The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of high school students' long-term authentic research projects with Information Technologies (IT) in small groups in and out of school time on their affective dispositions in science. This study was conducted in the context of a three-year NSF project, namely, Translating Information…

The purpose of this research study was to examine the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) on eleventh grade students' understanding of "The effects of temperature, concentration and pressure on cell potential" and also their social skills. Stratified randomly selected control and experimental groups with 20 students each were used in…

This study examined students' experiences of university medical education, approaches to learning, and comprehension of learning tasks. It used semi-structured interviews with 60 preclinical and clinical medical students. Half of the students attended Gothenburg University (Sweden), which employed a conventional discipline-based curriculum, while…

This paper identifies five types of learning experiences which are relevant to understanding students' grasp of concepts and principles. These include exploring existing concepts, honing and clustering concepts, developing analytical and reasoning skills, developing problem solving skills, and structuring knowledge in memory. Each of these…

In response to existing educational systems producing individuals who fail to have sound working knowledge bases, this article examines uses of technology to improve instructional methods. Reviews results of a case study that use problem-based learning as a collaborative learning method for medical undergraduates, and presents six principles of…

This study demonstrated the effectiveness of history strategy instruction that emphasized problem-solution-effect analysis and linkage of knowledge, in teaching 24 junior high students with behavior disorders. Instruction included a scripted curriculum, student note taking, construction of timelines, vocabulary definitions, and reciprocal…

A study investigated reasoning processes of medical students in schools with different curricular formats, a conventional curriculum with basic science taught before clinical training and a problem-based curriculum with basic science taught in the context of clinical problems. Strengths and weaknesses of each curriculum type emerged. (Author/MSE)

For this FIPSE funded project, mathematics faculty attended allied health classes and allied health faculty attended developmental mathematics courses to incorporate health examples into the developmental mathematics curriculum. Through the course of this grant a 450-page developmental mathematics book was written with many problems from a variety…

This paper reports the investigation of the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) within a web-based environment in the delivery of an undergraduate Physics course. The effectiveness was evaluated by comparing the performances and the perceptions of the sample students (n=67) using the web-based PBL and comparing the outcomes with those of…

The momentum gathering behind authentic learning/critical skills raises fundamental issues concerning teaching and learning. This article discusses some of the more general arguments surrounding authentic learning with particular reference to an in-depth evaluation of its impact on schools in one part of Great Britain. It then moves on to describe…

Understanding the relevance of basic science knowledge in the determination of patient assessment, diagnosis, and treatment is critical to good medical practice. One method often used to direct students in the fundamental process of integrating basic science and clinical information is problem-based learning (PBL). The faculty facilitated small…

This study compared the diagnostic performance of 612 second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students from three Dutch medical schools who were educated in either a problem-based, an integrative, or a conventional curriculum. The students were presented with 30 carefully selected clinical cases to diagnose. The study found that, overall,…

A study of 720 dental students in 8 cohorts participating in a problem-oriented dental ethics curriculum over 4 years found that, in 7 of the cohorts, the instruction had a significant effect on students' moral reasoning, in comparison with 265 nonparticipants. In addition, the students valued the instruction. (MSE)

A survey of 882 medical school faculty serving as problem-based learning (PBL) tutors found that most felt that PBL and traditional curricula were approximately equally efficient for learning; PBL rated higher in student interest, faculty interest, personal satisfaction, student reasoning, and preparation for clinical rotations; and traditional…

A study of 88 students in a problem-based surgery clerkship found significant gain in knowledge level, found to be linked to improved clinical performance. Additional findings included peers were good judges of students' knowledge and skills; faculty were not good judges of changes in student skills or ability to apply them. (MSE)