A survey among faculty of physiology department to assess why physiology is difficult for students to learn

Undergraduate and Postgraduate physiology teachers were asked to participate in a survey about the possible source of students’ difficulty in learning physiology. Twenty two physiology faculty members from seven different medical colleges responded to the 23- question survey; fifteen of the respondents also responded to a request for written comments about this issue prior to taking survey. Three categories of possible factors contributing to physiology being hard to learn were defined; (1) the nature of the discipline, (2) the way it is taught and (3) what students bring to the task of learning physiology. Respondents thought that characteristics of students (they believe that duration of 1year is less and physiology course is extensive which teachers try to complete rapidly and characteristics of the discipline (that physiological phenomenon needs to be understood at different level of organizational level simultaneously) were significantly more important than the way it is taught in making physiology difficult to learn. Recommendations are offered in this article to help students deal with the sources of difficulty that were identified.