Problem-Based Learning

John R. Savery

Problem-based learning (PBL) developed from innovations in health sciences curricula launched more than 3 decades ago. Traditional medical education, with its intensive pattern of basic science lectures followed by an equally exhaustive clinical teaching curriculum, was increasingly being seen as an unproductive and, some felt, punitively harsh way to prepare students, given the explosion in medical information and new technology and the rapidly changing demands of current practice. In response, the medical faculty at McMaster University in Canada introduced the tutorial process, not only as a specific instructional method but also as central to their philosophy for structuring an entire program of study promoting student-centered, multidisciplinary education, and lifelong learning in professional practice. As a recognized leader in researching and refining the PBL approach, Howard Barrows clearly articulated that the process of patient diagnosis combined a hypothetical-deductive reasoning process with expert knowledge in multiple domains. Traditional approaches to medical education ...

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