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The effect of compulsory participation of medical students in problem‐based learning
Author(s) -
MOORE G. T.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1991.tb00040.x
Subject(s) - curriculum , problem based learning , medical education , set (abstract data type) , preference , mathematics education , medical school , psychology , academic year , medicine , pedagogy , computer science , mathematics , statistics , programming language
Summary. Problem‐based learning (PBL) is an instructional method that has attracted many advocates since its introduction in medical education almost 20 years ago. PBL features the use of student‐directed tutorials, medically relevant problems to set study objectives, and independent learning. Educators have worried that not all students will do well with this method. This study compared a group of students who had chosen to be in a PBL curriculum with a group who had not, as they undertook a curriculum that contained both PBL and lecture‐based courses. Academic performance was virtually identical regardless of learning method. Students slightly favoured the courses that featured the method they had originally chosen, but a significantly larger proportion of students shifted their preference from the lecture to the problem‐based approach than vice versa. Students' academic performance does not appear to suffer when they are involuntarily enrolled in a PBL curriculum and many come to prefer this type of curriculum.