Student perception of the effect of problem familiarity on group discussion quality in a problem-based learning environment

Introduction: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centred approach to learning using health problem scenarios to trigger the learning process. Several factors contribute to the role of the problem scenarios in stimulating student learning. One of those factors is the student’s familiarity and knowledge about the problem itself. This may affect the challenge and stimulate the student discussion in the tutorial group. No previous research studied the impact of reusing the case scenarios on the group discussion. This study explored the effect of student familiarity of the problems as a result of reusing the case scenarios on the discussion quality in the tutorial session. Methods: A qualitative study was used primarily to explore an understanding of the underlying opinions of the medical students of first and second academic year in the college of Medicine, University of Sharjah, UAE. Direct-discussion groups were arranged, and an open-ended online questionnaire was provided. Results: The results of the study showed that fore-knowledge about the case scenario had no significant adverse effect on the discussion. Students stated that the facilitators played a vital role in maintaining the excellent quality of the discussion. Discussion: Reuse of problem scenarios in PBL does not hurt the quality of the discussion, provided that the group dynamics are maintained.