A comparison between Physics courses for students of Medicine and Biology, using teacher-centred and student-centred teaching designs

This article presents the findings of research conducted to compare the results obtained in the first Physics course for students of Medicine and Biology, comparing two class designs: the original one, based on teacher-centred master lectures and a new student-centred pedagogical model inspired in the Project Organized – Problem Based Learning - PO–PBL model developed at Aalborg University in Denmark. The analysis shows important differences in at least three aspects: 1) the levels of achievement of the students and the types of learning they show; 2) the perception of the students in relation to their professional development; and 3) the learning dynamics given in the course for each proposal. These results suggest that the PO-PBL system has advantages compared to the traditional system in the three aspects analyzed. This opens up the possibility of new approaches to the teaching of Physics to students from other scientific disciplines.