The Effect of Team-Based Learning on the Performance of Medical Students in the Medical Physics Course

Team-based learning (TBL) is an active and participatory learning process, which is used to train students on health topics.

The present study aimed to assess the effect of TBL in teaching a medical physics course on the poor performance of the students.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 28 medical students at Qom University of Medical Sciences, Iran who were unable to pass the medical physics course in the past semesters. At the beginning the 10-session course, eight questions with four options were provided to the students, and the students had to answer the questions individually within a specified time. After collecting the questionnaire responses, participants were divided into six groups and completed the same test as a team. Afterwards, each question was displayed on a smart board and discussed.

After the procedures of the study, all the participants successfully completed the medical physics course. At the end of the course, 90% of the students reported that the TBL method was more appropriate than lecture, and 80% of the students believed that the TBL method encouraged them to participate in the learning process. In the final exam, the scores of the students in the medical physics course increased by 3.95 ± 2.09 units with the TBL method compared to the prior course, and the difference was considered significant (P < 0.01).

According to the results, the implementation of TBL in the medical physics course improved the learning motivation, satisfaction, and mean scores of the students with poor performance.