Keith Stevenson

Medical students are from Mars - business and psychology students are from Venus - University teachers are from Pluto?

This study explores further the reasons given by the first year medical students in comparison with first year business and first year psychology students for their selection of lectures, student role play, and student presentations as their least preferred teaching method. The reasons were originally given in a questionnaire exploring student expectations of university teaching completed by 195 medical, 128 business and 72 psychology students in their first week at university (Sander et al, 2000). The analysis reported here suggests that whilst students irrespective of course gave similar reasons for not liking lectures, there were subtle differences between medical students and business and psychology students in the reasons they gave for not liking student role play and student presentations. These differences suggest that many first year medical students can be suspicious of the value of student centred learning methods. Teachers hoping to use these methods should acknowledge student suspicion and work to help students see the value of these techniques to encourage their full participation.