Problem-Based Learning
A quest to build contextual learning
environments that offer students authentic,
open-ended, complex, higher-order tasks
Presented by Steve Gregor
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Two Truths and a Lie
• I have scaled Machu Picchu
• I went bungee jumping recently
• I was born without a lung
Presented by Steve Gregor
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Polling Instructions
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Live Audience Poll 1
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Constructivism: The Foundation of PBL
Formalized
constructivist
theory
Assimilation
•Individuals construct new knowledge from
their experiences
•Articulated mechanisms to show how
learners internalize new knowledge
•Incorporate the new experience into an existing
framework without changing that framework
•The process of reframing one's mental
representation of the external world to fit new
experiences
•The process of reframing one's mental
representation of the external world to fit
new experiences
Accommodation •The mechanism by which failure leads to
learning
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What is a problem?
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What is a problem?
• A problem is not something that is
wrong or not working properly
• A problem is not something that needs
to be fixed, such as an economic
problem or a broken down car
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What is a problem?
• Understanding a puzzling
phenomenon
• Finding a better way to
do something
• Designing or building
something
• Predicting a new outcome
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What is a problem?
A problem can best be thought of as a goal where
the correct path to its solution is not known.
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PBL Essentials
• Students must have the responsibility
for their own learning
• The problem simulations must be illstructured and allow for free inquiry
• Learning should be integrated from a
wide range of disciplines
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Live Audience Poll 2
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PBL Essentials
• Collaboration is essential
• What students learn during their self-directed
learning must be applied back to the problem with
reanalysis and resolution
• A closing analysis of what has been learned from
work with the problem and a discussion of what
concepts and principles have been learned is
essential
• Self and peer assessment should be carried out at
the completion of each problem and at the end of
every curricular unit
Presented by Steve Gregor
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PBL Essentials
• The activities carried out in problembased learning must be those valued in
the real world
• Student assessments must measure
student progress towards the goals of
problem-based learning
• Problem-based learning must be the
pedagogical base in the curriculum and
not part of a didactic curriculum
Presented by Steve Gregor
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PBL Essentials
Student-centered
Problem-based
Inquiry-based
Integrated
Collaborative
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Role of the Teacher
• Facilitator or educational coach
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PBL motivates…
• Students are
involved in active
learning
• Working with real
problems that are
relevant to their
own lives.
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PBL Explained
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PBL Objectives: Students will…
• Engage the problems they face in life and career
with initiative and enthusiasm
• Problem-solve effectively using an integrated,
flexible and usable knowledge base
• Employ effective self-directed learning skills to
continue learning as a lifetime habit
• Continuously monitor and assess the adequacy of
their knowledge, problem-solving and self-directed
learning skills
• Collaborate effectively as a member of a group
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Live Audience Poll 3
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PBL and WebQuests
WHAT THEY AREN'T
• “Write a report on ..” in which
information is copied
• Only knowledge and
comprehension levels of thinking
are addressed
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Similarities
• Foster higher level thinking - analysis,
creative thinking, critical thinking.
• An introduction is given that sets the stage
including some background information. The
introduction may be presented using
documents or a web page.
• Students are put into a situation in which
they confront adult type problems (fuzzy not cookbook type).
• Students are actively engaged with learning
and are empowered to determine the
outcome.
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Similarities
• Students at beginning have insufficient
information.
• There is no one "right" or "correct"
answer to the problem.
• The solution to the problem is not done
using a step-by-step approach, but
rather in a method that often changes
the solution as new information is
added.
Presented by Steve Gregor
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Similarities
• Students need best solution possible
by a given date.
• Learning could involve a single
academic discipline or integrated
disciplines.
• Performance is authentically assessed
using the same rubrics for all.
• Teachers assume an active role of
instructing and coaching.
Presented by Steve Gregor
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Dissimilarities
• Structure
• PBL generally is more ill-structured than
WebQuest
• Student Role
• PBL
• Students generally define the problems and conditions
for resolution.
• Students decide how to access, evaluate and utilize
information.
• Students usually determine their own strategies for
defining the problem, seeking information, analyzing and
testing the data and making a product.
• Students usually Presented
determine
their own roles.
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Dissimilarities
• WebQuest
• Students are supplied the conditions for
resolution of the problem.
• Students are supplied with key questions
to answer and concepts to investigate.
• Students are usually assigned clearly
defined roles.
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Dissimilarities
• Information
• PBL
• Students are expected to take a more active
role in determining the best information
sources.
• WebQuest
• Pointers to information are suggested or
provided.
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Dissimilarities
• Process
• PBL
• The process students take to reach their goals
is ill defined at the beginning and are
determined by the students, perhaps with
appropriate coaching.
• WebQuest
• The process is mapped out in clearly defined
steps.
• Guidance is given on how to organize
information.
Presented by Steve Gregor
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Dissimilarities
• Product
• PBL
• Student products (way of presenting solution)
may vary more than WebQuests.
• WebQuest
• Student products are usually asked to be of
the same type.
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PBL Resources
PBL Samples
http://www.ncsu.edu/pbl/pbl_lesson
s/lessons.html
Natural Science
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/tea
ch1.html
Indian
Reservation
Controversies
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpe
du/lessons/97/reservation/teacher.ht
ml
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