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Is a PBL curriculum a better nutrient medium for student-generated learning issues than a PBL island?

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Abstract

Problem based learning (PBL) is often introduced in curricula in form of short segments. In the literature the value of these PBL-islands is doubted. In order to gain more insight in this curricular approach, we compared student generated learning issues, from a 7-week PBL-island introduced in a traditional curriculum (PBL-I), with the gold standard of a PBL-based model-curriculum (PBL-B) existing in parallel at the same University (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany). Both tracks use five identical PBL-cases. Thousand seven hundred and three student-generated learning issues of 252 tutorial groups (193 PBL-I and 59 PBL-B groups with six to seven students per group) were analysed in seven different categories. Results showed that overall there were no substantial differences between both curricula. PBL-B students generated more problem-related and less basic science clinical learning issues than PBL-I students, but in both groups learning issues were related to the same number of different subjects. Furthermore, students in the PBL-curriculum tend to generate little less but slightly better phrased issues. Taken together, we found no substantial evidence with respect to student-generated learning issues that could prove that students cannot work with the PBL-method, even if it is introduced later in the curriculum and last only for a short period of time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Witten/Herdecke, Alfred-Herrhausen-Strasse 50, 58448, Witten, Germany

    K. Gehlhar & M. R. Fischer

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany

    A. Wüller, H. Lieverscheidt & T. Schäfer

Authors
  1. K. Gehlhar
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  2. A. Wüller
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  3. H. Lieverscheidt
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  4. M. R. Fischer
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  5. T. Schäfer
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Correspondence to K. Gehlhar.

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Gehlhar, K., Wüller, A., Lieverscheidt, H. et al. Is a PBL curriculum a better nutrient medium for student-generated learning issues than a PBL island?. Adv in Health Sci Educ 15, 671–683 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-010-9229-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-010-9229-4

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