(23) Effectiveness of an analogy-containing video project to reinforce pharmacy students’ learning of kidney physiology

Objective : Kidney physiology is one of the most difficult topics covered in health professions education. Video production and analogies are active learning techniques. This study examined the effectiveness of an analogy-containing video project to reinforce pharmacy students’ knowledge of kidney physiology.

Methods: Students enrolled in a basic science course were assigned in groups to create a video that used analogy to explain kidney physiology. Rubrics, survey responses, and objective tests were used to assess the project’s effectiveness. Pearson’s correlation was used to determine association between number of roles or time spent on the project and perceived effectiveness. Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare average percent scores on kidney physiology vs. non-physiology quiz items.

Results: Students generated various analogies, e.g., making tea, cars and roads and college application process to explain kidney physiology. Most of the submitted videos (12/14) successfully met all criteria (e.g., accuracy of information, use of relevant analogy) in the rubric. All students (n=71) believed that the project was effective, to varying degrees, in reinforcing their knowledge of kidney physiology. Time spent on the project positively correlated (r=0.25; P< 0.05) with perceived effectiveness and achievement of most of the learning objectives investigated (0.24< r < 0.41; P< 0.05). Students’ average scores were higher on kidney physiology (84%) vs. non-physiology (74%) quiz items. Moreover, students in the bottom 27% significantly performed better (P < 0.05) on physiology vs. non-physiology questions. About 60% of students recommended use of videos as a class assignment. Only 50% believed that they should be used as an alternative to quiz. Students suggested changes to group collaboration to improve implementation of video projects.

Conclusions: An analogy-containing video project effectively reinforced student learning of kidney physiology.