Introduction to Problem-Based Learning

Jos Moust, Peter Bouhuijs, Henk Schmidt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9789001877866
• eBook ISBN: 9781000416572
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Comparative Education
• Index: Business

Introduction to Problem-based Learning teaches students how to work with the problem-based learning method, which requires mainly self-directed learning. Particular attention is given to the necessary skills to apply this method effectively. Why Introduction to Problem-based Llearning?

• comprehensible introduction in the problem-based learning method

• enables students to experience the full potential of this concept

• discusses the use of digital devices

Introduction to Problem-based learning provides students with the necessary skills to operate within as well as outside problem-based groups. It discusses issues like: How do you take on a problem? How do you collaborate with others? How do you deal with cultural diversity? How do you lead a tutorial group? How can you organize your studies best? Special attention is given to the use of computers, tablets and internet in a problem-based environment.

1
Features of Problem-based Learning

1.1 Introduction

Read the following text carefully.

A warm summer’s day It is a warm, muggy summer’s day. If you look carefully you can see great quantities of dust particles rising in the air. Towards the end of the afternoon, dark clouds start to appear and the weather becomes even more oppressive. Then there’s a flash of lightning in the distance followed by a clap of thunder. Suddenly it starts to rain heavily. Discuss these phenomena.

If you were presented with this problem as a student and stopped to think for a minute about the sequence of events described, your train of thought might go something like this:

‘I think it’s probably something to do with the causes of a thunderstorm. Static electricity is involved. Sparks bouncing off clouds of varying charges, i.e. voltage, cause the flashes of lightning described in the problem. These flashes are accompanied by a loud bang. This is probably due to the displacement of different air pockets, which are first pressed together and then expand. But why do these air pockets get pressed together? No idea. Of course, seeing the flash of lightning before hearing the thunderclap is because light travels faster than sound. Perhaps when air is moist it becomes a better conductor of electrical current, but I’m not really sure why this should lead to a difference of charges in the clouds. It’s probably something to do with the temperature. Of course, thunderstorms are more common in the summer, particularly late summer when the air is warm and muggy, than in winter. They usually occur in the late afternoon. Maybe it has something to do with those rising dust particles in the air, but I’m not at all sure what part they play. Why do these particles rise? Perhaps this is due to the heat convection from the earth’s surface. I really don’t know. And how do the clouds receive an electrical charge?’

If you could think along these lines, it would seem that you had some prior knowledge about the phenomena that you had been asked to explain. You know something about static electricity, about the causes of a thunderclap, about the different speeds at which light and sound travel through the air, and about the conditions in which a thunderstorm is most likely to occur. You might also be able to speculate about other aspects of the problem. But probably certain things really are beyond your comprehension. For example, what part is played by the rising dust particles, and how do clouds receive an electrical charge?

Did this come to your mind, thinking about the problem? Possibly you know more about the subject than the fictitious ‘you’ introduced above. Maybe you’ve managed to acquire more knowledge about the subject or you’re just better at establishing links between the few things you do know and the text of the problem. But, if you wanted to tackle the problem in depth and you’re not a meteorologist, no doubt you would engage yourself in the processes that cause a thunderstorm. In engaging yourself, and failing to find reasonable explanations, you might even develop a need to find out more about the processes to enable you to explain the problem better at a later stage.

This example represents the necessary ingredients of an educational method called problem-based learning (PBL). These ingredients are: a problem description, which invites further active deliberation; prior knowledge that is activated by the process of thinking through the problem; questions raised by the problem and the need – or motivation – to look for further information relevant to the problem at hand. When other students, who are also interested in the problem, share in the process of active deliberation and all this takes place under the guidance of a tutor, the essential elements of problem-based learning are in place. The remainder of this first chapter will discuss how these elements are built upon to form an approach to instruction that is definitely different from conventional lecture-based education.

Let’s begin by explaining problem-based learning in the context of a course or curriculum. In problem-based learning, students are brought together in small tutorial groups of about six to ten peers. During their first meeting they are confronted with the problem as the starting point of the learning process, even before they are presented with any course material in the form of textbooks. The problem always comes first! They are expected to discuss the problem under the guidance of a tutor. Initially the group will produce a tentative analysis of the problem based on their prior knowledge, similar to the analysis conducted in the first paragraph of this book. This tentative analysis will lead to questions about issues not understood, clarified, or explained initially. These questions will be used by the students as learning objectives for self-study. In the period that elapses before the next tutorial – usually a few days – students will work towards these learning goals, either individually or in groups, by reading books and articles, watching video tapes, consulting teaching staff etc. Following this self-study phase, the students report back to each other in the tutorial, sharing what they have learned and evaluating the extent to which they have attained a better understanding of the problem through their self-study (Figure 1.1 on p.12).

Problem-based instruction is usually organised in a number of modules (or courses), each of which dealing with a particular theme for a number of weeks.

These modules are arranged sequentially to form a curriculum. It is the job of the teachers responsible for the module to compile a module book to be used by students as a guide to negotiating their way through the subject matter. The module book consists of a number of problems, which offer the student a way of unravelling the module’s main theme. The module book may also contain a short introduction to the theme, timetables, tutorial group lists, a list of learning resources (including literature, audio-visual aids and computer programmes), as well as a summary of supplementary study activities, such as practical work, lectures, excursions and skills training. A module book is not a syllabus, but indicates the way the related contents of a particular theme can be learned without actually containing any of the subject matter itself.

