Evaluation of teaching strategies in morphological subjects: evidence of validity of an instrument

Abstract

Introduction: The Faculty of Medicine of UNAM implemented the 2010 Academic Curriculum, which suggests the teacher to employ a variety of student-centered teaching strategies to promote meaningful learning; however, the teaching strategies used by teachers in the educational process are unknown.

Objective: To identify teaching strategies used by teachers in the subjects of Anatomy, Human Embryology and Cellular and Tissue Biology at the Faculty of Medicine of UNAM in the academic year 2013-2014.

Method: The teaching strategies developed in the educational space, as well as those established in the Academic Curriculum of 2010 and in the academic programs of the morphological subjects, were classified. Subsequently, a multiple choice questionnaire with a Likert-type scale, 37 statements in its final version, was designed with four answer options: never, sometimes, frequently and always to identify the teaching strategies used by teachers classified in: Student Centered; Teacher Centered; Knowledge Integration.

Results: The questionnaire was applied to 1,476 first year medical students with a valid response rate of 93%. The internal consistency analysis was determined by Cronbach Alpha coefficient with .963, with an explained variance of 51.3%. The results showed that teachers predominantly use teacher-centered strategies; however, there is a transition where they tend to employ student-centered strategies.

Conclusions: The instrument showed a good fit; it can be used in other subjects to obtain an overall perspective of the teaching strategies used by teachers in the Faculty under the Curriculum of 2010. Since teacher-centered strategies are widely used, it is suggested a stronger diffusion between the teachers of student-centered strategies in order to achieve the profile required of the teacher under the Curriculum of 2010.