• Family Medicine

Dear Editor,

I read with interest the article by Drs Schneiderhan, Guetterman and Dobson, curriculum development.1 This is a timely and well-written paper that is pertinent for Family Medicine clerkship coordinators.

I would like to suggest another instructional strategy, the miniworkshop, which may be of interest to family medicine educators.

Miniworkshops consist of a brief didactic lecture followed by small-group exercises.2

For example, after a lecture on hypothyroidism for 30 min, learners are divided into groups of three (triads, being the ideal group size) and given cases with short-answer questions. The instructor walks around and assists any groups that are struggling. At the end, a closure discussion is held and sample answers displayed.

I have proposed and used this format in the clerkship setting and found it to be superior to either lecture or exercises alone.

The didactic (non-interactive) lecture provides a foundation of knowledge while the small-group exercises enable application of learning.