The effectiveness of the hybrid problem-based learning approach in the teaching of biology: a comparison with lecture-based learning

Abstract

Although several studies have shown that the problem-based learning (PBL) method promotes relevant professional skills as well as critical thinking and lifelong learning, some teachers remain sceptical regarding whether PBL is also adequate in acquiring the factual knowledge that students need. In this article, we describe an experience in which PBL has been introduced as an interdisciplinary activity in the teaching of students in the bachelor degree of biology, with special attention on the analysis of contextualised complex problems. This experience was a part of a traditional curriculum and roughly 20% of the entire learning time was devoted to it. We named this teaching approach hybrid problem-based learning (H-PBL) curriculum, in contrast to the lecture-based learning (LBL) traditional curriculum. The study reported here aims to answer a fundamental question: are there differences between both models in the students’ factual knowledge acquisition? The results of this study have failed to show significant differences in factual knowledge acquisition between both groups of students. We conclude that the use of an interdisciplinary H-PBL approach has no deleterious effect on the recall of factual knowledge, while it may permit the simultaneous development of other professional skills, which could be more difficult to attain in traditional curricula based mainly on the lecture-based method.

Keywords:

• problem-based learning
• undergraduate biology
• interdisciplinary
• contextualised problems

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to those who participated in this study, especially the students who agreed to take part and the teachers who helped in choosing the questions and scoring the tests. We also wish to thank Dr Luis Pérez Jurado for allowing us to give the test to students during his lessons. Special thanks to Dr Luis Branda for his review of the manuscript and his suggestions that have permitted us to improve a little more each day. The English of this manuscript has been proofread by Mr Chuck Simmonds, a native English-speaking university instructor of English.