The Harvard Connection: How the Case Method Spawned Problem-Based Learning at McMaster University

Abstract

This paper proposes a historical analysis of the connection and differences between the Harvard case method in medical education and business education and the original problem-based learning method of McMaster University as it was developed in the late 1960s. The article focuses on the pedagogy of Harvard Medical School in 1900, Harvard Business School in 1920 and McMaster University in 1969, giving an account of how the respective approaches of these institutions became entangled yet divergent. Using data from archive materials and oral history accounts, a history of the pedagogical connection between Harvard and McMaster is drawn focusing on the use of cases versus problems. The paper concludes by arguing that specific innovations in PBL compared with the case method justify considering them as separate educational methods rather than more of the same.