Problem-based learning

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This article is a bit too long, needs some reorganization and editing, also a lot text is quoted without reference (should be fixed soon) - DSchneider 19:39, 19 July 2006 (MEST)

Introduction

Problem-based learning (PBL in this article) is defined by Finkle and Torp (1995) as, “a curriculum development and instructional system that simultaneously develops both problem solving strategies and disciplinary knowledge bases and skills by placing students in the active role of problem solvers confronted with an ill-structured problem that mirrors real-world problems”.

Students engage in authentic experiences. PBL's are inherently social and collaborative in methodology and teach students essential "soft skills" as well as domain specific content and skills. Through PBL, students learn:

  • Problem-solving skills
  • Self-directed learning skills
  • Ability to find and use appropriate resources
  • Critical thinking
  • Measurable knowledge base
  • Performance ability
  • Social and ethical skills
  • Self-sufficient and self-motivated
  • Facility with computer
  • Leadership skills
  • Ability to work on a team
  • Communication skills
  • Proactive thinking
  • Congruence with workplace skills

What is PBL?

A Little Historical Background

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) has become popular because of its apparent benefits to student learning.

PBL can be thought of as a combination of cognitive and social constructivist theories, as developed by Piaget and Vygotsky, respectively. PBL is a curriculum development and delivery system that recognizes the need to develop problem solving skills as well as the necessity of helping students to acquire necessary knowledge and skills. The first application of PBL was in medical schools which rigorously test the knowledge base of graduates. Medical professionals need to keep up with new information in their field, and the skill of life-long learning is particularly important for them. Hence, PBL was thought to be well suited for this area. Many medical and professional schools, as well as undergraduate and graduate programs use PBL in some form, at varying capacities internationally.

Overview and Characteristics

(1-3 Adapted from Stepien & Gallagher 1993; Barrows, 1985 // 4 & 5 : From Problem Based Learning Initiative)

  1. Use of real world problems - problems are relevant and contextual. It is in the process of struggling with actual problems that students learn content and critical thinking skills.
  2. Reliance on problems to drive the curriculum - the problems do not test skills; they assist in development of the skills themselves.
  3. problems truly ill-structured - there is not meant to be one solution, and as new information is gathered in a reiterative process, perception of the problem, and thus the solution, changes.
  4. PBL is learner-centered - learners are progressively given more responsibility for their education and become increasingly independent of the teacher for their education.
  5. PBL produces independent, life-long learners - students continue to learn on their own in life and in their careers.


Student-centered; faculty-facilitated

Pose significant, contextualized, real world situations, and providing resources, guidance, and instruction to learners as they develop content knowledge and problem-solving skills (Mayo, Donnelly, Nash, & Schwartz, 1993). In PBL, students collaborate to study the issues of a problem as they strive to create viable solutions. Teaching in PBL normally occurs within small discussion groups of students facilitated by a faculty tutor (Aspy, Aspy, & Quimby, 1993, Bridges & Hallinger, 1991).

Because the amount of direct instruction is reduced in PBL, students assume greater responsibility for their own learning (Bridges & Hallinger, 1991). The instructor's role becomes one of subject matter expert, resource guide, and task group consultant. This arrangement promotes group processing of information rather than an imparting of information by faculty (Vernon & Blake, 1993). The instructor's role is to encourage student participation, provide appropriate information to keep students on track, avoid negative feedback, and assume the role of fellow learner (Aspy et al., 1993).

Going Beyond Content

The ability to solve problems is more than just accumulating knowledge and rules; it is the development of flexible, cognitive strategies that help analyze unanticipated, ill-structured situations to produce meaningful solutions.

Real-life problems seldom parallel well-structured problems; hence, the ability to solve traditional school-based problems does little to increase relevant, critical thinking skills students need to interact with life beyond classroom walls. Real-life problems present an ever-changing variety of goals, contexts, contents, obstacles, and unknowns which influence how each problem should be approached. To be successful, students need practice solving ill-structured problems that reflect life beyond the classroom. This skill is the goal of PBL.

This is probably why over 80% of medical schools use the PBL methodology to teach students about clinical cases, either real or hypothetical (Vernon & Blake, 1993, Bridges & Hallinger, 1991).

Versions of PBL

There are many problem-based learning models. E.g. Edwin Bridges (1992) suggests that there are two versions of PBL that have been implemented in the classroom, problem-stimulated PBL and Student Centered PBL.

Problem Stimulated PBL (PS PBL)

PS PBL uses role relevant problems in order to introduce and learn new knowledge. The Prospective Principals Program at Stanford University's School of Education employs PS PBL in its curriculum.

PS PBL emphasizes 3 major goals:

  1. development of domain-specific skills
  2. development of problem-solving skills
  3. acquisition of domain-specific knowledge
The PS PBL Process
  1. Students receive the following learning materials:
    1. the problem ;
    2. a list of objectives that the student is expected to master while working on the problem ;
    3. a reference list of materials that pertain to the basic objectives ;
    4. questions that focus on important concepts and applications of the knowledge base.
  2. Students work in teams to complete the project, resolve the problem, and accomplish the learning objectives.
    1. each student has a particular role in the team - leader, facilitator, recorder, or team member
    2. time allotted to each project is fixed
    3. the team schedules its own activities and decides how to use the allotted time
  3. Student performance is evaluated by instructors, peers, and self using questionnaires, interviews, observation, and other assessment methods.

Throughout the process, instructors serve as resources to the teams and provide guidance and direction if the team asks for it or becomes stymied in the project.

Student Centered PBL (SC PBL)

SC PBL is similar to PS PBL in some aspects. SC PBL has the same goals as PS PBL, but includes one more: fostering life-long learning skills. Physicians are one group of professionals who are required to stay current with new developments in their fields. The skills of a life-long learner are particularly important for this group. Hence, several medical schools employ student centered PBL.

