Problem-based Learning and Lecture-based Learning Comparison: A Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: Medical education is important once that it will determine the quality of the future physicians. For this reason, exists a lot of discussion regarding the best method to teach medicine to medical students. We conducted a literature review to didactically point out the pros and cons of problem-based learning and lecture-based learning.

Discussion: The two main methods of teaching medicine are problem-based learning and lecture-based learning. The first one consists of small groups of students that discuss cases with the orientation of a tutor. This method help students to work with real scenarios cases, improve work in group, stimulates idea generation and stimulates deep learning. The second consists of a professor teaching their students through lectures. This method has a great diversity of professors that are more accessible when compared to problem-based learning. Both methods have pros and cons and based in this study we think the union of both methods can improve medical education once that you stimulate skills development and also learning.