STATISTINE METODE V EPIDEMIOLOGIJI

One of the very important uses of this teaching method is in assessment
how much students have learned and how comfortable they will be in using their
knowledge in solving problems in the future.
10. Role-playing (26,35,36).
In role-playing, students are provided with a situation in which they are involved, and a
role to play. They are asked to adopt a role, and play it. Afterwards they are required to
debrief the experience, analysing the scenario, discuss their feelings, etc.
This method is extremely helpful in gaining skills in interacting with other
people, since it is an effective way to get students familiar with realistic situations. On
the other hand, the major disadvantage is that shy students could find this method
stressful. For overcoming this problem, a role is given to a group of students who work
out the details, but the role is actually played only by one of them.
Role-playing could be performed in small groups, as well as a frontal roleplaying
in front of the total group.
11. “Pro et contra” discussion (34,35).
“Pro et contra” discussion is a special type of group discussion. It could be also
partially seen as role playing.
Two groups of students are given opposing positions to defend an opinion,
standpoint, etc.
12. Critical event analysis (35).
This method is basing upon very concrete personal experience of students. Each student
presents his/her concrete event, related to the topic under discussion. On the basis of
personal story in the group discussion concrete solutions could be gained.
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL was originally developed at the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University
around 1965. PBL is an approach to learning and instruction in which students tackle
problems in small groups under the supervision of a tutor. In most of the cases, a problem
consists of a description of a set of phenomena or events than can be perceived in reality.
These phenomena have to be analysed or explained by the tutorial group in terms of
underlying principles, mechanisms or processes. The tools used in order to do that are
discussion of the problem and studying relevant resources. Typically, tutorial groups
range from 5 to 10 students and one tutor, who may not only be skilled in group process,
but expert in content, or may be primarily a facilitator. (40,41)
The core concept in PBL is that the process of problem identification and problem
solving can be a powerful way of learning because it is active, goal directed, and
germane. Problem identification opens the door to a personal investment in problemsolving.
PBL has the following cognitive effects on student learning:
• activation of prior knowledge – the initial analysis of a problem stimulates the
retrieval of knowledge acquired earlier;
• elaboration on prior knowledge through small group discussion, both before or
after new knowledge has been acquired – active processing of new information;
• restructuring of knowledge in order to fit the problem presented - construction
of an appropriate semantic network.
• learning in context. The problem serves as a scaffold for storing cues that may
support retrieval of relevant knowledge when needed for similar problems.
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