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In the field of education, many diverse ideas about effective teaching circulate in efforts to enhance learning. Ideas such as active learning, cooperative/collaborative learning and Problem Based Learning or (PBL) percolate through sometimes initiating confusion and misguidance. Problem-Based Learning is one of the most innovative concepts in effective teaching has opened up a whole new world of ideas to be used in the classroom in order to promote cognitive development. In order to fully understand how to operate these concepts brought fourth by Barrows, we must first get acquainted with what PBL is, its historical relevance, the logic it produces, and how it is used. With a thorough understanding of PBL one can practice utilizing it in the classroom and ultimately have students advance to higher order thinking.

Problem Based Learning is a component of the concept of Constructivism. The Constructivist Theory is a theoretical framework based on cognitive study designed by Jerome Bruner. He states that “ learning is an active process in which students construct new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge” (“The Psi Café,” n.d.). The idea of constructivism has been given guidelines and characteristics that enable the teacher to plan lessons aligned with them. According to Murphy (1997), many educators have designed lists of learning principles in order to adhere to the constructivist concept.

Jonassen suggests that teachers should create lesson bases on real world application in order to adjoin relevance. Application of multiple representation and perspectives should be implemented. The classroom environment should be based on a controlled democratic arrangement rather than a coerce instructor. The role of the instructor should be that of a facilitator and students should practice self assessment.

Wilson & Cole recommend implementation of “rich-authentic,” real world environmental problem-solving. Student lead activities should be put fourth and mistakes should be used to guide students and to “provide feedback,” in order for the students to obtain the finest education.

According to John Cavanaugh, vice-provost of Academic Programs and Planning at Delaware and principle investigator on the Pew, PBL fits into the schema like those on a branch of a tree. He indicates that Active Learning would be at the top, Cooperative/Collaborative Learning would be a component of Active learning, and PBL would be a component of Cooperative/Collaborative Learning. I believe however, that Cavanaugh left out a very vital part of the picture. Active Learning, Cooperative/Collaborative Learning, and PBL all fall under the Constructivist Theory. I believe that Constructivism should be at the top, then PBL would follow along with Active Learning and Cooperative/Collaborative Learning. A chart of this is as follows:

Problem Based Learning develops learning in a constructivist way. The main concepts PBL supports are real world application, student centered activities, and the promotion of higher order thinking. Real world application brings fourth relevance to the subject matter. The instructor implements meaningful lessons in order to allow students to feel empathy and create ties for more thorough comprehension. Moreover, student centered activities involve the students’ participation in a controlled democratic learning society. The teacher acts merely as a facilitator to the lesson and limits guidance in an “ill-structured” manner. “Ill-structured” is a term that defines problems that “do not have clear-cut, absolute answers and reflect the complexity of real-world problems”(Abdullah,1998). Furthermore, the promotion of higher order thinking reflects back to Blooms Taxonomy of Learning.

If the taxonomy were a pyramid, at the base would be knowledge. On top of knowledge would be comprehension, then application, analysis, synthesis and finally at the top would be evaluation. The goal in any learning environment is to help students master the level they are on and move on to the next. In PBL, the main goal is to challenge students in order to get them out of the mundane dry content they are accustomed to. As in Plato’s theory of knowledge, our goal as a society is to get farther away from the cave. The cave is a metaphor for ignorance. When we teach students in isolation it is virtually impossible to expect them to make connections, actively participate in lessons, advance to higher levels of thinking, and essentially lure them away from the cave.

Educational Components Utilized in PBL

Now that we have a better understanding of what PBL is and where it fits into the puzzle, we must understand how it came to be. The concept was created by Howard Barrows in the early 1980’s. He utilized the method to teach medical students in a real world type environment by allowing them to solve medical problems based on real life cases (Abdullah, 1998). This method was highly effective because he pulled his students away from purely text book content as well as lecture and had them face simulated problems. All the students worked in teams and were facilitated by a medical practitioner. This method “encouraged students to think and act like they would in the real world of medicine” and “can be applied in other domains”(Abdullah, 1998).

