters are often thought of as a smaller version of a lecture. The group is usually around 10-30 participants and the…
Lesson 4 – Type 2 – Problem Based Learning
Problem Based Learning – Solving the open-ended question Howard Barrows and colleagues formulated Problem Based learning philosophy at the Mc Master University in Hamilton Canada in the 1960s. The Theory…
Lesson 5 – Type 3 – Enquiry Based Learning
Enquiry Based Learning – the focus is on enquiry This teaching method appears to be a hybrid approach between the seminar which may be somewhat teacher led and Problem Based Learning (PBL)…
Lesson 6 – Summary
Advantages of Small Group Learning Appeals to adult learners – allows the learning to be relevant, self directed, self motivated, experiential Fosters cognitive linkages and increased retention in long term…