Problem-based learning of food hygiene in higher university of traditional Chinese medicine

Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) has become more widely used in the education of many professionals. This study investigated the effect of PBL on student teaching evaluations in a senior-level food hygiene course, and the pretest/post-test experimental method with an equivalent control group was used. The subjects included the students who were enrolled at the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. Students attended to Food Hygiene course in the 6th semester. The class taught in the traditional manner was the control group. PBL group attended the PBL course whereas the control group attended the traditional instructor course. A retrospective review of student performance in the food hygiene course was carried out. A cross-sectional survey involving teachers and current food pollution students was also carried out to evaluate learning of food hygiene using the PBL approach. We concluded that integrating PBL into this undergraduate class has a significant effect on the content knowledge acquisition score and thinking skills. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.