Research Article

Comparative study of chalkboard teaching over

PowerPoint teaching as a teaching tool in undergraduate
medical teaching
Shrikrishna Nagorao Bamne1, Avantika Shrikrishna Bamne2
1
Department of Physiology, Index Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
2
Department of Anatomy, Index Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Correspondence to: Shrikrishna Nagorao Bamne, E-mail: shrikrishna_bamne@rediffmail.com

Received July 1, 2016. Accepted July 14, 2016.

Abstract

Background: Teaching aids like chalkboard, PowerPoint (PPT), etc. have been used in undergraduate medical teaching
but the superiority of these aids over one another has not been proven.
Objective: The present study was conducted to evaluate the impact of the chalkboard and PPT based lectures in
undergraduate medical teaching on medical students.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted in Department of Physiology, Index Medical College Hospital &
research centre, Indore, India. Hundred medical students were randomly divided into two groups and two lectures were
delivered on two different topics. For one topic, for one group lecture was delivered using chalkboard, for second group,
same topic was delivered using PPT presentation. And for second topic, for first group lecture was delivered using PPT
and for second group using chalkboard. Single-best Multiple Choice Questions [MCQs] paper was used for assessing
the knowledge gained on the next day. One direct question to note student preferences for these aids was included. The
differences in the marks obtained in the two groups were analyzed by independent student’s “t”-test.
Results: Students who attended the class using chalkboard obtained significantly higher score in MCQ test compared to
those who attended the same content based lecture using PowerPoint (p < 0.05). The chalkboard lectures were preferred
by 87% of the students.
Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that chalkboard teaching has the advantage of a better recall
besides being the most preferred aid among first year medical students.
KEY WORDS: Chalkboard, lectures, PowerPoint, teaching aids

Introduction During lecture, both the visual and auditory senses are avail-
able to absorb information and assistance in the form of a visual
Lectures have been the most common form of teaching aid is useful (Sahu and Supe, 2000).[1] A chalkboard is uniquely
and learning since ancient times (Brown and Atkins, 1988). effective as a medium of class-room instruction and has been
A lecture has its own merits; otherwise this form of teaching used commonly in the lectures. Recently, the use of electronic
would have ceased.[1] presentations is now common in medical colleges, as in other
colleges and universities. Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) is the
most popular package used out of all electronic presentations.
Educationists are divided on the superiority of chalkboard
Access this article online
teaching or PPT or OHP use for teaching. According to Novelli
Website: http://www.ijmsph.com Quick Response Code: and Fernandes (2007), traditional classes with blackboard pres-
DOI: 10.5455/ijmsph.2016.01072016532
entation were the most favored by students in biomedicine and
medicine courses, while Rocklin (1998) suggests that the use of
PowerPoint is a driving force for teachers to “help their students
to learn”.[1]
Considering the diverse views about the teaching meth-
odologies, in the present study, we assess the students’

International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health Online 2016. © 2016 Shrikrishna Nagorao Bamne. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.

International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health | 2016 | Vol 5 | Issue 12 2585
 Comparative study of chalkboard teaching over PPT

preferences for various lecture delivery methods, using chalk-

GROUP A GROUP B
board, using PowerPoint presentations.
Chalkboard aid is inexpensive; easy to clean and reuse,
allows students to keep pace with the teacher and is not
dependent on electricity.[2]
PPT has the advantage of using colors, fonts, diagrams, LECTURE WITH CHALK BOARD
and animation. Its disadvantage is that dim light causes loss
of eye contact; note taking is difficult, has tendency to over- LECTURE WITH POWERPOINT
load information and needs electricity.[2]
There is a need to evaluate the impact of this change on
the knowledge gained by students.
Therefore, the present study was planned in Index Medical 25 MARKS MCQ TEST
College, Indore to compare the impact of the PPT and chalk-
board in undergraduate medical teaching by assessing the
knowledge based on the marks obtained and studying student
preferences for these aids. LECTURE WITH POWERPOINT

Objectives: LECTURE WITH CHALK-BOARD

1. To evaluate the impact of the chalkboard and PPT-based
lectures in undergraduate medical teaching on medical
students.
2. To get structured feedback from students about this form
of teaching-learning media. 25 MARKS MCQ TEST

