Abstract:
The aim of this study is to explore the behavior of the female preclinincal medical students at Umm AL-Qura University regarding the way they learn physiology and suggest how this exploration can be utilized to improve the students’ learning activity. One hundred ninety three female preclinical medical students participated in this study; 132 students from second year and 61 students from third year. A questionnaire of 15 questions about how do students learn physiology was distributed. The vast majority of students recognized the importance of physiology lectures (98.4%). Acquiring knowledge is the main objective of learning physiology among 79.8% of students participated in this study. Regarding the language of lecture conduction, 69.9% of participants requested a bilingual approach (mixing English with Arabic). More than four-fifth of students (81.3) do not have the practice of fresh “immediate” study of physiology. More than three quarters of students (76.2%) depend entirely on lecture notes as a main source to learn physiology. The percentage of candidates who believe that lectures should be sufficient for them to pass the examination is 87.6%. Interestingly enough an equal percentage demands the lecturer to give them handouts. In conclusion, our female preclinical medical students are much motivated. They are highly potential to adopt a self-learning process. Their entire dependence on lecture notes as a main source of learning physiology should be eradicated. The curriculum content should be designed in a clinically oriented form. Assessment and evaluation should be revised and focus on both formative and summative aspects.
Keywords: Physiology, learning physiology