Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

What it is, Principles, and Examples

David W. Mogk

Dept. Earth Sciences

Montana State University

On the Cutting Edge Workshops

Teaching Structural Geology in the 21st Century

June, 2004

Discovery!

• Sustains and inspires us as researchers

• Is most effective for learning/understanding

• Researchers create new knowledge

• Learners achieve mastery of material previously unknown to them (re-discovery) on the way towards true discovery.

• Both require

– Creative thinking, seeing relations in a new light

– Application of first principles, basic knowledge

– Work in a meaningful context

– Building on work of predecessors

– A common language for effective communication.

Integration of research and education:

…infuse the joy of discovery and an

awareness of its connections to exploration

through directed inquiry and careful

observation, and analytic thinking for

students at all levels.

NSF in a Changing World (1995)

Integrating Research and Education

• (Re)Discovery Simulation

• Modeling Replication

• Real-time, archived, and authentic data

• Critical review of the literature

• Training on instrumentation, software,

field methods

• New creative contributions

Scientific Habits of the Mind

• Reasoned use of evidence

• Verifiable data, testing, proof, prediction

• Curiosity, skepticism, open to new ideas

• Integrity, fairness, ability to identify & avoid bias

• Computational and estimation skills

• Ability to observe, measure, manipulate

• Make connections, apply to new situations

• Communicate!

In PBL groups are presented with contextual

situations and asked to define the problem,

decide what skills and resources are necessary

to investigate the problem, and then pose

possible solutions (Duch, Groh, and Allen,

2001)

What is PBL I?

What is PBL II

•Student-centered; faculty facilitated

•Inquiry training; methodology to teach students about

clinical cases, either real or hypothetical

•Going beyond content

Involvement + Experience =

Understanding, Ownership and Long-term

Retention

What does PBL do?

PBL simultaneously develops problem solving ` strategies, disciplinary knowledge bases, and skills.

How does PBL do it?

By placing students in the active role of problem solvers confronted with a (purposefully) ill-structured problem which mirrors real-world problems.

Problem-based learning has as its

organizing center the ill-structured

problem which...

• is messy and complex in nature

• requires inquiry, information-gathering,

and reflection

• is changing and tentative

• has no simple, fixed, formulaic, "right"

solution

PBL Consists of Two Complementary Inter-related Processes

Curriculum Design

• Teachers design an ill-structured problem based on desired curriculum outcomes, learner characteristics, and compelling, problematic situations from the real world

• Teachers develop a sketch or template of teaching and learning events in anticipation of students' learning needs

• Teachers investigate the range of resources essential to the problem and arrange for their availability

Cognitive Coaching

• Students actively define problems and construct potential solutions

• Teachers model, coach, and fade in supporting and making explicit students' learning processes

•

http://www.udel.edu/pbl/

Resources for Problem-Based Learning

University of Delaware

The Power of Problem-Based Learning, A Practical

"How To" For Teaching Undergraduate Courses in

Any Discipline, edited by Barbara Duch, Susan

Gron, and Deborah Allen, Stylus Publishing, LLC

(2001), 256 pages

San Diego State University, The Learning Tree

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/clrit/learningtree/PBL/WhatisPBL.html

Features of a PBL Problem

1. introduction,

2. content,

3. learning objectives,

4. resources,

5. expected outcome,

6. guiding questions,

7. assessment exercises,

8. and time frame (Bridges, 1992).

The students must be guided to reach both the objectives

involved in solving the problem and the objectives related to

the process.

Creating An Appropriate Problem

•Choosing a relevant problem,

•Ensuring that the problem's coverage includes

both the big idea and basic skills, and

•Ensuring the problem's complexity mimics real-

life problems.

Design Considerations

1. How should PBL be incorporated into the curriculum?

2. What problems should be used and how should they be

presented?

3. What are the instructional goals?

4. How should small groups be formed?

5. How much should each problem be pre-structured?

6. How to evaluate the program and the students?

7. What resources should be available?

8. How to prepare students and faculty for PBL? (Bridges, 1992).

Guidelines for Problems

1. common situation to serve as a prototype for other

situations,

2. significant,

3. prevention is possible,

4. interdisciplinary,

5. cover objectives,

6. task oriented,

7. and complex enough to incorporate prior knowledge

(Albanese & Mitchell, 1993).

1. Assessment of problem based learning; students and classes

1.Assessing student achievement

2.Written examinations

3.Practical examinations

4.Concept maps

5.Peer assessment

6.Self assessment

7.Facilitators/tutor assessment

8.Oral Presentations

9.Reports

2. Assessing the value of a problem based learning curriculum

1.Attitudes

2.Basic knowledge

3.Reasoning and problem solving skills

4.Team work

Assessment of PBL

Barriers to PBL

•PBL requires more time of students, expects to be

responsible and independent learners

•More time to cover same content (transfer of info via

lecture is certainly more efficient—but does learning

really occur?)

•Requires technical and information support

•Lack of incentives for faculty

Disadvantages of Problem Based Learning

As with all learning theories, there are advantages and

limitations when creating or implementing problem based

learning curriculum. These limitations revolve around six

topics:

•the academic achievement of students involved in

problem based learning,

•the amount of time required for implementation,

•the changing role of the student in the process,

•the changing role of the teacher in the process,

•generating appropriate problems, and

•valid assessment of the program and student learning.

How does PBL compare with other instructional approaches?

Problem-Based Learning causes a shift in roles...

Teacher as coach

Student as

active problem-

solver

Problem as initial challenge

and motivation

Models/coaches/fades in:

•Asking about

thinking

•Monitoring learning

•Probing/ challenging

students' thinking

•Keeping students

involved

•Monitoring/ adjusting

levels of challenge

•Managing group

dynamics

•Keeping process

moving

Student as active

problem-solver:

•Active

participant

•Engaged

•Constructing

meaning

Problem as initial challenge and

motivation to attention:

•Ill-structured

•Appeals to human desire for

resolution/ stasis/harmony

•Sets up need for and context

of learning which follows

―Science is knowledge not of things, but of

their relations.‖

Science is built up of facts, as a house is built up

of stones, but an accumulation of facts is no

more science than a heap of stones is a house.

Henri Poincaré

Science and Hypothesis