As Epstein suggested earlier, there seems to be no downside to this process.

James Colliver (2000) would disagree. He dismisses the assertions that favor the efficacy of PBL; his misgivings parallel Hmelo-Smith's earlier remarks. For instance, Colliver contends that the popularity of PBL is predicated on a kind of mass enthusiasm rather than empirically

based scientific evidence (p.259). Colliver asserts that PBL has not proven valid and lacks confirmation as successful teaching model. His article is largely a condemnation of the assertions that proponents of PBL assert. (He also implicates the cognitive sciences that underscore PBL.)

Colliver believes medical educators must abandon their support of PBL until there is sufficient empirical proof that PBL is, in fact, an effective way to teach people.

After ten years of administering Problem-Based Learning at the University of Missouri's

School of Medicine, Hoffman and her research team sought to examine the overall efficacy of...
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