comparison of lecture and problem-based learning on learning of nursing students

background: the purposes of this study were to develop a problem-based learning program for nursing student’s education and to evaluate the program after its implementation. methods: an intervention study carried out on 27 third year undergraduate nursing students in the nursing and midwifery faculty of kashan university of medical sciences. problem-based learning method was used for one group (n = 13) and the other group were taught with traditional lecture method (n = 14) over 1 semester. in each group there were 8, 2-hour teaching sessions. finally the two groups passed a same exam. viewpoints of students in pbl group were also obtained. chi squared and mann–whitney u testes were used in data analysis. results: the mean score was 12.76 in problem-based learning and 12.21 in lecture group. however no statistical significant difference was observed in final scores. the mean score of satisfaction was 3.5±0.78 (out of 5) in the pbl group. conclusions: this study showed that the problem-based learning had no significant effect on cognitive abilities of these students but on students viewpoints it may improves their communication skills, motivation and interaction abilities.