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6. Evidence Based Practice and Problem Based Learning – a Natural Alliance?
Fiona MacVane Phipps
Introduction: problem based learning and evidence based practice – the connection
The easy answer to the question posed by the title of this chapter is ‘yes’ or even ‘emphatically yes’. As a lecturer who has used problem based learning (PBL) for almost 10 years, and worked to develop it as the core of the midwifery education programme at the University of Bradford, I know of no better way to encourage students to engage with the evidence that supports practice. How this engagement takes place is critical to the learning process. Midwifery and other health-care students have become adept at accessing evidence. Today’s students can find almost anything through a few clicks of a mouse. The class of 2006 would be horrified at the hours senior students spent searching through library card catalogues and dusty shelves only a generation ago. However, finding evidence to support an academic argument or a particular clinical decision is not the key to excellence in education. Fostering the ability to question research based evidence, or indeed to challenge the whole assumption of what constitutes evidence, is the key to excellence.
PBL is not a magic bullet that effortlessly transforms students into philosophers or scholars. PBL is a tool, which if used correctly is adept at fostering students’
self-confidence, debating skills and the ability to think critically (Rideout and Carpio 2001). In this chapter, I will talk a bit about the Bradford experience and how we have used PBL during the past 10 years of BSc Midwifery education.
I will share some guidelines for effective use of PBL and explain the importance of adopting the philosophy and not just the structure of this learning and teaching method. At the same time, I will attempt to explore some of the deeper issues about the nature of evidence and how a radical educational philosophy can help students to understand that questions may be more important than answers.