Abstract:

Challenge-based learning is focused on the implementation of inductive methodological strategies. Instead of presenting students with a problem to solve, it offers them a topic of general interest from which, after their study, they draw the challenges that they will have to address. In this way the students are actively involved in a real problem situation.

The objectives of this work are to design a methodology to implement the challenge based learning in the "Pharmaceutical Technology" discipline of the Pharmacy degree and to evaluate the ability of the students to identify challenges when applying the developed methodology.

In this project we work with a group of 36 students of the third year of the Pharmacy degree Pharmacy of the Complutense University of Madrid and the correct conservation of medicines was selected as a topic of general interest.

In a first stage, a survey, with questions related to how to keep medicines in their homes and the management of domestic first aid kits, was prepared and given to the students.

In the second stage, the professors involved selected a basic bibliography on “Stability of medicines”, which was given to the students in order to study it. To ensure that the selected bibliography was analysed by the students, a questionnaire that covered their main aspects, was prepared and filled by the students. In the third stage, the results of the surveys on how to keep the medicines, previously processed by the teachers, were given to the students They were asked to contrast these results with what they had learned about the stability of the medications, to identify real problems in the conservation of medications by the population and how to solve them.

Finally, a class discussion was organized so that the students, guided by the teacher, were exposing the problems they had identified. The procedures for their resolution were established.

The first three stages are based on the individual work of the student, and it was found that the procedures established to ensure that each student performed the tasks entrusted (delivering the surveys, stability questionnaires, and the problems identified and how to solve them) were essential. The Moodle platform was used for all the management of this documentation. The last stage was collective work, in the classroom, and the supervision/ of the teacher was fundamental in order to promote the participation of all students, and to define specific actions.

In conclusion, both students and teachers valued the learning strategy based on challenges designed very positively.

Keywords:

Challenges, medications, conservation, design.