Having identified how the concept came to be, we must now explore how to use it in the classroom. There are many aspects that diversify PBL methods from traditional methods. According to Anne-Marie Mowad, a third grade teacher in Lawndale California and Graduate student at Pepperdine University, there are seven distinct differences between the two. She presents a chart as follows:

Traditional vs. Problems-Based Learning

The chart illustrates the traditional approach and its PBL counterpart however, just comprehending these differences does not entitle one to immediate implementation in the classroom. To properly execute PBL in the classroom one must understand the way the lesson is to be prepared and presented such as the way a dinning experience occurs (Robertson, Lecture, 2005). When one experiences dinning, the appetizer is presented first, then the main course and finally the dessert. If one decided to eat in a different order such as dessert first, the effect of the overall experience would not have the intended outcome. To begin a lesson, the five part model in Richard Allen’s Impact Teaching, Ideas and Strategies for Teachers to Maximize Student Learning, supports organization and goal setting. The five part model begins with the engager or the “hook.” This will ultimately set the stage for the proposed idea or concept. The engager will grasp the students’ attention. The next step is to frame the activity. In this step, according to Abdullah, the facilitator “identifies or designs an ill-structured problem or task relevant to the learner. Abdullah indicates that the facilitator then “presents the problem to the learners.”

The third step in the five part model is the activity. In the activity utilizes the Active Learning and Cooperative/Collaborative Learning components. The student will then be engaged and be held responsible for his/her individual learning. Allen states that, “The activity serves as a demonstration of the ‘concept in action.’” In the PBL frame, this is where, according to Abdullah, students generate ideas, identify information, gather information and propose solutions. This can only be done if the students are engaged and pursuing a higher level of thought.

Step four is debriefing. This is where the educator facilitates the groups and helps to clarify and guide thought. Rhem exclaims that it “embraces the question-and-answer dialectical approach associated with Socrates.” He touches upon the concept of Socratic questioning which involves the decenterization of knowledge from teacher to student where the teacher becomes the facilitator or the “cognitive coach.” To correctly facilitate with out giving information, teachers must ask questions such as: Why? What do you mean? and, How do you know that is true? (Savery & Duffy, 1994). By passing the job of discovery on to the students, they begin to take on the responsibility of learning.

Step five entails the metaphor. When the student is able to make a metaphor out of what has been learned, he/she will connect the lesson to the immediate world. “This allows the concept to be viewed fro a wider perspective…to the students’ world at home, or to life in general”(Allen, 2002).

When taking on the challenge of implementing Problem-Based Learning in the classroom it is important to remember that PBL is merely a component of the Constructivist Theory. Active Learning and Cooperative/Collaborative Learning are products of PBL and support it. We have learned that PBL can work in many disciplines as it did the medical field in the 1980’s. PBL focuses on real-world application and challenges students to think at a higher level. By understanding the differences of the traditional approach and the PBL approach, one can better learn to avoid mundane activities that do not elevate or challenge the cognitive minds of students. It is vital that one should plan carefully and meaningfully when attempting to implement the PBL method. Utilizing the five part model can give a thorough idea of what lesson would be appropriate as well as alignment of specific goals intend. With more research and practice in the classroom, educators can work together to augment Problem-Based Learning in order to promote thought.

References

Abdullah, Mardziah Hayati. (1998). Problem-Based Learning in Language Instruction: A

Constructivist Model. Eric Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading English and

Communication Blommington IN. Retrieved July 3, 2005 from

http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/problem.htm.

Allen, Richard Howell. (2002). Impact Teaching, Ideas and Strategies for Teachers to Maximize

Student Learning. Allyn & Bacon.

Duffy, T.M., & Savery, J.R. (1994). Problem-based learning: An instructional model and its

constructivist framework. In Brent G. Wilson (Ed.) Constructivist leaning environments:

Case studies in instructional design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Mowad, Anne-Marie. (1999). Problem-Based Learning. Retrieved July 3, 2005 from

http://hale.pepperdine.edu/%7Eammowad/problembased_learning.htm#what%20is%20p

bl.

n.a., (2004). Constructivist Theory J. Bruner. Explorations in Learning and Instruction: The

Theory Into Practice Database. Retrieved July 3, 2005 from

http://tip.psychology.org/bruner.html.

For more information e-mail me at:
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