A comparison of student outcomes following problem-based learning instruction vs. traditional lecture teaching in a graduate pharmacology course

This experimental study quantifies student satisfaction and student numerical average at the conclusion of a graduate level pharmacology course in which problem-based learning was implemented. Similar measurements were obtained from a control group of students taught the same class in the traditional lecture format. The sample consisted of two parallel sections of graduate level pharmacology at a state university college of nursing. The number of students per section was determined by course enrollment; 12 students were enrolled in the control section, 10 in the experimental section. A coin toss was used to randomly determine which section was used as the control and which was used as the intervention. Numerical average was determined in an identical fashion for both groups, and the same satisfaction measurement tool was administered to both groups at the end of the semester. Group means for end-of-course numerical average and student satisfaction were analyzed using an independent Student's t test. No statistically significant differences emerged in terms of student performance or self-reported satisfaction.