Development Strategies in Medical Education

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Among the different teaching and learning methods proposed by experts, the participatory learning method seems to be more effective than other methods. Research has shown that teachers who use the participatory learning method are more efficient than those who do not use these methods. These students who learn by participatory method are more involved in class activities and use more educational opportunities. In the non-participatory learning method, teachers only present the educational content. 
Another factor is the scientific spirit of students which refers to a mental state accompanied by the will to find out, open a dialogue, criticize, and have the courage to innovate and theorize in accordance with scientific principles. The scientific spirit includes components such as intention for constructive competition, self-worth, self-esteem, self-confidence, tolerating the opinions of others, curiosity and questioning, in-depth observation, breadth of vision, the tendency towards creative, imaginative and intuitive thinking in facing problems, and the courage to express the thoughts, which can be improved by education. 
Participatory learning is one of the active learning methods and new teaching methods that has a significant effect on creating innovation, efficient activities, academic progress, and increasing students’ self-confidence. In this study, we aim to investigate the relationship between participatory learning and the scientific spirit of medical students in Iran.

Method
This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 170 students in basic sciences from the School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, northern Iran. Two questionnaires were used in this study. The first questionnaire was Stephen’s participatory learning questionnaire which has 13 items and 3 dimensions, group dynamics, project works, and feedback. The items are scored based on the Likert scale. The total score is between 13 and 65. The second questionnaire was the scientific spirit questionnaire developed by Ghasemi and Jarallahi [12], with 21 items scored on a Likert scale. The total score ranges from 21 to 105. 
After collecting the questionnaires, the data were entered into the SPSS software, version 20 and were analyzed by using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics. 

Results
The majority of students (55.9%) were male. The mean score of scientific spirit was 74.68±12.02, indicating their high scientific spirit.  The mean score of participatory learning was 43.98±7.05, indicating that there was a somewhat participatory learning atmosphere.
The scientific spirit had a significant and positive relationship with participatory learning and all its components (P<0.001). Among the components of participatory learning, the highest correlation was between scientific spirit and the total score (R=0.446) and feedback (R=0.444) which are a medium correlation. The project work dimension also had a medium correlation with scientific spirit (R=0.356), but group dynamics showed a small correlation (R=0.271). 
The mean score of scientific spirit was significantly higher in female students than in male students (P=0.028). Regarding participatory learning, only the dimension of project works was significantly more in female students than in male students (P=0.032). Other two dimensions of group dynamics and feedback were not significantly different based on gender.

Conclusion
In the present study, the scientific spirit of medical students was high. The scientific spirit of medical students has a significant and positive relationship with their participatory learning. The especially scientific spirit of female students in the selected university in northern Iran was higher compared to male students. Therefore, there is a need to use intervention programs to improve the scientific spirit of male students. Since this study was carried out on medical students in the basic sciences, it is recommended to carry out further studies on students in the higher levels of general medicine and even in comparison with the residency students.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This study was approved by the ethics committee of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.MAZUMS..REC.1401.15206)

Funding
This study was extracted from the thesis of Saber Mahmodiat at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Authors' contributions
Conceptualization, design, project administration: Forouzan Sadeghimahalli and Nassim Ghahrani; Consultation during the study: Ali Siahposht Khachaki; Data collection and initial draft preparation: Saber Mahmodi; Data analysis: Saber Mahmodi, Forouzan Sadeghimahalli and Nassim Ghahrani; Editing: Forouzan Sadeghimahalli.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all the students who participated in this study for their cooperation.


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