147 - Perceptions and Attitudes of the Pre-university Students About the Hands-on and Team-based Learning Experience of Anatomy and Physiology Outreach

Poster Board Number: 147
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Introduction and objective: Outreach activities motivate and inspire prospective students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. These activities that emulate medical school preclinical education lacks evidence. This study examined the attitudes and perceptions of pre-university students towards integrated anatomy and physiology outreach in terms of their learning experiences and motivation to pursue a career in health care.
Material and methods: A two day anatomy and physiology outreach event with the theme of HEART and GUTS for medicine was conducted by adapting a similar learning environment for anatomy practical and Team Based Learning (TBL) at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. The participants were junior colleges and polytechnic students in Singapore. Duration of each day is 6 hours (3 hours of practical and 3 hours of TBL) respectively. Students engaged in hands-on multimodal anatomy practical and team-based learning pedagogy. Workshop efficacy and utilization were evaluated using a four-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree to 4=strongly agree) and open-ended questions. Free-text comments were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.
Results: There were 90 pre-university students from 21 pre-university institutions. Most students felt the course materials were adequate (Mean ± SD = 3.56 ± 0.56) and met the learning objectives (3.72 ± 0.52). The instructors were clear (3.72 ± 0.52) and effective (3.70 ± 0.53). They like with the organization of the outreach session (3.64 ± 0.48) and held high motivation to study medicine or allied/biomedical sciences (3.69 ± 0.53). Practical and team-based learning were valued highly (3.63 ± 0.53 and 3.58 ± 0.53, respectively). 100% of respondents recommended this course to peers. Thematic analysis revealed gaining perspectives, unique learning settings, motivation and aspirations, sense of satisfaction and interaction with facilitators.
Conclusion: Structured outreaches offer unique possibilities to experience medical school preclinical learning environment.
Significance and implication: The novel outreach activities have a positive impact on encouraging and motivating students towards future health profession careers.