Material and Methods Results

This study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Table 1 shows the comparison of marks obtained by the
Index Medical College, Indore. The study was approved by students using the two teaching aids. Significantly higher
the Institutional Ethics Committee. A total of 100 medical stu- marks were obtained by students who were taught using
dents who were from first year MBBS were included in this chalkboard compared to those students who were taught
study. The students were randomly divided into two groups. using PPT. Briefly, 87% students prefer blackboard teaching
over teaching using PPT (Figure 1).
I. TOPIC I: GROUP A: Teaching done with chalk and board
GROUP B: Teaching done with PowerPoint presentations
II. TOPIC II: GROUP A: Teaching done with PowerPoint Discussion
presentations
GROUP B: Teaching done with chalk and board This study clearly highlights the point that the preference
for the method of lecture delivery in order of priority of teaching
Comparison of means of marks across groups was per- aids was chalkboard > PowerPoint (PPT). Also more number
formed by ‘t’-test. The students were asked to fill the struc- of students preferred chalkboard (87%) over PPT (13%). The
tured questionnaire about their views and perception of two medical students significantly preferred the use of chalkboard.
methods of lecture delivery e.g. chalkboard and PowerPoint Hence, the most probable reason for the noted difference of
presentation .Feedback given by students were evaluated opinion might be as below:
on a three point Likert scale (i.e., agree, no opinion, and 1. There is no doubt that learning is better when the learner
disagree). is active rather than passive.

Table 1: Comparison of marks obtained by the students in the two groups

Parameter Chalkboard (Mean ± SD) (n = 50) PPT (Mean ± SD) (n = 50) Significance level

Marks obtained (Topic 1) 19.92 ± 3.148 16.98 ± 2.084 0.000

Marks obtained (Topic 2) 19.86 ± 2.821 17.66 ± 1.985 0.000

SD = standard deviation.

2586 International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health | 2016 | Vol 5 | Issue 12
 Comparative study of chalkboard teaching over PPT

6. The main reason for disliking this technique are that it

needs the room to be darkened, it takes longer to set up
the projection, and any power failure interrupts the lecture.
Some teachers go too fast and then students find it difficult
to take down the notes and diagrams and students become
a passive observer rather than an active participant.[1]
7. Judicious use of animations makes PPT more interesting
and has a lasting impact. It is ideal for fast revision and
quick overview of the subject and for seminars.[1]
8. PPT presentations should contain more diagrams and flow
charts and less text. Points should appear line by line and
each point should also be explained and not just skipped over.

Implications:
Results of this study will definitely motivate faculties of the
institute to increasing use of chalkboard as a teaching tool
in undergraduate teaching. And judicious use of audiovisual
aids while taking lectures.

Conclusion

In the present study, blackboard teaching is found to be

Figure 1: Preference of students for teaching aids. effective teaching tool as compared to PowerPoint teaching.
The medical students in our feedback preferred the use of
Teaching with chalkboard engages the learners actively blackboard teaching significantly over the PowerPoint teaching.
and the learners always become attentive to that what the
teacher is writing and providing knowledge on the board. Acknowledgment
In this traditional method, the teacher can easily engage
the learners actively because students think on each writ- The author (SNB) would like to thank our medical edu-
ten or discussed point on the board.[3] cation unit and our vice dean for his continuous support and
2. With the chalkboard method, the lectures are clear and encouragement for this project.
understandable, interesting and interactive; they stimu-
late their interest and advance their understanding of the
subject. Most importantly, the students are able to take References
down the notes and diagrams. Also teachers find flexibility
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sons for liking this technique are that it provides a better study of chalkboard teaching over PowerPoint teaching as a
quality of text and diagrams, and it avoids the issue of teaching tool in undergraduate medical teaching. Int J Med Sci
dirty blackboard and faulty chalks. PPT is more inter- Public Health 2016;5:2585-2587
esting because it can incorporate animations, pictures, Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared.
graphs, 3D images, sequence of images, and videos.[1]

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