PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING ESSENTIALS

(1) Students must have the responsibility for their own learning.
As the students in a problem-based learning curriculum work with a problem they should be able to identify what they need to learn and what resources they are going to use to accomplish that learning. In this way students can design their learning to meet individual needs (as they all have differing knowledge and experience) and career aspirations. Allowing students to have the opportunity to assume this responsibility, under faculty guidance, prepares them to become effective and efficient life-long learners-an absolute essential in a profession where new types of problems and new information surfaces with almost logarithmic expansion. The old educational truism states that half of what the students learn in school will be wrong or outdated by the time they are in the real world, and no one knows which half that is. This means that the teachers working with the students should not provide the students with what they feel is the information students need in their studies nor give them reading or study assignments. The students must learn how to decide on what they need to learn and to seek out appropriate learning resources, using the faculty as consultants (often called "resource faculty" in problem-based learning) as well as books, journals, online resources and other experts. This means that problem-based learning is not teacher-centered, the teacher does not direct what students should learn or what resources they should use. Instead the teacher designs and provides the problem simulations and problem experiences that challenge the students to learn what is expected in the curriculum. Using facilitatory teaching skills, the teacher guides them in their work with the problem as they develop problem-solving skills, identify what they need to learn and develop self-directed learning skills. The teacher in this role is usually referred to as a "tutor" and needs to be well trained for this role.

(2) The problem simulations used in problem-based learning must be ill-structured and allow for free inquiry.
As with problems in the real world, problem-based learning problems must present as ill-structured problems, with just the initial presenting situation stimulating learners to generate multiple hypotheses about their cause and possible solution. These ill-structured problems must be designed to allow students to freely inquire through observation, interview, review of records or documents in order to obtain information needed to support or verify their hypotheses.

(3)Learning should be integrated from a wide range of disciplines or subjects
Problem-based learning should not occur within a single discipline or subject. Information should be integrated from all the disciplines that are core to the schools educational program and relevant to the problems presented. During self-directed learning, students should be able to access, study and integrate information from all the disciplines that might be related to understanding and resolving the particular problem they are working with-- just as people in the real world must recall and apply information integrated from diverse sources in their work. This allows the problem to be the organizing focus for student learning better ensuring the recall and application of that information from various relevant fields in their subsequent work with problems in their life and careers.

(4)Collaboration is essential
Student collaboration occurs naturally during the group's discussions with the tutor. However, the students must be encouraged to collaborate during their self-directed study. Collaborative work among the students in the group at this time can be the most rewarding and productive part of their learning as the students work together helping each other to gain an understanding of what they are learning and its application to the problem. It is this collaboration that allows the students to develop the security and authority they need to be responsible for their own learning. Collaboration is an essential skill the students must have in their careers as they will be invariably working as members of teams.

(5)What students learn during their self-directed learning must be applied back to the problem with reanalysis and resolution.
On return from self-directed study the students must apply, through their interactive discussions what they have learned. They must do this in a way that will provide a deeper understanding of the problem and insure the recall of that information when they are faced with similar problems in the future. This discussion is triggered by a review of the hypotheses that were generated by the students in their work prior to going off for self-directed study. Any suggested changes in the hypotheses will reflect what was learned during self-study and opens an interactive discussion of what was learned.

(6)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.
Before completing their work with a problem, the students should reflect on what has been learned and determine if there are any things missing in their overall understanding of the problem and the basic mechanism responsible. In addition, they must reflect on how their new learning relates to prior problems and prepares them for future problems. In doing this they can determine and discuss what important overall concepts or principles have been learned. This important step helps convert procedural knowledge gained through problem solving into declarative knowledge for use and recall with other problems in the future. Concept maps are very useful providing an armature for this process.

(7)Self and peer assessment should be carried out at the completion of each problem and at the end of every curricular unit.
The students must become proficient in assessing their individual learning progress and that of their peers. The ability to accurately monitor the adequacy of personal performance is essential to developing life-long self-directed study skills. The ability to provide colleagues with accurate feedback is an important skill in lfie and career.

