Abstract:

Medical histology is a basic science that deals with concepts and facts regarding the microscopic structure of the human body. Histology has traditionally been taught as a lecture and microscopy-based practical course using glass slides and microscopes and it is based on reception learning. However, a new era has been implemented using virtual microscope in order to improve the self- discovery learning process. Self-discovery learning is a constructive learning method that takes place without systematic external guidance and differs from tutorization and continuos instructions of reception learning method. The use of virtual microscope implies autonomous exploration of the histological images by simply dragging the mouse and changing the file of interest accompained by the observation at different magnifications with a click. This method increases discussion and collaboration while increasing the speed and efficiency of learning without the need of light microscope. Virtual microscope, encourages active learning enviroment and also places the students at the forefront of their own learning process being an useful tool for self- discovery learning.

The knowledge about the students perceptions and their preferences is necessary for better design of self-discovery strategies in medical histology. In this study we have investigated male and female student´s preferences for optical (OM) and virtual microscope (VM) in a medical histology practical course. To achieve this, 90 first year medical students enrolled in medical histology course were evaluated. All students received 10 practical histology units (20 hours) where 5 (10 hours) units were taught using OM and 5 units (10 hours) with VM. Each student received both methods during the practical course. Each student completed a questionnaire after the whole practical units were performed in order to evaluate the student´s perceptions and preferences. The questionnare consisted on four questions regarding OM and four questions related to VM the students have to answer to each question using a Likert scale from 1 to 5. Finally, a statistical test was used to analyze the results on the students perceptions and preferences for OM vs VM.

Our results showed that both, OM and VM are adequate for histology learning as revealed by the high scores obtained for both types of methods. MO and VM tools were easy to manage and facilite the localization of histological structures during the visualization for all the students. However, most of the students significantly prefer to use VM to study the histological componets of human tissues. The gender analysis revealed differences being statistically significant for men vs women for VM.These results suggest that VM should be included as an important tool for teaching human histology due to promote the self-discovery learning by the students.