773. Why Problem-Based Learning?
February 02, 2007
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"What worked in the classroom a decade (or two or three) ago, however, will no longer suffice for the simple reason that past approaches fail to develop the full battery of skills and abilities desired in a contemporary college graduate."
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Posted by markep on February 2, 2007
773. Why Problem-Based Learning?
February 02, 2007
Folks:
The posting below takes a brief look at the key attributes of problem based learning. It is from Chapter 1, Why Problem-Based Learning? A Case Study of Institutional Change in Undergraduate Education by Barbara J. Duch, Susan E. Groh, and Deborah E. Allen in the book, The Power of Problem-Based Learning A Practical "How To" for Teaching Undergraduate Courses in Any Discipline, edited by Barbara J. Duch, Susan E. Groh, and Deborah E. Allen.
Regards,
Rick reis
reis@stanford.edu
UP NEXT: Without Followers, Leaders Are Just Out for a Walk
Why Problem-Based Learning?
Why Change the Way We Teach?
What worked in the classroom a decade (or two or three) ago, however, will no longer suffice for the simple reason that past approaches fail to develop the full battery of skills and abilities desired in a contemporary college graduate. In June of 1994, a Wingspread Conference brought together state and federal policymakers, and leaders from the corporate, philanthropic, higher education, and accreditation communities to discuss quality in undergraduate education. This conference was sponsored by the Education Commission of the States (ECS), the Johnson Foundation, the National Governors' Association, and the National Conference of State Legislatures. The discussion that took place was based on the assertion that substantial improvement in American undergraduate education is needed to prepare students to function successfully in current business and industrial environments. The Conference developed the following list of important characteristics of quality performance of college and university graduates (Wingspread, 1994):
* High-level skills in communication, computation, technological literacy, and information retrieval to enable individuals to gain and apply new knowledge and skills as needed
* The ability to arrive at informed judgments-that is, to effectively define problems, gather and evaluate information related to those problems, and develop solutions
* The ability to function in a global community through the possession of a range of attitudes and dispositions including flexibility and adaptability, ease with diversity, motivation and persistence (for example, being a self-starter), ethical and civil behavior, creativity and resourcefulness, and the ability to work with others, especially in team settings
* Technical competence in a given field
* Demonstrated ability to deploy all of the previous characteristics to address specific problems in complex, real-world settings, in which the development of workable solutions is required
Survey results (Czujko, 1994) of all physics baccalaureates who were employed in either the private sector or government/national labs confirmed the Wingspread Conference conclusions. With approximately 80 percent response to the question, "What skills have you found to be the most useful in your work?", problem-solving, interpersonal skills, technical writing, and management skills were cited (greater than 60 percent) over physics knowledge. More recently, the Carnegie Foundation's report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities (1998) stated that "traditional lectures and note-taking were created for a time when books were scarce and costly and lecturing to large numbers of students was an efficient means of transferring knowledge." Lecturing is still efficient and has persisted as the traditional teaching method largely because it is familiar, easy, and how we learned. It does little, however, to foster the development of process skills to complement content knowledge.
There are teaching practices, however, that do foster such skill development without forsaking content. Quoting John Dewey's observation that "true learning is based on discovery guided by mentoring rather than the transmission of knowledge," (Boyer, 1998, p. 15) the Boyer report urged universities to Šfacilitate inquiry in such contexts as the library, the laboratory, the computer, and the studio, with the expectation that senior learners, that is, professors, will be students' companions and guidesŠ. The research university's ability to create such an integrated education will produce a particular kind of individual, one equipped with a spirit of inquiry and a zest for problem solving; one possessed of the skill in communication that is the hallmark of clear thinking as well as mastery of language; one informed by a rich and diverse experience. It is that kind of individual that will provide the scientific, technological, academic, political, and creative leadership for the next century. (Boyer, 1998)
Student-centered, inquiry-based instruction, particularly problem-based learning, falls right into line with this philosophy; indeed, the Boyer Commission pointed to the PBL efforts at the University of Delaware as one example of how to help students reach the important goals highlighted in the report.
What is Problem-based learning?
We believe that problem-based learning (PBL) provides a forum in which these essential skills will be developed. The basic principle supporting the concept of PBL is older than formal education itself; namely, learning is initiated by a posed problem, query, or puzzle that the learner wants to solve (Boud & Feletti, 1991). In the problem-based approach, complex, real-world problems are used to motivate students to identify and research the concepts and principles they need to know to work through those problems. Students work in small learning teams, bringing together collective skills at acquiring, communication, and integrating information. Problem-based instruction addresses directly many of the recommended and desirable outcomes of an undergraduate education: specifically, the ability to do the following:
* Think critically and be able to analyze and solve complex, real-world problems
* Find, evaluate, and use appropriate learning resources
* Work cooperatively in teams and small groups
* Demonstrate versatile and effective communication skills, both verbal and written
* Use content knowledge and intellectual skills acquired at the university to become continual learners
The PBL Cycle
PBL in the sciences traces its roots to the medical school setting where small groups of intellectually mature, highly motivated medical students work in small groups with a dedicated faculty tutor to learn basic science concepts in the context of actual clinical cases. The process of problem-based instruction (Boud & Feletti, 1997) follows:
* Students are presented with a problem (case, research paper, videotape, for example). Students working in permanent groups organize their ideas and previous knowledge related to the problem and attempt to define the broad nature of the problem.
