Situational interest in team-based learning

Abstract

Purpose: Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a teaching strategy that has become increasingly popular in medical education. While studies have been done regarding outcomes from TBL, there is a lack of research about the TBL process itself. In this study, the aim is to investigate how situational interest – a transient form of interest which is evoked by one’s engagement with a task – changes during the different phases of TBL. Method: A class of second-year undergraduate medical students in Singapore participated in this study. Situational interest was measured after every TBL phase using a micro-analytical Measurement approach, and the data were analysed using a one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Results showed that there was a significant main effect of the TBL stages on situational interest, (F(2.72,215.16)=6.09, p=0.001, ηp 2=0.07). Situational interest remained stable during the initial stages of TBL, and decreased in the Post-Burning Questions phase, and increased in the Post-Application Exercise phase. Conclusion: TBL is generally quite stimulating in terms of generating situational interest, and the trend of situational interest during TBL conforms to the prevailing knowledge-deprivation hypothesis that awareness of a knowledge gap results in increased situational interest during learning.