The effect of problem-based-learning on physical therapy education - A comparison of the short-term educational effect between PBL and lecture-based educational approaches

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare which of the educational methods, problem-based-learning (PBL) or the traditional lecture-based approach, is more effective in physical therapy education. Twenty students in the 3-year course physical therapy school participated in the study. Nine students' were allocated to the PBL group and eleven students were allocated to the lecture group. An academic examination and a questionnaire were implemented in order to measure the educational effects. The academic examination consisted of short answer questions and modified essay questions. The questionnaire consisted of twenty-one questions investigating students study behaviors, participation and satisfaction. The results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the groups in the examination performance. However, the standard deviation of the examination score in the PBL group was much smaller than the lecture group and all students in the PBL group achieved more than minimum marks, whereas four students (36%) in the lecture group did not. Another trend was that the marks of the PBL group in the modified essay questions were generally higher than those of the lecture group. The results of questionnaire showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in study behaviors, such as utilization of library and internet resources. This result suggests that PBL is effective in nurturing student's self-directed learning behavior.