Weekly Vitamins: A Dose of Problem Based Learning

This week, we read all about Problem Based Learning (PBL). The readings were great materials to prepare us for our lab on PBL. Hearing about PBL initially sounds scary... letting students basically research and find the answers, sometimes based off of little prior knowledge. What if it takes some students longer than others to figure it out? What if they begin asking questions about things that I don't know about? How do you prepare information about a topic/lesson when the students are the ones driving the class? How do you make objectives and prepare assessments when you don't know what exactly the students will discover?

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Perhaps I have so much apprehension and concern about PBL because I haven't been forced to do it much in my years of school. I've been handed the information, books, articles, texts to learn. I've been given instructions and haven't been given much liberty to think on my own or truly grasp the impact my thoughts and research can play into learning and education. I know there has to be an effective way to get to answer my questions--I suppose I just have to do a little problem solving on my own to figure that out. 

Using knowledge to guide

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In the article Principles of Teaching Problem Solving, they talked a little about the knowledge of the learner. They mentioned declarative knowledge which is the facts, concepts, and principles students learn. Procedural knowledge deals with problem-solving and structure of the learning. Teaching both at the same time or crossing back and forth can be extremely effective. 

I think this starts to ease some of my worries as I wrap my head around PBL. I thought that teachers had to first teach the declarative knowledge and then do the procedural, or that they might introduce a subject with the procedural knowledge and then they would fill in the rest of the information with the declarative knowledge. While there may be some cases where this might be most effective, knowing that it can also be done together is also really helpful. Maybe the teacher introduces a few key terms and then has students work. When a student encounters a question or even specific information, the teacher might then give more declarative knowledge and send the students on their way to discovering more. 

Impact of situation in students' lives

If the students don't see the connect to their own lives or reality, they won't see the need to learn. That, or they will only learn "for the test". PBL, I think, really helps them see that understanding the situation and solutions can be important for their lives and careers. They can also apply and practice what they are learning instead of always regurgitating the information. 

In the article, 8 Essentials for Problem Based Learning, it gives some tips about using it most effectively in the classroom. 

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Having a captivating interest approach, and identifying an essential question that they are to solve are two main ways to begin the process. Essential questions or driving questions should be open-ended, complex, and linked to the core problem. The author compared it to a thesis in a research paper. Without it, there wouldn't be much direction.

Student choice is also important. Students shouldn't have full control of the reigns, but should be given options what and how. Let them decide how to present the information. Let them ask the questions, and don't heavily place criteria on them. As long as it relates to the goal of the driving question and the teacher can see that the student is understanding the content, the other portions of the assignment(s) are secondary.

Additional readings

I found some sources that organize the process of PBL. Worth reading! I think it helped facilitate the process in an organized manner. It pulls in a lot of the ideas from the reading, but has some other nice tips.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/problem-based-learning-tips-ideas.shtml

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/problem-based-learning-real-world.shtml

Leaving Thought

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together" -- Vincent van Gogh