Motivating First year medical students to learn biochemistry by Case based learning

Objectives: Innovative curriculum with case based learning is proven to improve the academic performance of biochemistry in medical students. Thus it was of interest to see if students get motivated & understand the concepts of biochemistry better by CBL. Materials & Methods: First year MBBS students (n=210) were divided into 2 groups. Biochemistry was reinforced to Group 1(Roll numbers 1-100, control) by regular teaching, and group 2 (Roll numbers 101-210, test) was exposed to CBL. Assessment was done by administering six case based questions. Feedback was obtained on a five point Likert scale about perception on CBL. Results: Group 2 performed better in four questions than group 1 and showed similar performance in 1 question. 81.69 % agreed CBL motivated to learn Biochemistry, 79.07% agreed CBL helped understand the subject better, 79.07% stated CBL promoted meaningful learning, 75.15% agreed CBL helped in development of critical thinking, 88.23% said biochemistry is useful in diagnosis & care, 79.73% suggested CBL should be implemented to all topics of biochemistry, 78.42% voted interactive review sessions involving CBL would be more effective. Conclusion: Reinforcing biochemistry by CBL motivates, promotes meaningful learning, helps development of critical thinking and assured first year medical students that biochemistry is helpful in patient diagnosis & care.