Team-Based Learning; A New Strategy in Integrated Medical Curriculum: The experience of School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Revising medical curricula & establishing reformed programs result in refined educational methods which are accompanied by development of active & student-based teaching methods such as Team Based Learning (TBL). This paper describes an experience of implementation and evaluation findings of TBL according to medical students’ viewpoints. This action research was planned for a census sample (n=187) basic science students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences with the new curriculum. After briefing the students about TBL and forming teams we did TBL in the following steps: Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT)، Team Readiness Assurance Test (TRAT)، appeal، Team Application (TAP)، and peer assessment; in 15% of each program block. Data gathered by observation recording sheets، and a researcher-made questionnaire، and analyzed using descriptive statistics. A major part of the students (63. 8%) have admitted TBL as a deep learning approach. Students believed that TRATs were useful (46. 2%)، team application was a learning facilitator in TBL classes (51. 7%) and the class management was suitable (60. 5%). The observational data showed that the students changed their seats in order to take part in group discussions. They were listening carefully، asking questions and giving reference to support their claims. Some were against this method because it increased their study workload. It seems TBL has a positive effect on deep learning and facilitates learning. The results indicate that TBL results in cooperative & active learning، and it improves class activity and may be، because of the developed interaction between students، it can promote communication skills. We recommend the use of TBL as a teaching method، beside other teaching methods، in medical sciences education.