Recent research on problem-based learning (PBL) has shown that students need support when dealing with conflicting ideas in PBL-tutorial discussions. In the present study, we examined tutor facilitation during tutorial discussions, and particularly how the facilitation helped students to collaboratively resolve conflicts on knowledge. The study…

World-wide, universities in health sciences have transformed their curriculum to include collaborative learning and facilitate the students' learning process. Interaction has been acknowledged to be the synergistic element in this learning context. However, students spend the majority of their time outside their classroom and interaction does not…

The purpose of this study was to explore a new framework for understanding group dynamics during a challenge course experience. Traditional views of group dynamics emphasize sequential stages of development, but these frameworks tend to neglect the emotional aspect of group dynamics. The group process usually includes an emotional experience, and…

Few longitudinal programs exist to teach senior students (MS4s) to be teachers, nor have there been any reports of comprehensive program evaluation in this area. The primary objectives of this study were to describe our ongoing faculty development effort and to develop a multi-level program evaluation, using Dixon's model. The TALKS (Teaching and…

Research on Problem-Based Learning in medical education has undergone an evolutionary process from initial proof of concept studies through critiques of the original methods and beyond. Initial studies focused on whether or not the instructional method was effective for medical students and the goals of medical education. Despite much movement…

A group of female medical students banded together to deal with what was perceived to be a hostile environment. Co-therapists found the group process was blocked initially in that individuals in the group were unable to share experiences, or to become intimate, and did not develop cohesiveness as a group. (Author)

In a comparison of two systems used for evaluating the skills of medical students in relating to patients, the one utilizing interaction analysis yielded more reliable ratings and seems to have potential as an instructional method. The other system used traditional types of judgments registered on a 10-point continuum. Both systems were used with…

Research on the reliability of various measures of interviewing skills used an experimental design involving patient interviews of medical students in their sophomore and senior years. Results suggest caution against overinterpretation of data from faculty raters and illustrate that nonprofessionals can be trained to use interaction analysis…

To investigate whether problem-based learning leads to conceptual change, the cognitive and metacognitive processes of a group of medical students were studied during the problem analysis phase, and their verbal communication and thinking processes were analyzed. Stimulated recall of the thinking process during the discussion detected a conceptual…

This paper describes an analysis of facilitation of a student-centered problem-based learning group. The focus of this analysis was to understand the goals and strategies of an expert facilitator in support of collaborative learning. This was accomplished through interaction analysis using video data and stimulated recall to examine two PBL group…

Use of the Helping Relationship Inventory (HRI) to assess the impact of an introductory medical interviewing course on beginning medical students' preference for interview response modes was studied at the University of Minnesota. The HRI, a brief paper-and-pencil instrument, was administered as a pre-test and post-test for five consecutive years…

A study of third-year medical school discussion groups was undertaken to determine how much the cognitive level of instructors' questions in small group sessions influenced student responses and whether these responses had any measureable relationship to critical thinking skills, or National Board of Medical Examiner (NBME) scores. The research…