Middle school meets MedEd: Five K-12 teaching strategies medical educators should know

Abstract

While the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the way medical educators develop and deliver content, it has also presented an opportunity for innovation. As students, trainees, and faculty design new curricula and employ new learning modalities, primary and secondary school offer a wealth of teaching strategies and ideas for medical education. In this Personal View, the authors share their experience as former middle school teachers and current medical students to offer five valuable teaching strategies – backwards planning, the 5E model, setting norms, scaffoldings, and checks for understanding (CFUs) – for medical educators to incorporate into their practice.

Keywords:

• Medical education
• teaching strategies
• undergraduate medical education
• 5E model

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors report no funding for this piece.

Notes on contributors

Marina Gaeta Gazzola

Marina Gaeta Gazzola is a final year medical student at the Yale School of Medicine and previously taught middle school bilingual science in New Haven Public Schools.

Madisen A. Swallow

Madisen A. Swallow is a second-year medical student at the Yale School of Medicine and former middle school science teacher in New Haven.

Thilan P. Wijesekera

Thilan P. Wijesekera, MD, MHS is an Assistant Professor in the Section of General of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Reasoning.