Comparison of Traditional lectures vs. Problem based learning in Microbiology among Undergraduate students

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a methodology in which students are the teachers themselves and the faculty mainly acts like their facilitators it is to say that this is student-centered approach to active learning. Objectives: To study the efficacy of problem based learning as a teaching/ learning tool over traditional lectures in Microbiology. Materials and Method: Experimental study was conducted in department of microbiology after obtaining ethical committee permission and students consent. 60 students of MBBS 3rd semester were divided in to two batches A & B with 30 each. Internal class test marks of the two batches were taken to acknowledge the validity of post test result, followed by sessions on PBL for batch A and traditional lecture for batch B, at the end, sessions were evaluated by post test in the form of MCQ, short assay and by taking feedback on PBL from both the batches by exposing batch B to PBL. SPSS was used for data entry and analysis. Results: The evaluation of internal class test marks of the two batches showed statistically insignificant (p value 0.261), after the sessions of PBL and traditional learning on a selected topic the post test conducted showed result was significant (p value