Improved Student Learning of Infant Growth and Development

Abstract

All physicians who care for children require a knowledge of normal growth and development in order to detect and interpret abnormalities. Yet traditional instruction tends to focus on the ill child and rarely provides students the opportunity to follow up the cases of healthy children over a prolonged period of time. A new course was developed that enabled students to observe the longitudinal development of a normal infant from birth to age 16 months. At the completion of the course, a multiple-choice examination covering developmental concepts from birth to age 6 years was administered to the students who participated in this course (experimental group) and to two comparison Groups. The experimental group scored substantially higher than both comparison groups on items covering birth to age 18 months. The program offers an opportunity for medical students to observe the longitudinal development of a normal infant and appears complementary to other instructional methods.