Abstract
An experiment was conducted in the context of a problem-based learning course to investigate the influence of a learning-goal-free problem scenario on the quality and quantity of individual study. In half of the tutorial groups, the problem scenario was constructed in such a way that it provided useful learning issues (goal-specified condition), whereas in the other half of the tutorial groups, the problem scenario did not provide learning issues (goal-free condition). It was demonstrated that students in the goal-free condition read more articles, studied longer, and spent more time reporting the studied literature than their peers in the goal-specified condition. These findings suggest that the use of goal-free problems has a positive effect on the students’ individual study and the extensiveness of the tutorial group meeting.
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This study was supported by a grant of the Trust fund of the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
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Verkoeijen, P.P.J.L., Rikers, R.M.J.P., Winkel, W.W.R. et al. Do student-defined learning issues increase quality and quantity of individual study?. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract 11, 337–347 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-006-9013-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-006-9013-7