The Effects of Visual Genetics on the Learning of Students in a Problem Based Curriculum

Abstract

Computer based educational programs are being used increasingly in undergraduate programs of medical education. Of the biomedical disciplines Genetics can benefit strongly from methods of computer visualisation. In the first unit of the curriculum of medical education at the University of Limburg a computer program called Visual Genetics is used to realize the potential of (3-D) representations of genetics. The use of this program is integrated with problem based learning in the tutorial group. In this experiment there where two conditions: an experimental group, who during selfstudy not only studied books, bur also used parts of the program Visual Genetics. The control group only studied by means of books. The effects were measured by means of a test with 26 closed items and 8 open questions. Information was gathered about the way students used the computer program. The results of this experiment show that the closed items did not discriminate between the two groups. From the open questions 2 items were significantly better scored bq, the experimental group. These items comprised i) the spatial organisation of DNA in the cell and ii) the dynamics of transcription. Evaluation of the use of the computer program showed that students scored the subprograms, which covered the above items, high with regard to the educational value and spent more than average time to study these subprograms. This study suggests that computer based educational programs i) provide an useful learning tool for the perception of three-dimensional geometry of the cell and ii) increase the insight in basic mechanisms by providing comprehensive overviews in the Sonn of short animations.