The SC PBL Process
  1. Students receive the problem situation.
  2. Students work on the problem in project teams.
  3. Students are evaluated in multiple ways by instructors, peers, and self.

The process appears to be similar to that of PS PBL, but there are significant differences in each step, which are driven by the goal of fostering life-long learning skills. The major differences are in student responsibilities. In SC PBL:

  • students identify the learning issues they wish to explore;
  • students determine the content to be mastered;
  • students determine and locate the resources to be used.

In short, students have self-defined learning issues. As is the case with PS PBL, students decide how to appropriately use the newly acquired information and knowledge in order to solve the problem at hand.

Case-based PBL

See learning by design.

The Advantages of PBL

According to Bridges (1992):

  1. Students retain little of what they learn when taught in a traditional lecture format (Bok 1989).
  2. Students often do not appropriately use the knowledge they have learned (Schmidt 1983).
  3. Since students forget much of what is learned or use their knowledge appropriately, instructors should create conditions that optimize retrieval and appropriate use of the knowledge in future professional practice.
  4. PBL creates the three conditions that information theory links to subsequent retrieval and appropriate use of new information (Schmidt 1983):
    1. activation of prior knowledge - students apply knowledge to understand new information.
    2. similarity of contexts in which information is learned and later applied - research shows that knowledge is much more likely to be remembered or recalled in context in which it was originally learned (Godden and Baddeley 1975). PBL provides problems within context that closely resemble future professional problems.
    3. opportunity to elaborate on information that is learned during the problem-solving process - elaborations provide redundancy in memory structure, reduces forgetting, and facilitates retrieval. Elaboration occurs in discussion with peers, peer-teaching, exchanging views, and preparing essays about what students have learned during the problem-solving process.

Below is a set of frequently cited advantages of PBL:

Emphasis on Meaning, Not Facts

Most students retain and use little of what they memorize in classroom situations. PBL attempts to break this focus by engaging students in structuring solutions to real life, relevant, contextualized problems. By replacing lectures with discussion forums, faculty mentoring, and collaborative research, students become actively engaged in meaningful learning.

Increased Self Direction

As students pursue solutions to their classroom problem, they tend to assume increased responsibility for their learning. They use self-selected resources (journals, on-line searches,…(Vernon & Blake, 1993)), and textbooks, journals, and discussions (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993) more often than traditional students. They also alter their view of instructors from a source of test answers to a possible recourse to solving relevant problems (Aspy, Aspy, & Quimby, 1993). Together, these processes and learning skills help students become more competent in information-seeking skills than traditional students.

Higher Comprehension and Better Skill Development

PBL provides more meaning, applicability, and relevancy to classroom materials. When problems are engaging, difficult, and useful, higher levels of comprehension and skill development occur than in traditional instruction (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). Real-world contexts and consequences not only allow learning to become more profound and durable, but increases the transferability of skills and knowledge from the classroom to work (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992). This transferability is increased because students are able to practice the knowledge and skills in a functional context, allowing students to better imagine what it will be like using the knowledge and skills on the job (Bridges, 1992).

Interpersonal Skills and Teamwork

PBL incorporates collaborative teams in the solving of relevant problems. This promotes student interaction and teamwork, thereby enhancing students' interpersonal skills (Bernstein et al., 1995; Vernon, 1995) such as working with group dynamic, peer evaluation, and how to present and defend their plans (Delafuente, Munyer, Angaran, & Doering, 1994).

Self-Motivated Attitude

Students generally favor PBL classes, and therefore demonstrate increased attendance and attitudes than traditional classes (Vernon & Blake, 1993). Students think PBL is a more interesting, stimulating, and enjoyable learning method. They are often less threatened by their environment and more able to pursue learning independent. Taken together, these attitudes help students increasingly become more self-motivated (Vernon, 1995) and independent learners, which help students continue their learning practices once they leave school (Aspy et al., 1993).

Level of Learning

Evaluations done in the medical field indicate that students taught through PBL master content as well as students in the traditional courses. (Aspy et al., 1993). PBL medical students also score better than traditional students with respect to learning skills, problem-solving, self-evaluation techniques, data gathering, behavioral science, and their relation to the social-emotional problems of patients (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993).

Why is there an increase in scores resulting in PBL? Information theory links 3 conditions to subsequent improved retrieval and use. It appears that students improve their comprehension because they: (a) are better at activating prior knowledge, (b) learn in a context resembling their future context, and (c) elaborate more fully on the information presented (Bridges & Hallinger, 1991). Increased elaboration promotes mental processing, understanding, and recall. Because content is learned in context, definitions, information, theories, correlations, and principles are learned and integrated with one another (Mandin, Harasym, & Watanabe, 1995).

See also the learning level article.

Summary of Psychological Basis of PBL

(Advantages of PBL, take 2)

Goals and Objectives of PBL : Foster problem-solving skills in students
Psychological Basis : No evidence to date that one curriculum over another enhances students' problem-solving skills independent of acquisition of knowledge.

Goals and Objectives of PBL : Enhance acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge. Improve integration of basic and clinical sciences.
Psychological Basis : Activation of prior knowledge facilitates the subsequent processing of new information. Small-group discussions can activate relevant prior knowledge. Elaboration of knowledge at the time of learning enhances subsequent retrieval. Discussion, note-taking, answering questions, or using the knowledge to understand a problem are all forms of elaboration. Matching context facilitates recall. Some studies showed PBL induces students to retain knowledge longer than it is retained by students taught under conventional conditions. PBL students process information learned more extensively. Schmidt and al. found that students who discussed relevant problems recalled significantly more information from text than students who discussed irrelevant problems. This suggests that problem discussion activates prior knowledge which is elaborated upon and used for comprehension of new information.

