Team Exams

Team Lumbar Jacks taking the anatomy team exam

So I've read a bunch about the importance of teaching students how to collaborate.  The importance of giving students the skills they need to succeed in the current workplace, notably how to work in teams.  Typically, if you talk to most high school and college students they HATE group projects (or at best, have no opinion on them).  In fact, when I give tours for the medical school one of prospective students biggest concerns is the medical school's emphasis on "team exams." For a bunch of type-A students who have gone through life begrudging group projects because they wind up doing all of the work and the others in the group merely tag along for the ride (in part because they have not been taught how to delegate, how to work in teams, and in part because less motivated students are content to let them do so), when teachers announce a group project, they let out a collective groan. 

Team Quaker Oatmeal taking the anatomy exam

Team Cesarian Section (most creative name) taking the exam

Based on some research pioneered at Wharton, however, the medical school has changed all that.  Ask most medical students at Penn and they'll tell you that the group test is actually a wonderful learning experience, that they trust the members of their learning team and the products produced from the collective effort are actually products they're proud of. 

Team Narwhal taking the exam

I bring this all up because today I proctored the first-year medical students anatomy exam, which is a team exam.  It was their first team exam, though they've been working in these teams since the beginning of the year.  It's a fantastic learning experience and Dr. Neal Rubinstein and Dr. Jim White should be commended for creating a learning environment in which this is possible.  The students break up into their teams and have six minutes at each block of cadavers to answer a set of questions.  With time being an issue, they're forced to work together efficiently to utilize their collective knowledge in a productive way.  While the tests tend to be harder than individual exams, the grades tend to be pretty good and it is great preparation for when these students will integrate into the teams they'll operate in once they start rotating in the hospital. 

You'll notice that they're all dressed up in costumes, part of that is because this exam used to be held around Halloween and Dr. Rubinstein has set up a competition between the learning teams for best group costume (winning team gets lunch at White Dog Cafe with Dr. White and Dr. Rubinstein on Penn's tab)

Quaker Oatmeal

Lumbar Jacks

Adams Family

Six Flags

Cesarian Section

Narwhal