(8)The activities carried out in problem-based learning must be those valued in the real world.
In problem-based learning students must go through the same activities as they learn, that as experts and professionals will go through in their problem work. The problems used must be those that are prevalent and important. This ensures that the activities undertaken by the students and the skills and knowledge acquired are relevant to effective their future careers.

(9)Student examinations must measure student progress towards the goals of problem-based learning.
Although a major component of the assessment of students' progress comes from self and peer assessment that occurs at the end of every problem, additional formal assessments must assess the students' problem-solving skills, self-directed learning skills, and ability to recall and apply an integrated knowledge base in work with a problem.


(10)Problem-based learning must be the pedagogical base in the curriculum and not part of a didactic curriculum.
Problem-based learning should not be episodic, added on to or mixed in with more traditional, didactic, teacher-directed, passive, memorization-based and lecture-based educational methods. Problem-based learning requires that students are active learners, responsible for their own learning and have adequate time for self-directed learning. The contrasting and conflicting curricular and time demands of didactic teacher directed learning diminishes the value of problem-based learning and confuses and frustrates both teachers and students. It prevents full realization of the value of problem-based learning and the excitement and enjoyment the method can provide students. It must be an independent curricular undertaking.

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

To be successful, PBL requires, critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking is assumed to be the purposeful and reflective judgement about what to believe or what to do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments. Critical thinking may involve determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, or, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. Hence, Fisher & Scriven define critical thinking as "Skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation." Parker & Moore define it more narrowly as the careful, deliberate determination of whether one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim and the degree of confidence with which one accepts or rejects it.

Paul, Binker, Jensen, and Kreklau (1990) have developed a list of 35 dimensions of critical thought:

(a) Affective Strategies

* thinking independently

* developing insight into egocentricity or sociocentricity

* exercising fairmindedness

* exploring thoughts underlying feelings and feelings underlying thoughts

* developing intellectual humility and suspending judgment

* developing intellectual courage

* developing intellectual good faith or integrity

* developing intellectual perseverance

* developing confidence in reason

(b) Cognitive Strategies--Macro-Abilities

* refining generalizations and avoiding oversimplifications

* comparing analogous situations: transferring insights to new contexts

* developing one's perspective: creating or exploring beliefs,
arguments, or theories

* clarifying issues, conclusions, or beliefs

* clarifying and analyzing the meanings of words or phrases

* developing criteria for evaluation: clarifying values and standards

* evaluating the credibility of sources of information

* questioning deeply: raising and pursuing root or significant questions

* analyzing or evaluating arguments, interpretations, beliefs, or
theories

* generating or assessing solutions

* analyzing or evaluating actions or policies

* reading critically: clarifying or critiquing texts

* listening critically: the art of silent dialogue

* making interdisciplinary connections

* practicing Socratic discussion: clarifying and questioning beliefs,
theories, or perspectives

* reasoning dialogically: comparing perspectives, interpretations,
or theories

* reasoning dialectically: evaluating perspectives, interpretations,
or theories

(c). Cognitive Strategies--Micro-Skills

* comparing and contrasting ideals with actual practice

* thinking precisely about thinking: using critical vocabulary

* noting significant similarities and differences

* examining or evaluating assumptions

* distinguishing relevant from irrelevant facts

* making plausible inferences, predictions, or interpretations

* evaluating evidence and alleged facts

* recognizing contradictions

* exploring implications and consequences"

THE PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS

The Problem Solving process consists of a sequence of sections that fit together depending on the type of problem to be solved. These are:

• Problem Definition.
• Problem Analysis.
• Generating possible Solutions.
• Analyzing the Solutions.
• Selecting the best Solution(s).
  

The process is only a guide for problem solving. It is useful to have a structure to follow to make sure that nothing is overlooked. Nothing here is likely to be brand new to anyone, but it is the pure acknowledgement and reminding of the process that can help the problems to be solved.