Goals and Objectives of PBL : Transfer of Principles and Concepts
Psychological Basis : Without specific hints, usually less than half the individuals in an experiment recognize the similarity between a new problem situation and one they have just read and recalled. In order for transfer to occur, people must be processing the information similarly to the way they will process it when they approach a new problem. For successful transfer, (1) the problem must be approached without much foreknowledge of the domain of the solution or underlying principle; and (2) the problem solver must receive corrective feedback about the solution immediately upon completion.

Goals and Objectives of PBL : Integration of basic and clinical knowledge
Psychological Basis : Patel and colleagues studied students in a PBL and conventional curriculum. Students solved a clinical problem and then integrated three passages of relevant basic science knowledge into their explanations of the problem. PBL students offered more explanations and were able to integrate basic science knowledge and clinical knowledge, but many hypotheses were incorrect. Boshuizen and Schmidt study compared PBL and conventional curriculum students' ability to explain a specific medical condition and how a specific disease could be related. The notable difference was in the approach students took. PBL students appeared to take an analytical approach, while conventional curriculum students tended toward a more memory-based approach.

Goals and Objectives of PBL : Enhance self-directed learning
Psychological Basis : Blumberg and Michael showed that students in a PBL track borrowed more material from the library than students in a conventional curriculum and more PBL students and also acquired more clerkships. There is not conclusive evidence that shows that PBL produces physicians who are better able to keep up with literature.

Goals and Objectives of PBL : Enhance intrinsic interest and motivation to learn
Psychological Basis : De Volder and colleagues found that students who discussed a problem seemed more interested in the problem and studying related literature. The study suggests that PBL involves students more extensively in the subject matter. However, there is no evidence that intrinsic interest in a topic significantly impacts performance related to the topic.

Barriers and disadvantages

The Barriers to PBL
  1. Changing the Curriculum : Changing the curriculum requires an adjustment period. The faculty need to know what to expect and how to adjust. They have been teaching using lectures and discussions. Changing the curriculum means developing a new curriculum. Each PBL project requires 120-160 hours to construct, field-test, and revise (Bridges, 1992). Faculty members don't want to do the added work associated with changing the curriculum (Aspy et al., 1993).
  2. The transition is difficult. PBL requires more student's time and expects students to be responsible and independent learners. Instructors and coordinators should make the transition smooth for students (Bridges, 1992). Success will depend on effective communication and orientation.
  3. More Time to Teach Same Content. When faculty consider the time per week in preparation to teach problems in comparison to presenting lectures, they notice it takes more time. Since PBL is taught in small groups and lectures include the entire class, the numbers of student-teacher contact hours are reduced (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). More teachers would be required to teach the same content in a PBL curriculum. If the class size is less than 40 students, the faculty effort is comparable to conventional teaching (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993).
  4. PBL Costs More. The PBL curricula requires numerous small rooms equipped for teaching and adequate copies of current library resources. Because of limited faculty numbers and resources, PBL is economical for classes of less than 40 students, but could be used with classes up to 100 (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993).
  5. Faculty lack extrinsic rewards for PBL teaching. Professors receive more rewards for research, publication and fund raising than teaching. Since PBL is experimental, the reward system may actually create disincentives (Bridges, 1992).
  6. Faculty Lack Facilitator Skills : Faculty members have taught using lectures and discussions. Faculty members are uncomfortable withholding information as they watch students struggle with problems. Faculty need training to develop facilitator skills or they may be unsuccessful in PBL (Bridges, 1992).
Disadvantages of PBL
  1. Academic achievement : Few academicians doubt the ability of students schooled in PBL to exhibit strong reasoning and team building skills. Because the focus of PBL centers on a specific problem, academic achievement scores often favor traditional teaching methods when standardized test are used, but favor neither method when non-standardized forms of assessment are employed (Vernon & Blake, 1993). These measures include problem-solving ability, interpersonal skills, peer-faculty relationships, the ability to reason, and self-motivated learning. In contrast, traditional instruction is judged better in the coverage of science content areas (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993, Vernon, 1995) and in evaluating students knowledge content. Although PBL tends to reduce initial levels of learning, it improves long-term retention (Farnsworth, 1994).
  2. Time demands : Instructors have not resoundly supported the movement toward PBL. Contributing to this divergence is the time requirement placed upon faculty to assess student learning (Delafuente, Munyer, Angaran, & Doering, 1994; Vernon, 1995), prepare course materials, and allow students to complete the reduction in coverage of course material due to the inefficiency of problem based learning.
  3. Role of the student : Because of the orientation towards the subject-matter expertise of their instructor and the traditional memorization of facts required of students, many students appear to have lost the ability to "simply wonder about something" (Reithlingshoefer, 1992).
  4. Role of the teacher : In PBL, the instructor acts more as a facilitator than disseminator of information. As such, instructors focus their attention on questioning student logic and beliefs, providing hints to correct erroneous student reasoning, providing resources for student research, and keeping students on task. Because this role will be foreign to some teachers, they may have trouble breaking out of their past habits.
  5. Appropriate problems : Generating the proper question is the most critical aspect of PBL. Without problems that encompass both a large goal and specific objectives which students must find on their way to reaching the goal's solution, there is a good chance that important information will not be studied.
  6. Student assessment : PBL differs from traditional instruction in a variety of ways, and therefore student knowledge and achievement may be better measured with alternate assessment methods. These methods include written examinations, practical examinations, concept maps, peer assessment, self assessment, facilitators/tutor assessment, oral presentations, and written reports.
How to Overcome Barriers and Implement PBL
  1. Overcoming Resistance : Faculty members are unfamiliar with PBL and unconvinced of the need for change. It is important to show them examples of success and to explain through literature documentation how it works. In addition, it is important for faculty to get involved and form their own opinions. Provide them with training. Engage them in activities such as observing facilitators. Allow them to practice at a level that builds confidence and ensures success. Through participation they will support the change and be convinced of its rationale. Direct experience with PBL leads to more favorable attitudes among students and faculty (Bernstein, 1995).
  2. Rewarding Faculty for PBL Participation : Faculty members who participate in PBL should receive recognition for writing problem scenarios and for small group teaching just as they would for publishing articles or lecturing. Faculty will engage in activities resulting in promotion, tenure, and salary increases. PBL activities must be included in the behaviors that result in rewards by the system.
  3. Finding Time and Money : Faculty members need time to plan and develop the PBL curriculum. They also need time to continue their other duties if asked to teach in both the PBL and traditional tracks. Options to consider may include hiring temporary faculty, using PBL materials from established programs, raising funds from external sources, limiting the number of students being taught at one time, or accepting the overload (Bridges, 1992).
  4. Facilitator Training : Training teachers to use PBL is simple and successful. Teacher training uses small groups to discuss solutions to real-life instructional problems including barriers, goals, and requirements (Wilkinson & Sherman, 1991).
  5. Strategy : Faculty should read about PBL and how to facilitate small group discussions. Faculty should envision the situation from the student's view. Faculty should create a forum for facilitators to discuss PBL issues as they arise. Faculty should promote seek feedback from students. A Talk Back Form is recommended by Bridges (1992) and involves asking students to complete a questionnaire evaluating the problem they have just completed and how it could be improved.

