Effects of problem-based discussion on studying a subsequent text: A randomized trial among first year medical students

The Purpose of this study was to examine effectsof group discussion of a medical problem on the comprehension of a subsequentproblem-relevant text by first year medical students.Forty-eight first-year medical students were randomly assigned toone of two conditions: The experimental group discussed a problem of blood pressureregulation, where the control group discussed a problem of vision. Subsequently, allstudents studied a text on the physiology of blood pressure regulation. Finally, a freerecall test was administered. Numbers of propositions accurately recalled were analyzed usinganalysis of variance (ANOVA). Students who discussed the blood pressure regulationproblem recalled 25% more from the text than those who discussed the control problem.This difference was statistically significant. The present study represented thefirst truly randomized trial in the ecologically valid context of a medical curriculum. Itdemonstrated the positive effects of problem-based tutorial group discussion on thecomprehension of text. It confirmed earlier findings from laboratory studies thatproblem-based learning, in addition to positive emotional and motivational long-term effectswell-documented in the literature, also has positive effects on learning.

[1]  Michelene T. H. Chi,et al.  Self-Explanations: How Students Study and Use Examples in Learning To Solve Problems. Technical Report No. 9. , 1987 .

[2]  Allen W. Cowley,et al.  Cardiovascular physiology II , 1977 .

[3]  Eileen Wood,et al.  Encouraging Mindful Use of Prior Knowledge: Attempting to Construct Explanatory Answers Facilitates Learning , 1992 .

[4]  D Mårtenson,et al.  Medical chemistry: evaluation of active and problem‐oriented teaching methods , 1985, Medical education.

[5]  Wim H. Gijselaers,et al.  Sturing van het onderwijsleerproces door middel van problemen: een veldexperiment , 1986 .

[6]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Training in Self-Explanation and Self-Regulation Strategies: Investigating the Effects of Knowledge Acquisition Activities on Problem Solving , 1995 .

[7]  R. Mayer.  Models for Understanding , 1989 .

[8]  A. King.  Facilitating Elaborative Learning Through Guided Student-Generated Questioning , 1992 .

[9]  H. Schmidt.  Foundations of problem‐based learning: some explanatory notes , 1993, Medical education.

[10]  T. Bergen,et al.  Achievement and task motivation , 1986 .

[11]  Charles R. Fletcher,et al.  Investigations of inferential processes in reading: A theoretical and methodological integration , 1993 .

[12]  Annemarie S. Palincsar,et al.  Group processes in the classroom. , 1996 .

[13]  K. Glanz,et al.  Problem‐based learning: cognitive retention and cohort traits of randomly selected participants and decliners , 1990, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[14]  R. Mayer.  Learning strategies for making sense out of expository text: The SOI model for guiding three cognitive processes in knowledge construction , 1996 .

[15]  Richard J. Hamilton,et al.  The Effects of Learner-Generated Elaborations on Concept Learning from Prose , 1989 .

[16]  M. Albanese,et al.  Problem‐based Learning: A Review of Literature on Its Outcomes and Implementation Issues , 1993, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[17]  R. Reynolds.  Selective attention and prose learning: Theoretical and empirical research , 1992 .

[18]  Vimla L. Patel,et al.  Explanatory Models in the Processing of Science Text: The Role of Prior Knowledge Activation Through Small-Group Discussion , 1989 .

[19]  Richard S. Prawat,et al.  Promoting Access to Knowledge, Strategy, and Disposition in Students: A Research Synthesis , 1989 .