THE COMPARISON BETWEEN MEDIA/ TEACHING AIDS AND DISCUSSION GROUPS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY LECTURE AMONG PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCES’ STUDENTS

The aim of study was to compare different types of teaching in epidemiology lecture among public health sciences’ students. It was a comparable study (cross- sectional study), among public health sciences’ students who registered in year 2011- 2012, at the faculty of health sciences, Ahvaz Jundishapur University Medical Sciences, Iran. Twenty two subjects (n= 22) of public health group, faculty of Health Sciences who registered in year 2011- 2012 were involved. The investigator was taught two different types of teaching of topics, with using media such as power point slides, films or videos and creating discussion groups. The epidemiology lecture was included of types of prevention in different categories of diseases, experimental and observational studies in Epidemiology. At the end of each lecture, the students were tested by an exam. The exam consisted of 20 optional questions. Each correct answer was marked as one score. The total and highest score was 20. The results of students were compared to evaluate the best type of teaching. The results showed that mean score of fundamental epidemiology lecture in both first and second semester was higher in teaching by making discussion groups compare to teaching using media. Similar trend was noted for observational and experimental study in first and second semester (p< 0.05 for all parameters). It could be concluded that teaching by making discussion groups is most effective than teaching by using media aids for the three epidemiology subjects.