[New pedagogic approaches adapted to the teaching of pharmacology, the activities centered on the student].

The traditional way of teaching of pharmacology is discussed in three parts. First two trends are presented that impact on the evolution of medical education. The first trend orients teaching toward instructional formats that solicit, and often require full student involvement. This is justified by the second trend: the organization of knowledge into long-term memory is built around semantic networks linked to the clinical context, thus facilitating recall in clinical practice. In the second part a method is presented which illustrates these principles: problem-based learning (PBL). The tutor's is role and roles where the onus is on the students are specified. The last part explores how PBL could be a more relevant method for teaching pharmacology, provided that three prerequisite assumptions are respected.