Technical Simulation Using Goldfish Bowl Method: A Medical Teaching Method for Increasing Student's Creativity.

Background: Promoting students' creative thinking with new techniques is important in order to foster innovation in a pleasant educational atmosphere. This study aimed to determine the effect of technical simulation using Goldfish Bowl (GFB) method on creative thinking of midwifery students in Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: During 2015-2016, 70 students in two groups (n = 35 midwifery students in each group) were enrolled in this study and educational intervention was conducted on one of the groups. The intervention was the new GFB method. The students' creative thinking was assessed using Dr. Abedi's standardized creative thinking questionnaire in both groups before and after the intervention and in one-month follow-up. The results were gathered and entered into the SPSS software version 16. For data analysis, descriptive and analytical statistical tests were used to compare the scores of three stages of creative thinking, and variance analysis in the intervention and control groups with the significant level of 0.05.
Results: There were no significant differences between the results of the two groups before the intervention. The statistical results showed changes at different levels after intervention, indicating an improvement in the students' creative thinking. The mean score of creative thinking was 70.71 ± 15.75 before the intervention, 80.40 ± 14.68 at the end of the eighth week of the intervention, and 72.09 ± 14.98 in the follow-up. The effect size of this technique on creative thinking was 0.91 in week 8.
Conclusion: The use of Goldfish Bowl technique in teaching medical students is recommended to promote their creative thinking.
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