Sanam . Anwar

ABSTRACT The lecture allows very little interaction and feedback from the students. Class Response System (CRS) can have a catalytic effect on teaching with lecture environments moving from silence and passivity towards dialogue and interaction. The present study was conducted to see the effectiveness of increasing the attentiveness of students in classroom theory lectures and to study the students’ perception of effectiveness of CRS in improved learning outcome. CRS was used in the lecture classes of Public Health for the undergraduate students of MD program of College of Medicine. Students anonymously clicked answers for the questions displayed on the screen. Correct answers were discusses with instant feedback after the CRS session. Likert scale was used to assess students’ opinion on the effectiveness of CRS for better learning. The average percentage of correct responses in the CRS sessions was 77.15 ±10.34. Statistically significantly more number of students got higher grades when CRS was used. 87% of students agreed that it aroused their interest in the class and 79.7% said that it made them more attentive during the lecture. 79.1% agreed that it encouraged discussion over the wrongly answered questions. CRS made the students attentive in the class and created a platform for the students to interact with the teacher and clarify their concepts in the class itself. It helped them in memorizing the key points in the lecture which helped them to recall it even when they studied on their own thereby helping them to get better grades in exams. Keywords: Class response system, concentration, clickers, perception, students.

An adolescent girl should be made aware of the phenomenon of menstruation before menarche, so as to enable her to accept it as a normal developmental process and manage it appropriately. Less attention has been given to the effect that menarche itself and the management of monthly menstrual periods may have on school attendance, learning outcomes, and continued school enrollment. This study was done with the objectives of assessing the knowledge and practices of adolescent girls related to menstruation. It was carried out in school going adolescent girls. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect information on knowledge and practices of girls related to menstruation after taking informed consent. Majority of girls (78.8%) had knowledge about menstruation before attaining menarche. Main source of knowledge about menstruation was girls’ family (60.2%). Majority of girls (56%) felt that the duration of menses ranged between 7-8 days. Majority (95.8%) knew that menses occur once a month. Only 56% knew the right duration of normal menstrual cycles. During menstruation (31.2%) one third of the students skipped school. Almost 34% took medication for pain during menstruation without any prescription. It was found that 32.6% girls used heating pads and 35.1% girls used herbal remedies to get relief from dysmenorrhea. Most of the girls had knowledge on menstruation from their families. During menstruation one third of the students skipped school and took medication for menstrual pain without prescription. Herbal remedies were used by one third of girls to relieve this pain. Keywords: Menstruation, knowledge, practice, school, adolescent