Over the last three years, we have promoted Mastery Learning in schools of the world with focus on schools of Papua New Guinea. It is a problem based approach by which
students master sequences of graded exercises.
Master Learning contrasts strongly with the common approach
that students have to follow in copying passages from the black board into
their work books to be tested on theory at the end of the term. The focus was
on mastery of practical exercises.
But we have always referred to the mastery Learning Problem Based Learning (PBL) of doctors in the Papua
New Guinea School of Medicine and Health Science (SMHS). Now we have a report
in the newspaper from the esteemed Professor Sir Isi Kevau on Problem Based
Learning.
Quality of doctors
rising
Post Courier 12 September Letter to the Editor P.13
The traditional Curriculum used in the Faculty of Medicine
UPNG ran for 39 years. I was trained under this curriculum. For the last 14
years, the Problem Based Learning curriculum has
been used.
From our searching, we discovered that the McMasters
University in Canada had developed an innovative curriculum based on student
centred learning. Later we learned that closer to home the students of the
University of Newcastle were taught under a Problem
Based Learning curriculum.
Approval was granted to use the new curriculum. It started in
January 2000 to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year
students studying the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
I am very proud to be the teacher of PNG doctors who have
graduated from both the traditional and PBL. They have all been very impressive.
Mastery Learning in the
PNGDF
As an instructor at the Joint Services College in 1955-77, I
am proud to have been involved with Mastery Learning in Decision Making skills.
It involved the mastery of skills of checking and
double-checking in military scenarios. The programme consisted of 126 mastery
problems that students had to solve. It was very similar to the approach of
which Professor Kevau writes.
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