Celebrating 50 years of problem-based learning: progress, pitfalls and possibilities

Abstract

Fifty years ago, McMaster University's Faculty of Medicine (as it was known at the time) embarked willy-nilly on a pedagogical experiment that, unbeknownst to its conceivers, would reverberate through higher education across the globe in the ensuing decades. The characteristics of that experiment have been described at length elsewhere (Servant-Miklos 2019a; Spaulding 1991), but what is most remarkable about it is the extent to which it shaped medical education research, and then spilled into all areas of higher education, from engineering to liberal arts, and from Brazil to China. Commemorating the 50 th anniversary of problem-based learning goes beyond just acknowledging the contribution of the pioneers of PBL to medical education (though this definitely can and has been done). It really plugs us into key current debates about pedagogy and education research in and beyond the health sciences education sphere.Let's start with the recognition that PBL did indeed radically transform medical education over the past 50 years. Of course, not every medical school in the world uses PBL today, and even among those that do, the quality and quantity of implementation varies greatly. But the diffusion of PBL in medical schools around the world changed the discourse around medical education, challenging old notions of the division between basic sciences and clinical skills, and questioning traditional, top-down forms of contents delivery. This is especially true in schools located near deprived communities in the Global South where PBL was interpreted as an opportunity for engaging students in community outreach from the earliest years of their medical education. Outside of medical education, the spread and implementation of PBL has been haphazard, but nonetheless enthusiastic. All manner of creative interpretations have emerged, quite often in a grassroots manner, at the behest of inspired teachers looking to do things differently, in some cases with greater success than others. What this has created is a vibrant community of educators and scholars around

Effect of Problem Based Learning (PBL) Models on Motivation and Learning Outcomes in Learning Civic Education

“…The good news is that research shows that PBL can promote student learning and may be more effective than traditional instruction in social studies, science, mathematics, and literacy (Kingston, 2018). While we celebrate the successes of PBL, it is important to recognize that the diffusion of PBL certainly hasn't come challenge-free (Miklos et al, 2019). Fortunately, the instructional strategy of problem-based learning can successfully expedite learning the crucial 21st century skills (Barber & King, 2014).…”

It’s what you do, not the way you do it – online versus face-to-face small group teaching in first year medical school

“…This session is thought to be the most important in the junior years of the course, both for the development of skills such as these learning skills and also for the establishment of relationships with other students, friendships and relationships with teachers [ 6 , 7 ]. It is during these SG sessions that students generally have the most opportunity to develop learning skills and also for collaborative learning, sharing knowledge and what can be called communal ‘constructivism’ in relation to learning [ 8 ]. For this reason, we undertook this study to assess the impact of these SGs being taught online as opposed to face to face (f2f).…”

The promotion of selfdirected learning through the African philosophy of Ubuntu

“…Ansarian and Teoh (2018:1) argued that 'PBL was practised long before it was even known as a "scientific" approach'. The McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences (McMaster University, Canada) is widely known to have championed the PBL educational approach in their curriculum in the late 1960s (Lee & Kwan 1997;Savery 2019;Servant-Miklos, Norman & Schmidt 2019;Servant-Miklos, Woods & Dolmans 2019b). Problem-based learning features SDL (Ansarian & Teoh 2018;Barrows 1996:7).…”