Features of a PBL Problem

PBL problems should be created with : (1) introduction, (2) content, (3) learning objectives, (4) resources, (5) expected outcome, (6) guiding questions, (7) assessment exercises, (8) and time frame (Bridges, 1992).

These descriptors are for use by facilitators, not students. It is important to have a facilitator's guide and a student's copy of the problem. 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.
Relevancy

Because most PBL solutions take an extended period of time to reach resolution, it is important to maintain motivation, which can be enhanced when students understand the relevance of their class work (Ostwald, Chen, Varnam, & McGeorge, 1992). Another advantage that ensues by incorporating relevant problems is the ability of students to transfer their acquired skills and knowledge to life outside the classroom, and their ability to solve real world problems.

To increase relevancy : focusing problems on current events, student lives, or relationships to actual occurrences at the local, national, or international level. Basing instructional problem on existing problems not only helps students see the relevancy of their activity, but helps them develop an appreciation for the way in which professionals analyze, design, and develop solutions to their problems.

Coverage

To help ensure your problem will guide students to appropriate information : (1) identify the big picture, major concept, or main idea you wish students to achieve. This will serve as a backbone to your problem. (2) identify the basic facts and concepts you wish students to uncover as they solve their problem. Sometimes referred to as "objectives," these basic units serve as the touchstones students should encounter in their problem solution. (3) create a problem that not only focuses students on the large problem but also takes them through the objectives. (4) make sure resources are available for students to reference during their problem analysis and solution.

Complexity

Complex problems offer many advantages over simple problems. (1) complexity helps ensure that there is no "one right" answer. Having multiple correct answers that approach the problem from various perspectives and solutions can springboard to class discussions that stimulate student higher level thinking. (2) complex problems often allow for the integration of interdisciplinary solutions; a common occurrence in solving real world problems. (3) complex problems usually require learners to exhibit management, research, and thinking skills that help distinguish less expert from more expert performers (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). This differentiation can help serve as a grading standards in the class.

How to Structure PBL

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 prestructured?
  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).
Getting Started

Anticipate and manage anxiety (Bernstein, Tipping, Bercovitz, & Skinner, 1995). Explain to all involved what is happening and why. Tutors should receive training (Foley, Levy, Russinof, & Lemon, 1993). Students should be oriented to PBL. State the PBL goals. Randomly assign students to PBL (Mennin Friedman, Skipper, Kalishman, & Snyder, 1993).

Creating Problems

The content to be explored should be reasonable for the time allotted. If time is a constraint, use shorter problems and fewer objectives (Blumberg, Soloman, & Shehata, 1994). Incorporate process objectives and content objectives. PBL effectiveness is dependent upon students developing learning issues that correspond to proposed objectives. Problems should cover sufficient content and provide mechanisms for students to reach objectives.

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).

Novice learners require more structure and cues while more experienced students are self-directed learners. The best format for problems is unorganized, unsynthesized, and open-ended because this allows for student processing (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). Students are motivated to use their reasoning skills and relate the content to their own context and previous knowledge (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). Software can be used in the PBL curriculum, but avoid telling students when the solution is reached. This stops the learning process. Point out inappropriate strategies.

Evaluation

Evaluation is an iterative process. Be prepared to make changes along the way based on experience (Bernstein, Tipping, Bercovitz, & Skinner, 1995).

The Library

Ensure resources and time are available for self-study. "If students are to be genuinely empowered with their own learning, it is important to provide them with the necessary infrastructure." (Rangagachari, 1991). PBL students study in the library more than conventional students and study more during the day than the evening. Increasing the time spent instructing students, decreases the time students spend in self-study (Williams, Saarinen-Rahikka, & Norman, 1995). Limit instructional time to promote self-study by students. If students must learn basic science or similar material for national standardized examinations, increase student access to self-assessment, provide practice examinations, allow additional examination preparation time (Mennin et al., 1993).

