its all about PBL what is principles and examples

1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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!

6. 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?

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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
•

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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).

16. 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).

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. How does PBL compare with other instructional approaches?

21. 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

22. “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