【正文】 egrating new knowledge ? Based on the principle that knowledge is consolidated more readily in context, students, guided by the tutor/facilitator, should relate new biomedical knowledge to the patient39。s problem. ? Students are required also to extend their discussion beyond the biomedical and clinical sciences and consider the public health, socioeconomic, ethical and legal aspects of the case. How do I get started with PBL? Develop problems that: Capture students’ interest by relating to realworld issues. Draw on students’ previous learning and experience. Integrate content objectives with problemsolving skills. Require a cooperative, multistaged method to solve. Necessitate that students do some independent research to gather all information relevant to the problem. Design assessment tools that: Account for process (. research, collaboration) as well as content skills. Are closely tied to course learning objectives. Balance individual and group performance. How to create effective PBL scenarios ? Learning objectives likely to be defined by the students after studying the scenario should be consistent with the faculty learning objectives ? Problems should be appropriate to the stage of the curriculum and the level of the students39。 understanding ? Scenarios should have sufficient intrinsic interest for the students or relevance to future practice ? Basic science should be presented in the context of a clinical scenario to encourage integration of knowledge ? Scenarios should contain cues to stimulate discussion and encourage students to seek explanations for the issues presented ? The problem should be sufficiently open, so that discussion is not curtailed too early in the process ? Scenarios should promote participation by the students in seeking information from various learning resources CHECKLIST FOR PROBLEM CONSTRUCTION ? Is the content of the problem geared to students39。 prior knowledge? ? Is there a clear connection with one or more of the objectives of the block? ? Is the problem sufficiently plex to offer cues for initial discussion and for generating learning issues? ? Is the problem structured in such a way that it offers cues for discussion in the group? ? Has the problem been formulated clearly and, if possible, does it offer links with professional practice? ? Is the problem multidisciplinary and is clear to students? ? Does the length of the problem enable inclusion of all the relevant information that is needed for identifying learning issues and does the problem not contain superfluous irrelevant information? ? Is the available time sufficient for studying the learning issues? ? Is there sufficient time available for reporting on all the learning issues? ? Does the block offer sufficient variety in learning activities, . does it include different types and formats of problems? ? Is the number of problems geared to the number of group meetings in the block? Has a schedule been drawn up that specifies which problems are to be discussed when? ? Which problems should be tackled in a specific sequence?