Example & Facilitation of PBL

Real life problems are inherently interdisciplinary and all disciplines can tailor the exampled approach that follows. Learning in the problem-based curriculum is initiated with the presentation of an ill-structured problem. Programs that focus on "neat" well-defined problems do not seem to have an effect on the way students approach real problems in the career path they choose (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992). To set the stage and orchestrate a PBL format, presented here are points an instructor may incorporate to achieve such a course, with a medical school example case in point.

Medicine Blends Computers and PBL
  1. Students teams of five to six meet and are provided with a simulated patient's explanation of a medical complaint via a computer network. The computer will allow students access to history, physical examination, and diagnostic data for the case being presented. Students decide the learning issues involved in each case and how to go about solving these issues. The problem finding projections and analyzing are entered into the computer for record keeping and monitoring.
  2. The classroom, whether virtual or face to face, is transformed into a tutorial where instruction takes the form of a process that evolves among students in a team and their coach. The instructor acts as a tutor/facilitator analyzing and guiding student's thinking strategies and modeling these processes for them. As a "meta-cognitive coach" the teaching role becomes one of questioning, probing, encouraging, critical appraisal, balancing emphasis, promoting interaction, and prompting students to become aware of the reasoning skills they are using (Gallagher, et. al., 1992). As different groups work through the problem, their progress is monitored by the instructor and feedback is delivered along with identified research topics for teams. Teams work out assignment among themselves and proceed to tackle them.
  3. After one or two days students reconvene to reexamine the example problem and attempt a solution with regards to their research findings, again the computer is used to record and monitor progress as before.
  4. Next all groups will meet together with the instructor. At this time students will assume the role of "expert" for the topic they explored and present findings. The instructor will give an expert description of the problem solution (instruction in basic science concepts associated with the problem) and provide each group with feedback concerning their efforts and findings. Faculty waits until students themselves have identified the need for specific information to solve their problem, then provides it.
  5. This procedure will be repeated for a group of prototypical problems covering a unit of instruction. The spiral character of this curriculum consciously sequences projects so that each successive project draws on the knowledge and skills developed in the preceding projects. From the student's vantage point this provides repeated opportunities to repeat and refine their skills (Bridges, 1992).
  6. After student teams have completed a unit of instruction the computer integration affords extended practice for individuals. Students will be able to use the computer to practice problems analogous to the problems presented in the unit and view the work of others. The computer will track the method by which the attempts are made and record the information in a database. The computer will compare the student's methodology to a standardized assessment form and record the differences. Feedback is available immediately, which is in accordance with finding by Norman and Schmidt (1992), indicating the importance of immediate feedback to students after they have attempted to solve a problem.
  7. Evaluation may be administered using the computer on the basis of student performance on a standardized simulation (Farnsworth, 1994).

Summary Once teachers relinquish the lecturer's role, they are forced to develop and enhance their repertoire of teaching responses: listening to students; answering questions; helping students frame good questions; formulate problems, and make effective decisions; directing students to appropriate resource materials/faculty; and being fellow learners. Using computers to achieve these ends addresses concerns associated with efficiency and economy of structuring PBL courses (Farnsworth, 1994).

PBL according to the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning

Problem-based learning

What does PBL look like in the classroom?

There are several models of how PBL works in the classroom. All of them agree that in a PBL curriculum,

  1. students work through a series of problems designed to:
    1. be authentic (i.e. address real-world concerns)
    2. target defined areas of the curriculum
    3. be "ill-structured" - they must be defined and analyzed through inquiry from a minimum of presenting information
    4. approximate the real world, so that students find themselves actually engaged in the problem and not just observers of it;
  2. the role of the instructor changes from a "sage on the stage" to a "guide on the side";
  3. students work collaboratively in small groups toward the problem's resolution.

Barrows (1985) proposes the following model of the PBL process :

Process Purpose
Students read and address problem, without background preparation.
  • Teaches students to encode and organize information in useful ways.
  • Allows students to find what they know and what they don¹t know. Misconceptions can be corrected in discussion of the problem.
  • Mimics the real life context they will face as doctors.
Students discuss and analyze problem using prior knowledge and resources available.

Tutor poses questions: ie. Do you need more information? Are you sure of the facts or will a review be helpful? Do you think more information on this area would be helpful?

Tutors encourage hypotheses are grounded in science.
  • Development of cognitive skills for problem-solving process
  • Development of self-monitoring skills to identify the learning needs
  • Development of habitual student-initiated questioning
Students decide what they need to know and where they might best find the information. They decide which resources to use (people, published papers, etc.).
  • Self-directed study
Students revisit problem with new information and knowledge acquired during self-study.

Students critique learning resources used.

Group decides appropriate hypotheses and critiques prior performance.
  • New organization of information to problem-solve.
  • Self-assessment
  • Peer-assessment
Students should think about how what they learned has added to their understanding
  • Reflection
  • Self-assessment

Schmidt and Moust describe the main frame of the process of PBL as iterative and cyclical in nature.

  1. Students approach the problem, without any prior background research.
  2. In the small group tutorial, they analyze the problem based on prior-knowledge, elaborate on the knowledge through discussion, develop new knowledge structures and formulate their own learning objectives.
  3. Students proceed to a period of self-directed study. This helps them to develop, fine-tune, and restructure the existing knowledge structure.
  4. Students then return to the small group tutorial, where they integrate and apply the knowledge they gained during self-directed study in order to problem-solve.

Students will then return to the first step and continue to cycle until the problem is fully addressed.

How do groups function in PBL?

