Assessment of educational performance of different teaching methodologies applied to medical students

Background: Modernization of medical teaching includes the use of new teach ing methodologies and among these, computer assisted tutorials. Previous ex perience has shown that this type of methodology is associated with better student performances. Aim: To assess the cognitive performance of fourth ye ar medical students using different teaching methodologies. Material and me thods: During the hypertension course, medical students were allowed to cho ose to receive a printed booklet (group A), to receive the booklet and atte nd lectures (group B), to receive the booklet and use a multimedial educati onal program group C) and to use all three methodologies (group D). Cogniti ve performance was evaluated with a multiple choice test scored from 0 to 1 00. Results: The mean scores obtained by students were 84.5 in group A, 82. 4 in group B. 88.9 in group C and 84.4 in group D. This overall score of 83 .6 in hypertension was significantly better than the mean score of 72.5 obt ained in the cardiology test. Conclusions: Allowing students to choose the most suitable method to learn according to their personal preferences, resu lts in a better cognitive performance.