Promoting student learning through a student‐centred problem‐based learning subject curriculum

This study, adopting an action‐learning approach, aimed to redesign an existing problem‐based learning (PBL) subject curriculum to accommodate the learning potential and interests of students. Based on students’ perceptions of learning and learning experiences with PBL, a Subject Planning Team (SPT) consisting of both students and teachers was established to design a student‐centred PBL subject curriculum, which aimed to address the difficulties former students encountered when learning through a problem‐oriented approach, and to align the contents and assessments of the subject with the students’ learning needs and potential. The study was evaluated by the students’ learning outcomes and by the quality of the subject in promoting learning. Students showed a higher degree of motivation to learn and achieved better learning outcomes compared to the previous PBL implementation. In summary, this study highlighted the importance of matching the learning capability of students with the right types of learning activities.