* Throughout discussion, students pose questions called "learning issues" that delineate aspects of the problem that they do not understand. These learning issues are recorded by the group and help generate and focus discussion. Students are continually encourage to define what they know and-more importantly-what they don't know.
* Students rank, in order of importance, the learning issues generated in the session. They decide which questions will be followed up by the whole group and which issues can be assigned to individuals, who later teach the rest of the group. Students and instructor also discuss what resources will be needed to research the learning issues and where they could be found.
* When students reconvene, they explore the previous learning issues, integrating their new knowledge into the context of the problem. Students are also encouraged to summarize their knowledge and connect new concepts to old ones. They continue to define new learning issues as they progress through the problem. Students soon see that learning is an ongoing process and that there will always be (even for the teacher) learning issues to be explored.
PBL fosters the ability to identify the information needed for a particular application, where and how to seek that information, how to organize that information in a meaningful conceptual framework, and how to communicate that information to others. Use of cooperative working groups fosters the development of learning communities in all classrooms, enhancing student achievement (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991). Students who learn concepts in the context in which they will be used more likely to retain that knowledge and apply it appropriately (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). They will also recognize that knowledge transcends artificial boundaries since problem-based instruction highlights interconnections between disciplines and the integration of concepts.
References
Albanese, M.A. & Mitchell, S. (1993). Problem-based learning: A review of literature on its outcomes and implementation issues. Academic Medicine, 68, 52-81.
Boud, D., & Feletti, G. (1997) The challenge of problem-based learning (2nd ed.). London: Kogan Page.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (1991). Cooperative learning: Increasing college faculty instructional productivity. (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4). Washington, DC: George Washington University.
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Comments about this article: [3]
Tell me all, would you REALLY go to a doctor who was educated by sitting around in a group deciding what the most important symptoms are for a heart attack?
PBL is just another smokescreen that tries to cover the true problems in schools at ALL levels. The Pub ed guild (school boards, superintendents, etc.) push this as the next great method that just so happen will require more teachers, more buildings, more toys, and even smaller classes. Now if you are in an upscales district where money is no object you can get away this. But no provost or college president who must makes ends meet can fund this craze.
As for our classroom practices being outdated...NONSENSE. Lawyers make their living from the Trivium. You can't teach grammar, rhetoric, and logic correctly using PBL.
Here's what I do in class while I try to follow a classical liberal arts approach.
The student must hear it (READ the book)
The student must see it. (attend LECTURE)
The student must say it. (attend RECITATION or answer questions in class)
Now the student must do it. (do PROBLEMS, CASE STUDIES, PAPERS)
They cannot get to doing it, which is where PBL starts, until they are presented the material and make an attempt to understand.
It is absurd to expect students who are not supposed to know anything in the first place to struggle to discover what they are supposed to know. JUST TELL THEM!!!!!!!!
VJM
Posted by: Vincent Marchionni on February 6, 2007 01:14 PM
I find PBL useful, in fact I teach an entire course this way, but the resources issue is a serious one.
In a given amount of time, I can cover twice as much material in a conventional lecture course as I can in PBL. Of course one can argue that the PBL student has a better understanding of the material covered, but you have to accept that the content will be smaller, though the authors of this posting imply otherwise.
DT
Posted by: David Taylor / Trinity College Dublin on February 7, 2007 08:38 AM
Some questions and comments come to mind:
1. How do I assess an individual's competence/mastery when they have participated in group learning?
2. What, if any, would be the role of midterms and final exams--and would the exams be the only judge of individual learning I have?
3. I already feel that specific, detailed, knowledge of subjects is being squeezed out of what I need to teach my students because of the current emphasis on "social skills", which, I am told, students are supposed to be developing in their general education classes, but which I find they are not.
If I, in a computer science course, have to teach my students about writing and composition because they didn't get it right in their English classes, then that means something else isn't going to taught that semester.
4. I have students, both undergraduate and graduate, who don't read, don't come to class prepared, and then expect me to make up the difference. How does PBL impact this state of things?
PBL assumes that students are self-starters, and I just don't see that in most of my students.
5. Is a professor or instructor really just supposed to be a "guide" or a "coach" to students who are teaching themselves?
That assumes that students already know what they are supposed to be learning, doesn't it?
Instructors don't have students for a lifetime in a course, only for 12-16 weeks. Those time constraints affect what learning and teaching methods will be most effective.
Posted by: George Rudolph on February 7, 2007 01:22 PM