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On the relationship between group functioning and study success in problem-based learning.

Nieminen J, Sauri P, Lonka K

Research and Development Unit for Medical Education, PO Box 63, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. juha.t.nieminen@helsinki.fi

INTRODUCTION: In problem-based learning (PBL), discussion in the tutorial group plays a central role in stimulating student learning. Problems are the principal input for stimulating discussion. The quality of discussion is assumed to influence student learning and, in the end, study success. AIMS: To investigate the relationships between aspects of group functioning and study success. METHODS: First-year medical students (n = 116), forming 12 PBL groups, completed a 21-item questionnaire on various aspects of a PBL session. At the end of the unit, a course examination was administered. Scales were constructed and reliability analyses conducted. RESULTS: Group functioning and case quality were strongly correlated with students' grades in a course examination. Further, students' perceptions of group functioning, case quality and the quality of their own contribution were linked strongly with each other. CONCLUSIONS: Group functioning, case quality and study success are associated with each other in PBL. The interaction between these aspects of PBL in promoting learning calls for further investigation.

Published 30 January 2006 in Med Educ, 40(1): 64-71.
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