PBL curriculum

[deleted421268]

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What are the pros and cons of PBL curriculum vs other ones during medical school? What kind of student is PBL best suited for? Is it important to consider this stuff when applying to medical schools?

 

[LizzyM]

Here's a good paper on the topic from the faculty perspective:
What, how and why is problem-based learning in medical education?

A Harvard med student's perspective Problem-based learning in medical school: A student's perspective

Using critical thinking skills and applying basic science information to a case while finding and augmenting knowledge gaps and using writing and speaking to consolodate new information does help students learn when compared to passive activities such as listening to lectures and reading texts.

Now someone will chime in and say that it is a time sink and that they learn better sitting at home with Anki and a pot of coffee but the board scores don't lie.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Here's a good paper on the topic from the faculty perspective:
What, how and why is problem-based learning in medical education?

A Harvard med student's perspective Problem-based learning in medical school: A student's perspective

Using critical thinking skills and applying basic science information to a case while finding and augmenting knowledge gaps and using writing and speaking to consolodate new information does help students learn when compared to passive activities such as listening to lectures and reading texts.

Now someone will chime in and say that it is a time sink and that they learn better sitting at home with Anki and a pot of coffee but the board scores don't lie.

PBL is also a justification for the continued employment of faculty who could be replaced with streaming video.

Can you point to any studies, which control for average MCAT scores, that show board scores improve with a PBL curriculum?

 

[NickNaylor]

If PBL is done correctly, it can be a very effective way to learn. The problem, in my experience, is that it is very dependent on the quality of the facilitators and the engagement of the students. I would be less concerned about a school that has been doing PBL for some time. I would not want to be the "guinea pig" class for an institution that is switching to a PBL-based curriculum.

 

[Med Ed]

PBL is also a justification for the continued employment of faculty who could be replaced with streaming video.

That would miss the point of PBL.

Can you point to any studies, which control for average MCAT scores, that show board scores improve with a PBL curriculum?

These are probably the two most commonly cited:

Hoffman K, Hosokawa M, Blake R Jr, Headrick L, Johnson G. Problem-based learning outcomes: ten years of experience at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. Acad Med. 2006 Jul;81(7):617-25.

Blake RL, Hosokawa MC, Riley SL. Student performances on Step 1 and Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination following implementation of a problem-based learning curriculum. Acad Med. 2000 Jan;75(1):66-70.

 

[LizzyM]

PBL is also a justification for the continued employment of faculty who could be replaced with streaming video.

The tutors are volunteers who do it as part of "good citizenship" as medical faculty. Most of us support ourselves, and the medial school, through clinical services and/or research. The commitment is usually 12-18 hours of classroom time for a PBL module plus a bit of prep and the writing of student assessments. The big commitment of time is in the writing of the cases but once they are done, they can be used again and again, very much like videos.

Can you point to any studies, which control for average MCAT scores, that show board scores improve with a PBL curriculum?

Any study of PBL in a single school more or less controls for average MCAT score of the students as the quality of the students matriculating does not change much from year to year.

 

[Goro]

Some SDNers should remember that it's Christmas Eve, and this is no time for bitterness or sour grapes.

Best wishes, y'all.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Is PBL essentially the Harvard Business School case study method but applied to medical education?

Is it similar to the "flipped classroom" model that's taking hold in college STEM classes and project based learning movement in elementary and secondary education?

If yes to the above, then clearly it's better than being lectured to but it does take skilled teachers and motivated students.

 

[Goro]

Is PBL essentially the Harvard Business School case study method but applied to medical education?

Is it similar to the "flipped classroom" model that's taking hold in college STEM classes and project based learning movement in elementary and secondary education?

If yes to the above, then clearly it's better than being lectured to but it does take skilled teachers and motivated students.

See these



Problem-based Learning | Lerner College of Medicine

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

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