Experience of educational innovation with Team-Based Learning in preclinical medical education

Abstract

Introduction: Medical education requires active, student-centered methodologies that promote knowledge integration and clinical reasoning. Team-Based Learning has been used as a strategy to foster active learning processes and collaboration, particularly in large health sciences courses.
Objective: To describe academic performance in specific assessments associated with Team-Based Learning sessions, student perceptions, and faculty reflections regarding the implementation of Team-Based Learning in an integrative preclinical medical course that articulates pathophysiology, anatomical pathology, and clinical pharmacology.
Methods: A mixed-methods action research study was conducted using Team-Based Learning as a teaching-learning strategy. Fifty-six third-year medical students participated. Entry and exit knowledge assessments were administered in individual and team formats, along with integrative clinical case resolution, end-of-course perception surveys, and a structured faculty reflection process for each intervention. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic coding.
Results: Individual test scores showed medians between 70% and 90% achievement across sessions. Team performance was consistently higher than individual performance, with median team test scores close to the maximum value. Post-session individual performance also remained high, with medians above 90% achievement. Student perceptions were largely favorable, highlighting collaborative work, a respectful climate, and benefits in critical thinking and self-regulation. Challenges identified included time management and the complexity of some clinical cases. Regarding faculty reflection, the experience was pedagogically relevant to the discipline, with methodological mastery and the development of reflection from descriptive to analytic.
Conclusions: Implementation of this strategy was associated with satisfactory academic performance at both individual and team levels, as well as favorable perceptions of transversal competencies and the creation of a collaborative learning climate. Teaching and logistical management—whose optimization proved essential for consolidating this methodology—was identified as a critical factor for its sustained integration into medical training.