Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39508135›Full record

ArticleAnatomical sciences education2025

Effect of peer facilitation in anatomy small group curriculum on academic performance and retention: A pilot study.

Phoebe L Li, Rijul Asri, George Holan, Christin Traba, Sophia Chen, Jeremy J Grachan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Anatomical sciences education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Phoebe L LiOffice of Education, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6120-2787
Rijul AsriDepartment of Psychiatry, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3280-3786
George HolanOffice of Education, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1862-6081
Christin TrabaOffice of Education, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6367-297X
Sophia ChenOffice of Education, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0573-5463
Jeremy J GrachanOffice of Education, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2090-407X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Peer-assisted learning and group facilitation have been proven to foster active participation in small-group learning, and these effective teaching modalities have been shown to enhance learning outcomes. This study introduced a student peer facilitator role in an anatomy small-group curriculum for pre-clerkship medical students and explored its impact on academic performance and retention. Students were required to rotate through this facilitator role and lead their small group during their designated sessions. Data collection methods included pre-course and post-course surveys, individual quiz grades, and retention quizzes sent 1 month after each quiz. Overall, the data revealed a significant increase in the overall combined quiz averages across the curriculum for facilitators compared to participants despite having no notable increase in preparation time (p = 0.004). While facilitators scored significantly higher on the course quizzes, the slight increase in their average retention quiz scores was not significant. This study was unable to identify any significant benefits to retention for either facilitators or participants. In all, this study suggests that a peer facilitation paradigm can be an effective educational modality for medical students, and future studies should explore ways to improve knowledge retention through this role.

Indexed as

Academic PerformanceAnatomyCurriculumEducational MeasurementEducation, Medical, UndergraduatePeer GroupStudents, MedicalFemaleHumansMalePilot ProjectsRetention, PsychologyYoung Adultanatomy educationgroup facilitationmedical studentssmall‐group learning

Identifiers

PMID39508135
PMCPMC11669072

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.