does someone want to explain the advantages of PBL and the disadvantages?
I'll take a quick stab at this. Most of the advantages are also disadvantages and vice versa.
Advantages:
1. You become a self-directed learner. This is important for 3rd and 4th year, and you have to make that change quickly while on the wards.
2. You learn the basic sciences by applying them to an actual case. I feel that this helps me retain the information better than memorizing powerpoints.
3. You learn all the basic sciences at once and integrate them together. This is less "boring" since you're jumping around books alot...it's not like you're doing Biochem for 8 grueling weeks, then doing Embryo for another 8. Instead you do it all at once. Again, I think this helps with retention.
4. You'll cover the most important information many times. This doesn't often happen in a lecture based curriculum.
5. You get to plan your own schedule mostly. I'm only scheduled to be at school for 2 hours a day. the rest of the day is mine to use or waste accordingly.
Disadvantages
1. There is very little direction. We get some, but for the most part, we decide what is important. It's important to point out here that the case does a very good job of leading you to the right study topics. For our first couple of tests, almost all the groups have picked mostly the same chapters to be tested on.
2. It's ALOT of reading. I like reading, but it is sometimes hard to pick out what's going to be tested.
3. You get to plan your own schedule. This is very bad if you aren't good at apply yourself. You can't just sit around and play video games all day, as much as you might want to. Well, you could, but you'll fail the test.
4. It's different from undergrad, so there will be some adjustment. For example, I can tell that I'm retaining the information MUCH better than when I memorize it off a slide for a test, but my grades have slipped slightly while I figure out the best way for me to study this amount of material. That being said, I feel like I've got it now, and I'm gonna rock the next 3.5 years. And, at least I haven't failed anything yet...
That's a start. If you clarify your question, I'm sure we can add more.