Real Problems, Real Learning.

From the BMJ of October 29th, a study of Canadian medical students that describes its objective as being:

"To assess whether the transition from a traditional curriculum to a community oriented problem based learning curriculum at Sherbrooke University is associated with the expected improvements in preventive care and continuity of care without a decline in diagnosis and management of disease".

Conclusion?

"Transition to a community oriented problem based learning curriculum was associated with significant improvements in preventive care and continuity of care and an improvement in indicators of diagnostic performance".

All of which would make a good deal of sense to many home educators, since they are often aware of grounds for believing that traditional schooling divorces learners from real life problems, replacing such problems with a load of artificial hurdles over which the learner must uselessly jump.