Problem-based learning was first introduced in 1969 at the medical school of McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and has been gaining popularity ever since. Universities and colleges throughout the world are now using it as the main educational method for courses in many subjects.

In the Netherlands, problem-based learning was first introduced in 1974 in the faculty of medicine at Maastricht University. Other faculties within this university have since adopted this method of teaching, e.g. law, economic sciences, psychology, humanities and health sciences. Problem-based learning has been adopted by other universities and colleges in a wide range of disciplines, such as engineering, nursing studies, and teacher training. Presently, about 500 curricula worldwide use problem-based learning.

The founding fathers of problem-based learning have suggested that the most important potential benefits of the method are: that students learn to analyse and solve the relevant problems of their domain of study, that they acquire knowledge that is retained over long stretches of life and can also be actually used; and that students develop the necessary self-directed skills for life-long learning. These potential benefits can only be achieved if the student adopts an active attitude to learning. This implies inquisitiveness about the problems associated with the theme, harnessing knowledge already acquired and gaining new knowledge and skills through in-depth analysis of the subject matter. Learning – that is the acquisition, retention and recall of knowledge – within a specific context and related to particular problems is more effective than the acquisition of facts and information simply gleaned by reading a book from cover to cover.

FIGURE 1.1 The cycle of problem-based learning

Problem-based learning assumes that the student is able to study independently, without being constantly spoon-fed by a teacher. This emphasis on self-directed learning demands discipline on the part of the students. For example, students will have to dig deeper and wider for study material, learn to distinguish the relevant from the trivial, plot out an individual course of study, consult fellow students and teachers, and explain to fellow students what they have learned themselves.

Of course, teachers have their role to play too. They are required to present the subject matter so that students can access the subject matter effectively. They are required to guide students though the subject matter in easy-to-follow ways and to establish a clear link between the various areas of study. In the tutorial, they enable students to learn and to collaborate. In addition, teachers are responsible for assessing the achievements of their students appropriately.

1.2 What is learning about?

To understand how problem-based learning works, it may be useful to know a little bit more about learning in general. Therefore in this paragraph we introduce four ideas crucial to understanding what learning is all about: (1) learning as the construction of meaning, (2) elaboration, (3) learning in context, and (4) intrinsic motivation as a motor for learning. Learning as the construction of meaning. For a long time, educational theorists maintained that learning is essentially a passive process. The mind of the learner is a blank slate on which the teacher writes the knowledge. Knowledge acquisition in this view is essentially the same as filling an empty space. The learner listens as the teacher, or the book, does its work. If the student is paying sufficient attention, learning will automatically result. This theory has been the basis of much classroom instruction. However, it has difficulty explaining why students sometimes remember what they’ve learned quite differently from what they’ve been taught, as every teacher who has to mark exams can tell you. In addition, this theory cannot explain why many students have difficulty studying and remembering a text such as the following:

‘Nobody tells productions when to act; they wait until conditions are ripe and then activate themselves. By contrast, chefs in the other kitchens merely follow orders. Turing units are nominated by their predecessors, von Neumann operations are all prescheduled, and LISP functions are invoked by other functions. Production system teamwork is more laissez-faire: each production acts on its own, when and where its private conditions are satisfied. There is no central control, and individual productions never directly interact. All communication and influence is via patterns in the common workspace – like anonymous ‘to whom it may concern’ notices on a public bulletin board.¹

Ordinary people experience difficulty understanding this text and blame it on the way it is phrased. The text is considered ‘incoherent’, ‘difficult’, or a ‘collection of sentences put together in an arbitrary way’. However, not everyone would feel this way. Computer science students, for instance, would have no difficulty recognising that the writer is attempting to characterise different programming approaches in a somewhat informal way. They are able to do so because they have the prior knowledge (knowledge of Turing units, Von Neumann operations, LISP functions, etc.) enabling them to interpret the text appropriately. This fact and many others have led researchers to believe that learning is not a passive process; it is not filling empty spaces, but a process by which the learner uses prior knowledge to construct meaning. This theory has many implications, the most important being that knowledge cannot be transmitted automatically from teacher to learner. Learning requires an act of interpretation by the learner, using whatever knowledge he or she already possesses of the topic at hand. If the person does not possess sufficient prior knowledge, learning cannot take place. In addition: those who have more prior knowledge will profit more from new learning experiences. And thirdly: prior knowledge needs to be activated by the learning situation in order to be helpful in new learning.

Elaboration. Having sufficient prior knowledge and having this knowledge activated by the learning situation are in themselves not enough for new learning to take place. Prior knowledge helps in the initial interpretation of new knowledge to be acquired, it helps to understand, but for new information to become anchored in the brain more effort is necessary. Repetition of the new knowledge is a much-used strategy. For instance, when English speakers in French class have to learn the French word for ‘sea’ (‘la mer’), they resort to rehearsing both words a number of times in the hope that the French equivalent persists in memory. However, a far more effective strategy is elaboration. ‘To elaborate’ means literally ‘to work out’ and consists of the enrichment of the relationship between two ideas with other related ideas. For instance, if one already knows that in French ‘la mère’ is ‘the mother,’ then this knowledge can be used to construct a relationship between the sea and la mer. This can for instance be accomplished by remembering that during your holidays in France last summ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• 1 Features of Problem-based Learning
• 2 Learning through problems
• 3 Collaborative learning in the tutorial group
• 4 Individual study skills
• 5 Skills required by tutorial group members
• 6 Chairing a tutorial group meeting
• Notes
• Recommended literature
• References
• Index