Pharmacy students' learning styles before and after a problem-based learning experience

Objectives. To determine learning-style scores of second- year pharmacy students before and after a problem-based learning (PBL) teaching experience and to evaluate the relationships between scores and demographic variables. Methods. The Grasha-Reichmann Student Learning Style Scale (GRSLSS) was given to pharmacotherapy laboratory students before and after a semester-long problem-based learning class. Results. Only one of the GRSLSS score variables was reported as high'' (collaborative'') and none were reported as low.'' Students' avoidant'' mean score increased and participant'' mean score decreased after completing the PBL experience (p <= 0.05). Conclusion. While PBL appears to be a teaching style that is conducive to the learning preferences of this cohort of pharmacy students, significant changes in learning styles were noted after completing the PBL experience. These changes may reflect difficulties that occured in adapting from a didactic teaching style to PBL, and specifically, difficulties in adjusting to participating in a group learning experience. A major limitation was that the teaching style of the facilitator was not measured.