Preparation of a supplementary guide on diagnostic tests in medicine for G. C. E. advanced level students and teachers

Abstract

Diagnostic tests in medicine are part of the unit 4, functional animal of the Biology curriculum. This is difficult subject area for students and the teachers. This study was done to identify the deficiencies regarding teaching and learning in this section, to prepare a supplementary guide depending on the requirements of the students and teachers with a help of an expert and to evaluate the usefulness of the supplementary guide In the first of this study, two separate pre- tested self administeredquestionnaire was given to the 700 of students and 50 Biology Teachers who were randomly selected from the Southern Province. Data was collected on the relevance, benefits, problems identified with existing resources and the need for a study guide to suit the requirements of the students. Eighty eight percent of the teachers and 94% of students felt that the subject was very important the rest felt it was important. Majority of students had no satisfactory knowledge of the scientific basis of most of the tests with best being for blood sugar 15 1(21.57 %) and X-ray 117(16.71%). The poorest knowledge was for Blood picture14 (2%) followed by UFR and ESR 15 (2.14%). Only 50% of the teachers had learned about these at the university and 80% had not had any training on these tests. Nearly all the teachers and 98.39 % of the students felt the available text books give either too much or too little information. Majority (84% in each group) felt the need for a supplementary book According to their suggestions a supplementary guide was prepared and was corrected by an expert and translated to Sinhala. The Supplementary guide was evaluated by a structured question paper given to twenty randomly selected students in Matara Educational Zone. All the students had improved scoring in the post test indicating effectiveness of the supplementary guide. In conclusion I found that the section on diagnostic tests in the biology curriculum was considered important by majority of the teachers and students. But majority also had problems of teaching and learning in this section. A supplementary guide in Sinhala is likely to enhance learning in this area.