ABSTRACT
Clinicians spend a significant portion of their time learning and developing their knowledge and skills. Many clinicians also become teachers, both in a formal or informal environment. Small group teaching allows closer contact between the teacher and students. Specific forms of small group teaching include case or problem based learning sessions. The teacher facilitates the group by providing guidance, encouraging participation by all students, time keeping, assessing and ensuring objectives are met. Case-based learning is similar to problem-based learning but the former provides a more guided and more structured method of teaching. Learning and teaching are an important component of medicine. A basic understanding of learning theory is useful for any teacher. Many theories relating to learning have been described, varying from conditioning to more recent e-learning concepts. In 1976, D. Kolb proposed the experiential learning model, which describes how people learn. The Kolb learning cycle and the above learning types are frequently used in adult learning theory.
