Problem-Based Learning Outcomes: The Glass Half-Full
- 1 March 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Academic Medicine
- Vol. 80 (3), 294-299
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200503000-00020
Abstract
To compare the characteristics and outcome data of students from a single institution with a two-track, problem-based learning (PBL) and standard (STND) curriculum. PBL and STND students from nine graduating classes at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine were compared using common medical school performance outcomes (USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2, clerkship mean ratings, number of clerkship honors and remediation designations, and the senior clinical competency exam), as well as common admission and demographic variables. PBL students were older, and the cohort had a higher proportion of women. The two tracks had similar USMLE Step 1 and 2 mean scores and pass rates. Performance differences were significant for PBL students in two clerkships as well as in the clerkship subcategories of clinical performance, knowledge and clinical reasoning, and noncognitive behaviors. In addition, the proportion of PBL students earning honors was greater. The traditional undergraduate educational outcomes for the PBL and STND students are very positive. In several of the clerkship performance measures, the PBL students performed significantly better, and in no circumstance did they perform worse than the STND students.Keywords
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- Cognitive Benefits of Problem-based LearningAcademic Medicine, 2001
- Do we all mean the same thing by “problem-based learning”? A review of the concepts and a formulation of the ground rulesAcademic Medicine, 1999
- A Comparison of Problem-Based Learning and Standard Curriculum Students: Three Years of Retrospective DataTeaching and Learning in Medicine, 1998
- Non-cognitive characteristics of medical students: entry to problem-based and lecture-based curriculaMedical Education, 1996
- Ratings of studentsʼ performances in a third-year internal medicine clerkshipAcademic Medicine, 1996
- The influence of the New Pathway curriculum on Harvard medical studentsAcademic Medicine, 1994
- Performances on the NBME I, II, and III by medical students in the problem-based learning and conventional tracks at the University of New MexicoAcademic Medicine, 1993
- An Experiment in Medical EducationJAMA, 1991
- The New Mexico experimentAcademic Medicine, 1989
- A comprehensive performance-based assessment of fourth-year studentsʼ clinical skillsAcademic Medicine, 1987