Lessons from problem-based learning

"Problem-based learning (PBL) has excited interest among educators around the world for several decades. Among the most notable applications of PBL is the approach taken at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Starting in 1974 as a medical school, the faculty embarked on the innovative pathway of problem-based learning, trying to establish a medical training program which applied recent insights of education which would be better adapted to the needs of the modem physician. The medical school, currently part of the FHML, can be…