ASSESSMENT IN PROBLEM- BASED LEARNING: AN APPLICATION TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research carried out in a Biomaterials course from the Biomedical Engineering program in a university in Colombia. The research assessed the implementation of the didactic problem-based learning strategy. The study population was made up of 106 students: 46 students from the experimental group and 60 students from the control group. The experimental group implemented the strategy in three stages: The first one, named planning stage, focused on the theoretical construction for solving the problem. The second stage attended to the characterization, where it was necessary to perform mechanical tests on the proposed instructional materials with the intention of evidencing the relevance for the proposed use. The last stage, named the prototyping, focused on the construction and testing of each prototype developed by each team. Subsequently, this allowed defining performance indicators as well as the application of surveys for acquired skills. Then, academic loss averages were compared. It is concluded that academic failure decreased, learning increased, positive reinforcement of topics raised and motivation boosted significantly. Finally, it was found that the main issues that students faced were: time management, poor organization and the belief that sharing tasks is the same as team-working.