Developed in the context of health sciences education in the late 1960s,
problem-based learning (PBL) is now widely deployed as an education
methodology. Its problem-solving, collaborative, student-centred ethos
is seen as a more appropriate system of pedagogy than earlier
'chalk-and-talk' modes. Focusing on its use in clinical education, this
collection of recent scholarship on PBL examines the ways in which PBL
is both conceived and implemented in clinical education. The work has a
dual emphasis, research-driven on the one hand, while on the other
assessing new methodologies to explore how problem-based curricula
support the achievement of students' learning outcomes in the context of
clinical education.
The chapters draw on studies that explore PBL both theoretically and
empirically. The volume's eclecticism capitalises on the growing body of
empirical research into PBL evaluations. It balances this with studies
analysing the relatively new area of discourse-based research on
PBL-in-action, whose focus has been to interrogate the 'how' of student
learning in curricula with PBL content.This publication will be of
interest to clinical teachers, curriculum designers and those interested
in innovations in the scholarship of teaching and learning in PBL
curricula.