Evaluation of medical student's satisfaction from teaching by problem based learning method

Problem based learning (PBL) is one of the common educational methods in different countries. This study was conducted to compare the medical student’s satisfaction in problem based learning method versus conventional lecturing. Two groups of five and six year medical students of Zanjan university of medical sciences referred to pediatric wards of Mousavi Hospital in Zanjan, Iran were enrolled in this study. The students were divided in two groups. Two common topics in pediatrics were selected. One of the topics was presented as lecture for the first group and as PBL to the second group. After 1.5 months, the second topic was presented as PBL to the first group and as lecture to the second group. In the present study, concerning learning quality 62.31% of students preferred PBL and 31.88% of them preferred lecture. Knowledge retention in PBL was 62.31% compared to 33.33% in lecture. In the practical application of contents %57/98 of students preferred PBL and 37.68% of them considered lecture more effective. Class attraction in PBL and lecture were 68.11% and 8.98% respectively. In motivation for study 89.85% of students found PBL more effective, comparing to7.24% for lecture. In overall 76.81% of students preferred PBL and 18.84% of them preferred lecture. In this study 69.56% of students believed that lecture increases the ability to answer the questions versus 24.63% in PBL. Overall, students preferred problem based learning (PBL) to the traditional lecture method for teaching.