Key Ideas in PBL

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Design Project: Problem-based Learning in Math through Technology

(Unit 1) What is problem-based learning?

Exerpt from: http://iae-pedia.org/Good_PBL_Lesson_Plans

Some Key Ideas in PBL

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." (George S. Patton Jr.; American World War II general; 1885–1945.)

The following subsections contain brief discussions of some of the key ideas in PBL. These tend to be applicable to a PBL unit of study in any discipline of study. Thus, any PBL unit of study is likely to contain a focus on gaining increased expertise in some discipline of sub discipline, and each is apt to contain a focus on the ideas in this section.

PBL Can Have a High Level of Authenticity

Authentic assessment has become a buzz phrase in education. Quoting Grant Wiggins, a world-class expert in authentic assessment:

Assessment is authentic when we directly examine student performance on worthy intellectual tasks. Traditional assessment, by contract, relies on indirect or proxy 'items'—efficient, simplistic substitutes from which we think valid inferences can be made about the student's performance at those valued challenges.

Do we want to evaluate student problem-posing and problem-solving in mathematics? experimental research in science? speaking, listening, and facilitating a discussion? doing document-based historical inquiry? thoroughly revising a piece of imaginative writing until it "works" for the reader? Then let our assessment be built out of such exemplary intellectual challenges.

Researchers on authentic assessment frequently point out that authentic curriculum content, instructional processes, and assessment need to be aligned. This is a tricky situation, because we want students to develop expertise in doing transfer of learning and in generalizing from what is being covered in specific lessons taught in school. Thus, authentic assessment may well include assessing how well a student does when confronted with questions that are related to but significantly different from those that have specifically been taught in class.

In PBL, students are actively engaged in doing things such as creating a product, creating and doing a performance (e.g. TV, music, dance, theater), and developing a document (hard copy or electronic) designed to communicate with (be presented to) a specified audience. The processes involved in this "doing" are authentic. The product, performance, or communication is assessed by teachers, students, outside experts, parents, and so on.

PBL is a Team Activity

Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." Vince Lombardi; American football coach; 1913–1970.)

PBL is a team learning and doing activity. Nowadays, a PBL team consists of:

One or more people (most often, students) who are in charge of the project. In this document we assume that the actual members of a team are students. They may be widely dispersed in location. People, such as peers, siblings, parents, teachers, and so on. They serve as advisers, sources of information, and sources of formative and summative feedback. Virtual and physical libraries. (The Web is a virtual library.) Tools, including computers, computer programs, and other Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Other resources such as materials, money, facilities, and environments in which a project is being carried out or is focused on.

At first glance, this may seem like a strange way to think about membership on a PBL team. The idea being emphasized is that PBL is always done in a team environment, even if there is only one student directly involved. Even a one-person team draws upon the accumulated knowledge and skills of a huge collection of people and other resources. The Web, for example, represents the past and continuing work of many millions of people. The tools (including computer tools) we routinely use represent the thinking and production work of a large number of people.

One of the most important goals in PBL is learning to make effective use of these five different types of members of a PBL team. It is a valuable life skill. Notice that this goal is independent of any specific content area that a project might focus on. The expertise one develops in working in this team environment readily transfers to other projects.

Another important goal is for students to gain increased confidence in their ability to accomplish complex tasks that are probably beyond their ability to accomplish without the aid of other "members" of the team. Such accomplishments help to build self esteme. PBL is Action-Oriented In a PBL lesson, a PBL team is faced by a challenge that involves one or more of:

Solving a problem or accomplishing a task. Developing and carrying out a performance or presentation. Producing a product or service.

All of these types of activities have the characteristic that a team can be involved over a considerable length of time, that progress can be incremental, and that the quality of the final results can be appropriately assessed. As in writing, a really important aspect of doing a project is continuing formative evaluation of what one has done so far, and revision to improve the previous work whenever it makes sense to do so.

Projects Are Usually Extensive

This document focuses on projects that an individual student or a team of students will be engaged in over an extensive period of time—usually weeks or months.

During this time, a team makes incremental progress. In addition, a team can review the progress it has made and improve on the work that has been done. This is akin to writing a paper over a period of time that is long enough to allow a student to "revise, revise, revise." Writing teachers know that such revision is an essential component of the process of producing a well written document.

Incremental progress, formative assessment, revision of work that has been done, and mid course corrections in one's overall plan of action are all essential aspects of doing a project. Thus, one of the goals in any PBL unit of student is for students to get better at carrying out such activities.

Roles of ICT in PBL

A PBL unit of study invariably involves communication among people and retrieval of information. Thus, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has contributed to significant changes in PBL. Nowadays, knowledge and skill in use of ICT is usually part of the prerequisite for a PBL unit, and good access to PBL facilities is an important part of the needed resources in doing a project.

Moreover, PBL can provide a good environment in which students gain increased expertise in using a variety of ICT tools. For example, many projects can make effective uses of digital videography. This is huge and challenging discipline of study. A PBL unit of study might well include specific instruction in digital videography.

Similarly, consider the information retrieval skills of a modern research librarian. One goal in education is to help ass students gain some of the expertise of a research librarian. Almost any PBL unit can contain explicit instruction that is designed to help increase student expertise in this area.

Individual and Team Self-Assessment

One of the really important goals in a PBL unit is to help students get better at self assessment and in taking responsibility for their own work and learning.

In PBL, journaling can be useful both to students and to the teacher. Students are asked to write in their journals both what they are doing and learning, and what the team is doing and learning. These are progress reports along with a critical analysis of the progress. The teacher then reads these reports, gathering assessment information used for formative feedback, and perhaps also using the journal entries to help evaluate individual and team work.

These types of activities tend to require making use of higher-order knowledge and skills. All tend to be interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on a wide range of knowledge and skills that a student may have learned in school or outside of school.

A good PBL lesson has the characteristics that the people in charge can self-assess the ongoing progress toward doing one or more of the items in the bulleted list, and the quality of what is resulting from this work.

That is, one of the really important goals in PBL is for students to learn to self-assess their own work and the work of other students on the team, and to take responsibility for the solving, accomplishing, developing, accomplishing, and producing and other action being done by the team.

A Learning Environment for Teachers

Teachers and schools that focus on use of PBL tend to think in terms of the benefits to students. They often overlook the potentials for teacher learning.

Student-centered education changes a teacher's position from being a "Sage on the stage." to being a "Guide on the side." In this guide position, the teacher has an opportunity to learn from students and to participate in the processes of students gaining knowledge and skills in areas that are outside of the teacher's range of knowledge and skills.

We are all familiar with the idea that a grade school student may become interested in a topic such as dinosaurs or sports stars, and gain gain a higher level of expertise on the topic that their teachers. This is also true in a number of different aspects of ICT. As students use and build upon personal areas of interest and expertise, a teacher can ride the student's coat tails, and gain considerable new knowledge and skills.