Teams are responsible for scheduling their own activities and deciding how to use their time to solve the problem and master the learning objectives. Depending on the version of PBL, the teams have more or less responsibility for determining learning issues and locating resource materials required to solve the problem. Groups usually consist of 5 to 7 students. Each member of the group maintains a particular role throughout the duration of the project. The four possible roles are:

  1. project leader - proposes meeting agendas, suggests division of labor, and develops the overall project plan.
  2. facilitator - describes the process to be followed during the steps of the project plan, determines appropriate time to proceed in plan, and suggests adjustments to the plan as needed.
  3. recorder - takes group notes of each meeting.
  4. team member - takes individual notes, participates in discussion, and reviews resource materials.

Other PBL models include a mentor or tutor in the group. This is often a faculty member, but another student sometimes functions in this role. Research is mixed as to the domain-specific expertise required of the mentor. It is unclear whether subject expertise is necessary in order to be an effective tutor.

What does the individual do in PBL?

The individual student in PBL has an active role in learning. PBL requires that students have responsibility for their own learning by identifying their learning issues and needs. According to Schmidt and Moust (1989), the student progresses through a series of steps, "The Seven Jump", during the PBL process.

  1. Clarify unknown terms and concepts in the problem description.
  2. Define the problem(s). List the phenomena or events to be explained.
  3. Analyze the problem(s). Step 1. Brainstorm. Try to produce as many different explanations for the phenomena as you think of. Use prior knowledge and common sense.
    • student outcomes:activation of prior knowledge, elaboration, restructuring of information, organization of information, intrinsic motivation]
  4. Analyze the problem(s). Step 2. Discuss. Criticize the explanations proposed and try to produce a coherent description of the processes that, according to what you think, underlie the phenomena or events.
  5. Formulate learning issues for self-directed learning.
  6. Fill in gaps in your knowledge through self-study.
  7. Share your findings with your group and try to integrate the knowledge acquired into a comprehensive explanation for the phenomena or events. Check whether you know enough now.
    • student outcomes: restructuring, applying, problem solving]

A NASA sponsored project, The Classroom of the Future, employs PBL in its curriculum. The project offers classroom ready activities for teachers to use at various grade levels. The project provides guidance for both teachers and students in order to help them adjust to and utilize the PBL curriculum. In the guide for students, the project suggests similar problem-solving steps:

  1. Read and analyze the problem scenario.
  2. List what is known.
  3. Develop a problem statement describing what the group is trying to solve, produce, respond to, or find out.
  4. List what the group needs to find out.
  5. List possible actions.
  6. Analyze information.
  7. Present findings

An important objective of PBL is that students become responsible for their own learning and for what they will actually research. Consequently, throughout the PBL process, as students define and analyze the problem, they generate "learning issues." Learning issues are questions generated by the students that need to be answered in order to solve the problem. When the problem has been developed to the point that further analysis and understanding is inhibited by their lack of knowledge, the students undertake their self-directed learning, guided by the "Learning Issues" and motivated by the actions they anticipate taking. The design of the problem and questioning by the teacher/tutor will lead students to identify learning issues relevant to the curriculum content objectives. Some versions of PBL provide some learning issues for students in the form of objectives. In other versions of PBL, students are totally responsible for generating their learning needs.

What is the role of the instructor in PBL?

All of the literature reviewed in the creation of this site is unanimous about one aspect of PBL: the role of the instructor. In PBL, the instructor serves as a resource to the student teams. The instructor is frequently acts as a mentor or tutor to the group. The instructor relinquishes the role of the dispenser of information. The instructor is most active in planning the PBL the content and sequence of projects, providing immediate feedback on student work and discussion, and evaluating students. In the classroom, teachers should act as metacognitive coaches, serving as models, thinking aloud with students and practicing behavior they want their students to use (Stepien and Gallagher, 1993). Teachers coax and prompt students to use questions such as "What is going on here? What do we need to know more about? What did we do during the problem that was effective?" and take on responsibility for the problem. Over a period of time, students become self-directed learners, teachers then fade (Stepien and Gallagher, 1993). Research suggests that students benefit from immediate feedback from instructors so that misconceptions can be cleared promptly (Norman and Schmidt, 1992). It is the job of the instructor to be aware of the progress and conversations within the groups so that students continue on fruitful paths.

The instructor must also prepare and adjust to the changes that accompany the implementation of PBL. In addition to the shift in the role of the instructor, there is also a change in the structure of class time. Some authors (Schmidt, Bridges, Barrows) strongly suggest that the instructor provide unstructured time in the class in order for students to assemble in their teams, work with resources, contact and meet with faculty members who may be helpful to their project, and accomplish other tasks necessary in the resolution of the problem. Some research (Gijselaers and Schmidt, 1992) has shown that there is a point of diminishing returns. After a certain number of hours per week, the amount of teacher-centered time in class detracts from students' self-study time. The instructor may also need to address the perceived delay in the student performance that often occurs. Research shows that PBL students may not achieve as much, initially with the implementation of PBL (Schmidt, et. al, 1996). However, PBL students retain more than their traditionally educated counterparts and learn life-long, self-directed learning skills that other students may not.

How to do PBL

The Teacher Pages of NASA's Classroom of the Future provides an informative and practical way to use PBL in the classroom. Savery and Duffy (In Press), discuss issues for instructional design in constructivist environments:

  • Anchor all learning activities to a larger task or problem.
  • Support the learner in developing ownership for the overall problem or task.
  • Design an authentic task.
  • Design the task and the learning environment to reflect the complexity of the environment students should be able to function in at the end of learning.
  • Give the learner ownership of the process used to develop a solution.
  • Design the learning environment to support and challenge learners' thinking.
  • Encourage testing ideas against alternative views and alternative contexts.
  • Provide opportunity for support and reflection on both the content learned and the learning process.

