ASSESSMENT IN PROBLEM- BASED LEARNING: AN APPLICATION TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Resumo

This article presents the results of a research carried out in a Biomaterials course. The research assessed the implementation of the didactic problem-based learning strategy. The study population was made up of 46 students from the experimental group and 60 students from the control group. The experimental group implemented the strategy in three stages: The first one, named planning stage, was focused on the theoretical construction for solving the problem. The second stage was the characterization, where it was necessary to perform mechanical tests on the proposed materials with the purpose of evidencing the relevance for the proposed use. The last stage, named the prototyping, was focused on the construction and testing of each prototype developed by each team. Subsequently, performance indicators were defined and surveys were applied for acquired skills. Then, academic loss averages were compared. It is concluded that academic failure decreased, learning increased, topics were reinforced and motivation boosted. Finally, it was determined that the main issues that students faced were: time management, poor organization and the belief that sharing tasks is the same as team-working.