In first-year medical students, PBL showed no significant difference from non-PBL teaching in critical thinking, problem-solving, or self-directed learning¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-31 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q2 i? A meta-analysis of first-year medical students found no significant differences between PBL and non-PBL groups on critical thinking knowledge assessment (p = 0.29), problem-solving (p = 0.47), or self-directed learning (p = 0.34). → Ge Wei-Li 2025

Evidence¶

Ge Wei-Li 2025¶

Ge Wei-Li, Zhu Xia-Yin, Lin Jiang-Bo, Jiang Jian-Jun, Li Tao, Lu Yi-Fei, Mi Ya-Fei, Tung Tao-Hsin. (2025). Critical thinking and clinical skills by problem-based learning educational methods: an umbrella systematic review. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06951-z

q2 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Umbrella review reports the Manuaba et al. meta-analysis of 7 studies (622 first-year medical students), which found no significant differences between PBL and non-PBL groups on all three outcomes. The umbrella review's Table 2 lists estimates with 95% CIs of 0.9 (−0.76 to 2.56), −3.64 (−13.42 to 6.13) and 0.18 (−0.19 to 1.54), all crossing zero, without naming the effect metric, so no magnitude is coded.

"Manuaba’s study [10] revealed no significant difference in critical thinking knowledge assessment (p = 0.29), problem-solving (p = 0.47), or self-directed learning (p = 0.34) between the PBL group and non-PBL group."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Critical Thinking — outcome: instruction changes it
Problem Solving — outcome: instruction changes it

PBL shows significant advantages in critical thinking compared with traditional education or team-based learning in nursing and clinical student populations — reports the opposite
PBL significantly improves clinical skill scores compared with lecture-based learning in medical education — related
PBL and TBL significantly improve nursing students' self-directed learning — reports the opposite

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`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-31`
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