Effects of problem-based learning and traditional teaching learning on students' long-term memory and clinical practice ability / 中华医学教育探索杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate effects of problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional learning (TL) on students' long-term memory and clinical practice ability. Methods Totally 79 5-year-program undergraduates of 2006, 2007, 2008 grade in school of clinical medicine of our hospital were randomly divided into PBL group (n=38) and TL group (n=41). The teaching effects were evaluated by two exams as well as teachers' subjective impression. SPSS 17.0 statistical analysis software was used;exam results were expressed as x±s; t test and rank sum test were used to analyze the exam results and subjective impression. α=0.05 was set as inspection level. Results In the second exam after 6 months, the mean exam scores were (76.66 ±5.94) and (73.59 ±5.74) in PBL group and TL group, without significant differences between the two groups (t=1.85, P=0.068). However, at clinical intern-ship stage, PBL group outperformed TL group based on the subjective evaluation (P=0.065, 0.277). Conclusion PBL can culture students' ability of problem-solving, but it is limited in culturing long-term memory.