Problem-Based Learning at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal: A Situated Cognition Perspective

Abstract

Purpose: This study describes the typical case of problem-based learning (PBL) application at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal and its analysis from the perspective of situated cognition. Method: I used a typical case study to determine the general model of PBL application and per­formed my analysis by a global processing of information, against to the conceptual model of situated cognition. Results: A typical PBL tutorial case consists of a meeting of a group of about 8 students with a tutor to discuss a medical problem. Learning objectives are predetermined by faculty and recorded in the tutor’s handbook. Broadly speaking, the analysis revealed a certain kind of scaffolding within a “zone of proximal development” (ZPD). Conclusion: The adaptation of PBL at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal is hybrid, original, and can be related to the model of cognitive apprenticeship, but the tutor’s role, however, does not fit the model of cognitive apprenticeship completely. Keywords: Problem-based learning, medicine, situated learning, scaffolding, zone of proximal development.