ABSTRACT
Problem-based learning (PBL) is perhaps the most
innovative instructional method conceived in the history
of education. PBL was originally designed to
respond to the criticism that traditional teaching and
learning methods fail to prepare medical students for
solving problems in clinical settings. Instead of requiring
that students study content knowledge and then
practice context-free problems, PBL embeds students’
learning processes in real-life problems. After its successful
implementation in various fields of medical
education, PBL is now being implemented throughout
higher education as well as in K–12 education. The
purpose of this chapter is to inform researchers and
practitioners about research findings and issues in PBL
that may be used to inform future studies. In this chapter,
we review PBL research from the past 30 years.
We first describe the history of development and implementation
of PBL in various educational settings and
define the major characteristics of PBL. We then review
the research on PBL. First, we examine the effectiveness
of PBL in terms of student learning outcomes,
including basic domain knowledge acquisition and
applications, retention of content and problem-solving
skills, higher order thinking, self-directed learning/lifelong
learning, and self-perception. Second, we look at
implementation issues, such as tutoring issues, curriculum
design issues, and use of technology. Finally, we
provide recommendations for future research.