Effectiveness of seminar-case learning for use in practice teaching of statistics for undergraduates majoring in preventive medicine: a prospective cluster-randomized controlled trial

Background The seminar-case learning (SCL) method is a case-oriented teaching model, with teachers and students as the main body of teaching, characterized by communication, interaction, and mutual inspiration. This study explored the effects of the SCL method versus traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) in the statistics curriculum for undergraduate students majoring in preventive medicine. Research questions were: 1) whether the scores of students in the experimental group (the SCL model) were higher than those in the control group (the LBL model); 2) whether the students’ satisfaction in the experimental group was better than that in the control group; and 3) whether the self-report benefit of students in the experimental group was better than that in the control group. Methods We conducted a two-armed cluster-randomized education intervention trial in practice teaching of health statistics among undergraduates majoring in preventive medicine. Two administrative classes (classes 1–4 and classes 5–8) were divided into the experimental group and the control group according to the principle of drawing lots. The students in two groups received the same statistical theory course. For the arrangement of statistical practice course, the experimental group adopted the SCL model, and the control group used the LBL model. The teaching effect was evaluated via an examination and an anonymous questionnaire survey. Results Scores for noun explanation questions in the experimental group showed no statistical significance with that of the control group( U = 2911.0, P = 0.964). The scores of single choice, calculation, and case analysis questions, and the total scores were significantly higher than that of the control group ( P < 0.05). Students’ satisfaction with arrangements of the practice course in the experimental group (92.41%) was significantly higher than that of in the control group (77.03%), the difference was statistically significant ( χ 2 = 7.074, P = 0.008). The self-report benefit of students in the experimental group was better than that in the control group ( P < 0.05). Conclusion As an effective method of high-quality education, the SCL model is worthy of further promotion in the practice teaching of preventive medicine.