Objectives: To determine preferences and perceptions of medical students about teaching strategies in basic sciences years. Study design: Mixed method study. Place and Duration: Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot, from March 2014 to July, 2014. Methodology: A total of 77 medical students of 3rd year MBBS were selected through non-probability convenient sampling for this study. A questionnaire to know about their preferences and comments about teaching strategies was distributed to the students. A focus group discussion was also carried out to know in depth opinion of students about different teaching strategies. Results: Mean age of the medical students was 22.75 ± 1.05 years. Twenty one (27.3%) participants were males and 56 (72.7%) females. Out of 77 students, 22 preferred interactive lectures; 16, small group discussion; 20 problem based learning, 10 preferred demonstration on models. Only 01 students preferred one-way lecture as the best teaching methodology. More female students (30.3% vs 23.8%) preferred interactive lectures and more male (28.6% vs 17.8%) students preferred small group discussion as their teaching strategies. Conclusion: Majority preferred interactive lectures (28.57%) and problem based learning (25.98%) as teaching strategies. Aligning our teaching strategies with preferences of the medical students will improve learning and academics.
Key words: Instructional strategies, teaching strategies, lectures, interactive learning, problem based learning, active learning
