AN INNOVATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING ASSESSMENT FOR GROUPS OF FIRST-YEAR MEDICAL UNDERGRADUATES - THINK TANKS

A problem-solving assessment has been devised and used for groups of f irst-year medical students at Southampton University. Five cohorts of approximate to 160 students have taken the assessment since 1990. The assessment was part of a Locomotor system course that integrated biolo gical and behavioural sciences and clinical specialities. The course a lso included lectures, practicals and tutorials and occupied the first 7 weeks of the last (10-week) term. Other assessments of the course i nvolved essay writing and a spotter-type practical. For the problem-so lving assessment, groups of about six students ('Think Tanks') receive d a problem which they had to investigate during the course. The stude nts had some choice in the problem they were to study. The problems we re designed, by staff, to cover aspects of movement in the context of health and disease. A staff advisor was assigned to each Think Tank gr oup to provide general support. The results of the investigations of e ach Think Tank were displayed at the end of the course in the form of a poster aimed at informing their peers. Three members of staff gave e ach Think Tank group a communal oral examination and the performance o f the group was given a grade. Each member of the group, normally, was allowed to add this grade to their marks for the whole year.