Problem Based Learning is a student centered pedagogy through which students learn through the experience of problem solving. These students learn critical decision making strategies as well as content knowledge.
Problem Based Learning originated from the medical field and has spilled over to other schools of content. PBL has been thought to be pioneered in the late 1960's by Howard Barrows and his colleagues at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in their medical school program.
With Problem Based Learning, a student will have to opportunity to:
Examine and try out what they know
Develop social skills for achieving performance in teams
Improve communication skills
State and defend positions with evidence and sound arguments
Become more flexible in processing information and meeting obligations
Practice skills needed after a high school education
Sources:
Barrows, Howard S. (1996). "Problem-based learning in medicine and beyond: A brief overview". New Directions for Teaching and Learning1996(68): 3. doi:10.1002/tl.37219966804.
Barrett, Terry (2010). "The problem‐based learning process as finding and being in flow". Innovations in Education and Teaching International47 (2): 165.doi:10.1080/14703291003718901.
Jump up^ Wells, Samantha H; Warelow, Philip J; Jackson, Karen L (2009). "Problem based learning (PBL): A conundrum". Contemporary Nurse33 (2): 191–201.doi:10.5172/conu.2009.33.2.191. PMID19929163.
Defining Characteristics of Problem Based Learning
What
Student-Centered and Experiential
Inductive
Builds on/challenges prior learning
Context-specific
Problems are complex and ambiguous. It requires meta-cognition.
Creates cognitive conflict
Collaborative & Interdependent
How
Select authentic assignments from the discipline, preferably those that would be relevant and meaningful to student interests. Students are also responsible for locating and evaluating various resources in the field.
Introduce content through the process of problem solving, rather than problem solving after introduction to content.
If the case has some relevance to students, then they are required to call on what they already know or think they know. By focusing on their prior learning, students can test assumptions, prior learning strategies, and facts.
Choose real or contrived cases and ground the count in the kinds of challenges faced by practitioners in the field
Select actual examples from the 'real life' of the discipline that have no simple answers. Require students to analyze their own problem solving strategies.
Select cases with information that makes simple solutions difficult: while the solution may address one part of a problem, it may create another problem. Challenges prior learning as noted above.
Have students work in small groups in order to address the presented case
Why
Relevance is one of the primary student motivators to be a more self-directed learner
Research indicates that 'deeper' learning takes place when information is introduced within a meaningful context.
The literature suggests that learning takes placewhen there is a conflict between prior learning and new information.
Again, context-specific information tends to be learned at a deeper level and retained longer.
Requires the ability to use higher order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation of new knowledge.
The literature suggests that learning takes place when there is a conflict between prior learning and new information.
By collaborating, students see other kinds of problem solving strategies used, they discuss the case using their collective information, and they need to take responsibility for their own learning, as well as their classmates.
