Volume: 13 Issue: 1
Year: 2025, Page: 12-17, Doi: https://doi.org/10.47799/pimr.1301.04
Received: June 26, 2024 Accepted: April 5, 2025 Published: April 20, 2025
Background: Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a student-centred instructional strategy that begins with an open-ended clinical problem to drive self-directed inquiry, critical thinking, and integration of basic and clinical sciences. Its adoption in Indian medical curricula has been encouraged by the National Medical Commission’s shift to Competency-Based Medical Education, yet comparative data on PBL versus traditional lectures remain limited. Objective: To assess first-year MBBS students’ perceptions of a four-week PBL module on pulmonary function tests and to compare these perceptions with those of prior didactic lectures, including evaluation of gender-based differences. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2023 and January 2024 among first-year MBBS students at a medical college in Manipur. Of the 100 students invited, 86 (86%) provided informed consent and completed four weeks PBL module and responded to a validated 14-item electronic questionnaire. Responses were recorded on a five-point Likert scale, including three items explicitly comparing PBL to traditional lectures. Descriptive statistics, medians, and interquartile ranges were computed. Results: Participants had a mean age of 19 ± 2.5 years; 52.3% were male. High levels of agreement were noted for PBL in terms of engagement (75.6%), conceptual clarity (72.0%), and enhancement of problem-solving skills (74.4%). However, lower agreement was observed regarding usefulness for examination preparation (26.6%), with a notable proportion expressing neutrality or disagreement regarding retention (48.9%), self-directed learning (48.8%), orientation adequacy (39.6%), and facilitator effectiveness (37.2%). Overall preference for PBL was 59.3%, with no significant gender difference (U = 992.0; p = 0.541; r = 0.07). Conclusion: Students perceived PBL positively in terms of engagement and conceptual understanding; however, concerns related to retention, examination readiness, and facilitation quality suggest that PBL, in its current form, may not be sufficient as a standalone instructional method. A blended teaching strategy incorporating structured lectures, formative assessments, and facilitator training is recommended to optimise educational outcomes in competency-based medical education.
Keywords:
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©2025 (Rajkumar Arbind Singh) et al. This is an open-access journal, and arƟcles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 4.0. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
Singh RA, Rajkumar RS, Srivastava A, Singh HB. Perception of Problem-Based Learning among First Year Medical Undergraduate Students in a Medical College in Manipur. Perspectives in Medical Research. 2025;13(1):12-17 DOI: 10.47799/pimr.1301.04