Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 18, 2026
Project-Based Learning Guidelines for Health Sciences Students: An Analysis with Data Mining and Qualitative Techniques
Published on: December 9, 2022
Endless justification: A scoping review of team-based learning research in medical education
Jennifer Anne Cleland1,2, Anita Pienkowska1, Simon Collingwood Kitto1,2
1Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Introduction:
As team-based learning (TBL's) popularity and implementation have expanded in medical education, so too have TBL studies and accompanying research syntheses. However, earlier reviews hint that the scope of TBL research is narrow and our own observation is that it seems to lack progression. To examine this, our research question was: What is the state of TBL scholarship in medical education, and how has empirical research on TBL in medical education changed over time?
Methods:
We conducted a scoping review of published research. On 4 April 2024, we performed a search across multiple databases (Medline, Embase, PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, ERIC, and Scopus). We included empirical studies published in English that reported on TBL in medical education. The studies were analysed for study characteristics, research foci and research type (description, justification and clarification).
Results:
We identified and analysed 288 empirical studies. These primarily used quantitative descriptive methods, most commonly surveys. Research often focussed on comparing TBL to other learning approaches. Most studies examined individual characteristics, learning outcomes and/or student engagement. Descriptive studies were commonplace (33%), but the field was largely dominated by justification studies (52%). In contrast, clarification studies, those examining 'how' and 'why' TBL works, were relatively rare (15%) overall, and remained proportionally fewer over time than descriptive and justification studies.
Discussion:
While we can safely say that TBL is just as effective as other educational approaches in terms of learning outcomes, key claims about TBL remain largely unexplored. Instead, TBL research seems to be stuck in justification rather than following a scientific line of pedagogical inquiry where one study is the foundation for the next. Critical examination of TBL is long overdue to bring greater understanding of the nature and effects of this pedagogical intervention on teaching and learning processes in different contexts.
Related Concept Videos
01:18Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-II
Physical Therapist
A physical therapist (PT) aims to restore function or prevent additional impairment in a patient following an injury or disease. Massage, heat, cold, water, sonar waves, exercises, and electrical stimulation are some treatments used by PTs to treat...
01:20Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching III: Evaluation and Documentation
Nurses can use several methods to evaluate patient outcomes. For example, oral questions can assess cognitive learning,...
01:21Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-I
Physicians
The physician's primary responsibility is to diagnose illness and direct the medical or surgical treatment of the condition. The authority to admit patients to a healthcare agency or institution and practice care within that setting is granted to physicians by the healthcare agency or institution...
01:23Methods of Documentation V: CBE
In CBE, healthcare professionals establish predefined standards of practice that define what constitutes...
01:15Methods of Documentation VI: Case Management Model
For example, a patient with a chronic...
01:24Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching I: Assessment and Diagnosis
It is critical to determine the patient's learning needs during the assessment. Determination of learning needs compounds data...