Barrows (How to Design a Problem Based Curriculum for the Pre-Clinical Year, 1985) also provides a suggested list of objectives for a course and recommends that both faculty and students are provided with the list at the start of the course. Although Barrows specialized in the application of PBL in medical education, his ideas can be generalized to other laboratory sciences. Here are his suggested objectives: By the end of the course, the student should be able to demonstrate capabilities in the following areas:

Analytical Reasoning Skills

  • Generate several hypotheses
  • Appropriate use of hypothesis-oriented inquiry-strategy
  • Problem synthesis
  • New hypothesis or new inquiry approach
  • Protocol-oriented or routine inquiry
  • Appropriate laboratory or diagnostic tests
  • Final working hypothesis
  • Management plan to correct the problem

Clinical or Laboratory skills Self-assessment and self-study skills

  • Assess adequacy of knowledge and reasoning skills in evaluating problems presented
  • List information that needs to be reviewed or learned

Knowledge

  • List of knowledge that needs to be learned and appropriately applied in analysis of problems

Assessment of PBL : Assessing student achievement

Because instruction and learning is different in problem based settings than traditional instruction, many instructors find student evaluation difficult. PBL encourages development of meta-cognitive skills like group learning or research and communication skills and aims transferring knowledge to novel situations. With such multiple purposes for PBL, it is important to consider a variety of evaluation techniques.

San Diego State University's Technology Initiative Web Site (retrieved 19:39, 19 July 2006 (MEST)) suggests the following ideas for assessment:

  • Written examinations : should be designed to ensure transference of skills to similar problems or subject domains.
  • Practical examinations : used to ensure that students are able to apply skills learned during the course.
  • Concept maps : Much of the learning that goes on during PBL is more than just a compilation of facts. As such, written examinations may not be an adequate measure of student growth. Requiring students to generate concept maps, in which they depict their knowledge through the creation of identified nodes and links, may present another option to determine their cognitive growth.
  • Peer assessment : Because life outside the classroom usually requires working with others, peer assessment is a viable option to measure student growth. Providing students with an evaluation rubric often helps guide the peer evaluation process. This process also emphasizes the cooperative nature of the PBL environment.
  • Self assessment : An important element of PBL is to help students identify gaps in their knowledge base in order for more meaningful learning to result. Self assessment allows students to think more carefully about what they know, what they do not know, and what they need to know to accomplish certain tasks.
  • Facilitators/tutor assessment : The feedback provided by tutors should encourage the students to explore different ideas. It is important that facilitators not dominate the group, facilitate learning and exploration. Tutor assessment may consist of how successful individuals interacted with their group and their cognitive growth.
  • Oral Presentations : Because so much of work life revolves around presenting ideas and results to peers, oral presentation in PBL provide students an opportunity to practice their communication skills. Presenting findings to their group, the class, or even a real-life audience can help strengthen these skills.
  • Reports : Written communication is another skill important for students. Requiring written reports allows students to practice this form of communication.

Assessing the value of a PBL curriculum

When determining the value of PBL curriculum, the literature has focused on 4 components : (a) attitudes, (b) basic knowledge, (c) problem solving ability, and (d) study habits.

Attitudes: Students enrolled in PBL courses appear to have a more favorable attitude toward their course than students schooled in traditional instruction. Improved attitudes contribute to a variety of factors including increased course enrollment, enhanced interest in major course of study, and positive feedback from faculty and employers (Pincus, 1995); a reduced dropout rate (Bridges & Hallinger, 1991; Pincus, 1995); and an increase in student comments concerning the advantages of PBL after their learning experience (Bernstein, Tipping, Bercovitz, & Skinner, 1995). Schmidt, Henny, and de Vries (1992) conclude that "problem based curricula do appear to provide a friendlier and more inviting educational climate."

Basic knowledge: Test results seem split on basic knowledge comprehension. In the medical field, although it was sometimes found that students schooled with PBL performed worse on standardized tests, they performed better on clinical tests and equal on essay tests to conventionally-schooled students (Albanese, 1993). Not all studies are favorable to PBL, but Albanese found that PBL knowledge is more deeply ingrained and less likely to be as easily forgotten.

Reasoning and problem solving skills: The evidence appears supportive in finding PBL students better than conventional students in analyzing atypical medical cases (Albanese, 1993), and in having stronger problem solving skills (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992).

Team work Most PBL is done in small groups. Therefore it is not surprising to find that students who learn in this context tend to be more oriented toward collaborative learning.

Summary

PBL students obtain residency positions equally well and better than average, and residency supervisors rate these graduates equal or better than conventional students (Albanese, 1993). In general, the research points to the fact that students schooled in problem based learning "are better able to apply their knowledge of the clinical sciences and have better developed clinical reasoning skills than (traditionally instructed) students." (Lewis, Buckley, Kong, & Mellsop, 1992).

Examples of PBL Problems

University level
  • Teacher Training in Science: Sherman Rosenfeld and Yehuda Ben-Hur, PBL in Science and Technology: A Case Study of Professional Development, Department of Science Teaching, Wizmann Institute of Science, [1]
High School Level
Commercial PBL example cases

Links

http://sll.stanford.edu/pubs/jeepark/pblsite/research.htm

http://www.ed.psu.edu/nasa/probtxt.html - comment faire un cours PBL - avec exemples (http://www.windows.ucar.edu mais pas tout PBL je pense)

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/clrit/home.html

- une webquest sur le PBL : http://edweb.sdsu.edu/clrit/PBL_WebQuest.html

http://www.odont.lu.se/projects/ADEE/shanley.html

http://www.udel.edu/pbl/problems/ - différents PBL

References

Albanese, M., & Mitchell, S. (1993). Problem-based learning: A review of the literature on its outcomes and implementation issues. Academic Medicine. 68(1), 52-81.

