title: To be or not to be: the importance of attendance in integrated physiology teaching using non-traditional approaches.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is increasing use of non-traditional methods like problem-based learning, team-working and several other active-learning techniques in Physiology teaching. While several studies have investigated the impact of class attendance on the academic performance in traditional teaching, there is limited information regarding whether the new modalities are especially sensible to this factor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here, we performed a comparative study between a control group receiving information through traditional methods and an experimental group submitted to new methodologies in Physiology teaching.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that while mean examination scores were similar in the control and the experimental groups, a different picture emerge when data are organized according to four categorical attendance levels. In the experimental group, scores were not different between the 1st and the 2nd exams (P = 0.429) nor between the 2nd and the 3rd exams (P = 0.225) for students that never or poorly attend classes, in contrast to the control group (P < 0.001). A score difference between attending students versus the absentees was maximal in the experimental versus the control group all along the different exams and in the final score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that class attendance is critical for learning using non-traditional methods.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas Básicas, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid 28670, Spain. beatriz.gal@uem.es.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gal
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Busturia
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garrido