1. Problem Definition

The normal process for solving a problem will initially involve defining the problem you want to solve. You need to decide what you want achieve and write it down. Often people keep the problem in their head as a vague idea and can so often get lost in what they are trying to solve that no solution seems to fit. Merely writing down the problem forces you to think about what you are actually trying to solve and how much you want to achieve. The first part of the process not only involves writing down the problem to solve, but also checking that you are answering the right problem. It is a check-step to ensure that you do not answer a side issue or only solve the part of the problem that is most easy to solve. People often use the most immediate solution to the first problem definition that they find without spending time checking the problem is the right one to answer.

2. Problem Analysis

The next step in the process is often to check where we are, what is the current situation and what is involved in making it a problem. For example, what are the benefits of the current product/service/process? And why did we decide to make it like that? Understanding where the problem is coming from, how it fits in with current developments and what the current environment is, is crucial when working out whether a solution will actually work or not. Similarly you must have a set of criteria by which to evaluate any new solutions or you will not know whether the idea is workable or not. This section of the problem solving process ensures that time is spent in stepping back and assessing the current situation and what actually needs to be changed.

After this investigation, it is often good to go back one step to reconfirm that your problem definition is still valid. Frequently after the investigation people discover that the problem they really want to answer is very different from their original interpretation of it.

3. Generating possible Solutions

When you have discovered the real problem that you want to solve and have investigated the climate into which the solution must fit, the next stage is to generate a number of possible solutions. At this stage you should concentrate on generating many solutions and should not evaluate them at all. Very often an idea, which would have been discarded immediately, when evaluated properly, can be developed into a superb solution. At this stage, you should not pre-judge any potential solutions but should treat each idea as a new idea in its own right and worthy of consideration.

4. Analyzing the Solutions

This section of the problem solving process is where you investigate the various factors about each of the potential solutions. You note down the good and bad points and other things which are relevant to each solution. Even at this stage you are not evaluating the solution because if you do so then you could decide not to write down the valid good points about it because overall you think it will not work. However you might discover that by writing down its advantages that it has a totally unique advantage. Only by discovering this might you choose to put the effort in to develop the idea so that it will work.

5. Selecting the best Solution(s)

This is the section where you look through the various influencing factors for each possible solution and decide which solutions to keep and which to disregard. You look at the solution as a whole and use your judgement as to whether to use the solution or not. In Innovation Toolbox, you can vote using either a Yes/No/Interesting process or on a sliding scale depending on how good the idea is. Sometimes pure facts and figures dictate which ideas will work and which will not. In other situations, it will be purely feelings and intuition that decides. Remember that intuition is really a lifetimes experience and judgement compressed into a single decision.

By voting for the solutions you will end up with a shortlist of potential solutions. You may want to increase the depth in the analysis of each idea and vote again on that shortlist to further refine your shortlist.

You will then end up with one, many or no viable solutions. In the case where you have no solutions that work, you will need to repeat the generation of solutions section to discover more potential solutions. Alternatively you might consider re-evaluating the problem again as sometimes you may not find a solution because the problem definition is not well defined or self-contradictory.

6. Planning the next course of action

This section of the process is where you write down what you are going to do next. Now that you have a potential solution or solutions you need to decide how you will make the solution happen. This will involve people doing various things at various times in the future and then confirming that they have been carried out as planned. This stage ensures that the valuable thinking that has gone into solving the problem becomes reality. This series of Next Steps is the logical step to physically solving the problem.

Cognitive effects of problem-based learning

The acquisition and structuring of knowledge in PBL is thought to work through the following cognitive effects (Schmidt, 1993):

* initial analysis of the problem and activation of prior knowledge
through small-group discussion
* elaboration on prior knowledge and active processing of new information
* restructuring of knowledge, construction of a semantic network
* social knowledge construction
* learning in context
* stimulation of curiosity related to presentation of a relevant problem

What is PBL

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered instructional strategy in which students collaboratively solve problems and reflect on their experiences. It was pioneered and used extensively at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Materials department at Queen Mary, University of London was the first Materials department in the UK to introduce PBL. Characteristics of PBL are:
* Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems.
* Students work in small collaborative groups.
* Teachers take on the role as "facilitators" of learning.