Contemporary methods of teaching undergraduate medical students

Contemporary teaching methods

Abstract

The most practical definition of teaching describes it as “a process that facilitates learning”. Within this perspective, the role of a teacher is envisaged as a guide, mentor, and facilitator who supports students in their pursuit of knowledge. Many teaching approaches have been described, which has generated frequent debates in the literature concerning their relative effectiveness. The following section explains some of the modern methods of teaching along with the educational theories that underpin them.

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (1896-1934), a Russian psychologist, presented the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Unfortunately, he died at a young age of 37 and most of his scholarly work was published posthumously.