Innovations in curriculum design: A multi-disciplinary approach to teaching statistics to undergraduate medical students

dc.creator	Staniforth David
dc.creator	Collier Steve
dc.creator	Freeman Jenny V
dc.creator	Smith Kevin J
dc.date	2008-05-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-08-12T11:23:08Z
dc.date.available	2015-08-12T11:23:08Z
dc.identifier	10.1186/1472-6920-8-28
dc.identifier	1472-6920
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/8b627d8d501e4158b3b42bcdcc0bc78c
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/29581
dc.description	<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Statistics is relevant to students and practitioners in medicine and health sciences and is increasingly taught as part of the medical curriculum. However, it is common for students to dislike and under-perform in statistics. We sought to address these issues by redesigning the way that statistics is taught.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The project brought together a statistician, clinician and educational experts to re-conceptualize the syllabus, and focused on developing different methods of delivery. New teaching materials, including videos, animations and contextualized workbooks were designed and produced, placing greater emphasis on applying statistics and interpreting data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two cohorts of students were evaluated, one with old style and one with new style teaching. Both were similar with respect to age, gender and previous level of statistics. Students who were taught using the new approach could better define the key concepts of p-value and confidence interval (p < 0.001 for both). They were more likely to regard statistics as integral to medical practice (p = 0.03), and to expect to use it in their medical career (p = 0.003). There was no significant difference in the numbers who thought that statistics was essential to understand the literature (p = 0.28) and those who felt comfortable with the basics of statistics (p = 0.06). More than half the students in both cohorts felt that they were comfortable with the basics of medical statistics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Using a variety of media, and placing emphasis on interpretation can help make teaching, learning and understanding of statistics more people-centred and relevant, resulting in better outcomes for students.</p>
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	BioMed Central
dc.relation	http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/8/28
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1472-6920
dc.rights	CC BY
dc.source	BMC Medical Education, Vol 8, Iss 1, p 28 (2008)
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	DOAJ:Medicine (General)
dc.subject	DOAJ:Health Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	DOAJ:Medicine (General)
dc.subject	DOAJ:Health Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Medicine (General)
dc.subject	R5-920
dc.subject	Medicine
dc.subject	R
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Innovations in curriculum design: A multi-disciplinary approach to teaching statistics to undergraduate medical students
dc.type	article