Aspy, D.N., Aspy, C. B., & Quimby, P.M. (1993). What doctors can teach teachers about problem-based learning. Educational Leadership, 50(7), 22-24.

Barrows, H.S. (1985). How to Design a Problem-based Curriculum for the Preclinical Years. New-York : Springer

Bernstein, P., Tipping, J., Bercovitz, K., & Skinner, H.A. (1995). Shifting students and faculty to a PBL curriculum: Attitudes changed and lessons learned. Academic Medicine, 70(3), 245-247.

Blumberg, P., Solomon, P., & Shehata, A. (1994, April). Age as a contextual cue in problem-based learning. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Bridges, E. M. (1992). Problem based learning for administrators. Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 347 617)

Bridges, E. M., & Hallinger, P. (1991, September). Problem-based learning in medical and managerial education. Paper presented for the Cognition and School Leadership Conference of the National Center for Educational Leadership and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Nashville, TN.

Delafuente, J. C., Munyer, T. O., Angaran, D. M., & Doering, P. L. (1994). A problem solving active learning course in pharmacotherapy. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 58(1), 61-64.

Dolmans, D. H., Gijselaers, W. H. & Schmidt, H. G. (1992, April). Do students learn what their teachers intend they learn? Guiding processes in problem-based learning. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Engel, C. (Ed.). (1992). Annals of Community-Oriented Education Volume 5. Network Community-Oriented Educational Institutions for Health Sciences. (pp. 193-198). Maastricht, The Netherlands: University of Limburg.

Farnsworth, C. C. (1994). Using computer simulations in problem-based learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Proceedings of the Thirty-fifth ADCIS Conference (pp. 137-140). Nashville, TN: Omni Press.

Foley, R. P., Levy, J., Russinof, H. J., & Lemon, M. R. (1993 ). Planning and implementing a problem-based learning rotation for residents. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 5(2), 102-106.

Gallagher, S. A., Stepien, W. J., & Rosenthal, H. (1992). The effects of problem-based learning on problem solving. Gifted Child Quarterly. 36(4), 195-200.

Greening T. (1998). “Scaffolding for success in PBL”. Medical Education Online. Vol III.

Harden, R. M. & Margery H. Davis, (1998) The continuum of problem-based learning, Medical Teacher, Vol. 20, No. 4.

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

http://sll.stanford.edu/pubs/jeepark/pblsite

Mandin, H., Harasym, P., & Watanabe, M. (1995). Developing a "clinical presentation" curriculum at the University of Calgary. Academic Medicine, 70(3), 186-193.

Mayo, P., Donnelly, M. B., Nash, P. P., & Schwartz, R. W. (1993). Student Perceptions of Tutor Effectiveness in problem based surgery clerkship. Teaching and Learning in Medicine. 5(4), 227-233.

Mennin, S. P., Friedman, M, Skipper, B, Kalishman, S., & Snyder, J. (1993). Performances on the NBME I, II, and III by medical students in the problem-based learning and conventional tracks at the University of New Mexico. Academic Medicine, 68(8), 616-624.

Ostwald, M. J., Chen, S. E., Varnam, B., & McGeorge, W. D. (1992, November). The application of problem-based learning to distance education. Paper presented at the world conference of the International Council for Distance Education, Bangkok, Thailand.

Pincus, K. V. (1995). Introductory Accounting: Changing the First Course. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 61, 88-98.

Problem Based Learning Initiative at Southern Illinois Institute : http://www.pbli.org/pbl/pbl1.htm

Problem Based Learning: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/sources.html (46 web and 16 print references)

Rangachari, P. K. (1991). Design of a problem-based undergraduate course in pharmacology: Implications for the teaching of physiology. Advances in Physiology Education. 5(1), S14-S21.

Reithlingshoefer, S. J. (Ed.), (1992). The future of Nontraditional/Interdisciplinary Programs: Margin or mainstream? Selected Papers from the Tenth Annual Conference on Nontraditional and Interdisciplinary Programs, Virginia Beach, VA, 1-763.

Savery, J. R., and Duffy, T. M. (1995). Problem based learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. Educational Technology, 35, 31-38. Reviewed by Chuck Ferguson

Savery, John R. and Thomas M. Duffy, Problem Based Learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework, In B. Wilson (Ed.). Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design, Educational Technology Publications Englewood Cliffs, NJ. HTML

Schmidt, H. G., Henny, P. A., & de Vries, M. (1992). Comparing problem-based with conventional education: A review of the University of Limburg medical school experiment. Annals of Community-Oriented Education, 5, 193-198.

Schmidt, H. G., Van Der Arand, A., Moust, J. H., Kokx, I., & Boon, L. (1993). Influence of tutors' subject matter expertise on student effort and achievement in problem-based learning. Academic Medicine, 68(10), 784-791.

Schmidt H.G. & Moust J.H.C. (1998). Processes that Shape Small-Group Tutorial Learning: A Review of Research. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Stepien, W.J. and Gallagher, S.A. 1993. "Problem-based Learning: As Authentic as it Gets." Educational Leadership. 50(7) 25-8

Vernon, D. T. (1995). Attitudes and opinions of faculty tutors about problem-based learning. Academic Medicine, 70(3) 216-223.

Vernon, D. T., & Blake, R. L. (1993). Does problem-based learning work? A meta-analysis of evaluative research. Academic Medicine, 68(7) 550-563.

Wilkinson, T.W., & Sherman, T.M. (1991). Telecommunications-based distance education: Who's doing what? Educational Technology, 31(11), 54-59.

Williams, R., Saarinen-Rahikka, H., & Norman, G. R. (1995). Self-Directed learning in problem-based health science education. Academic Medicine, 70(2), 161-163.

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