PBL at UPITT!

[pittpan1981]

Could anyone out there tell me what we are supposed to learn as dental students with PBL? From what our biochem prof says, they are using some type of PBL with our class. All we hear in class is a bunch of stories from this guy that have nothing to do with dentistry. I don't think we have learned anything about biochem that would be useful when taking boards. I am so confused! Last week we heard stories about what meds could be used for Gout. Why we might need Beano, and how there are millions of people that are lactose intolerant. I hope someone here can shed some light on this for me. I have looked over old board exams; and I do not see how anything this guy talks about is going to help us pass the boards! I never had biochem before and I have thought about spending my class time in the library trying to teach myself. Any thoughts?

Thanks

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[eapleitez]

Yikes. I can't even imagine using PBL to learn Biochemistry. Try talking to your upperclassmen, they should be able to give you some good advice.

 

[polydactyl]

what is pbl?

 

[polydactyl]

I know that when I took biochem we had an exam that covered nutrition and whatnot. It covered diseases including gout, and other diseases involving malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. It seems like it has nothing to do with biochemistry, but there were questions about this stuff on the national board exam (along with stuff about the krebs cycle, oxidation, blah blah) that were lumped together.

 

[MsPurtell]

You've got to be VERY CAREFUL with a pbl curriculum. Some people seem to do very well with it, others don't. I CANNOT learn sufficiently in a pbl environment. I've heard of schools that do mostly pbl.,..had UConn been that way, I'd have found myself a new dental school. Mind you, in our pbl group, I felt lucky that the people in the group were great people. The style of learning blew.

I would pick up some really good board review books. Go over them and ask yourself if the prof is really preparing you for the board exam. If not, skip the frekkin' "class" and sit yourself in the library with a good text and the board review books. Don't shortchange yourself just because folks like to experiment with the curriculum every so often.

 

[Kashew77]

Hi, I'm a second year student at Pitt. Our class didn't have PBL to learn biochemistry, but I assure you that eventually all the information they teach you comes up in physio, pharm etc. They are probably trying to give you more examples so you are strictly not memorizing chemistry and formulas but are correlating them with diseases and treatment options. Is biochem strictly a PBL format or are there lectures mixed with PBL meetings?

 

[rwilli477]

Last week we heard stories about what meds could be used for Gout, why we might need Beano, and how there are millions of people that are lactose intolerant.

WELCOME TO PBL...

 

[dinesh]

YOu learn alot of useless **** in PBL...
I'm doing my 2nd year of it right now(school very pbl centred) ..to bad it's almost over
8 more weeks and I say bye bye to PBL.