- What exactly IS PBL? How is it implemented? How much time does it take? What kind of resources are needed to incorporate PBL methods?
(PBL (you know what it stands for) is a form of indirect instruction where students acquire information as a by-product of solving problems. The time taken depends upon the problem to be solved. The only time variable of interest is from a review by Norman & Schmidt, 1992, who found that short-term was poorer but long-term retention was better. A large database of information must available to the learning, but this could be in the form of a patient, a library, the internet, or computer database files ,e.g. spreadsheets, ASCI files, etc. )
- What has the experience been at other schools/disciplines where it has been tried? How are those schools/disciplines similar to yours? Are those schools/disciplines so different that it's unlikely that PBL would be doable in your situation?
(In the materials presented (hopefully unbiased), we saw numerous success stories in a variety of areas, such as medical, criminal justice, art history, geology, physics, etc. They are similar to ours and we can envision ways of integrating this strategy into some of our courses.)
- What are some good examples of PBL problems and what characteristics do they have in common?
(1. Colorado School of Mines engineering problem: design an unobtrusive mechanism for allowing a person in a wheelchair to board a bus. 2. From our own knowledge: Del Day Elementary School gives students a desert survival problem which is essentially a PBL problem. Characteristics in common: 1. problem comes first 2. answers are discovered and analyzed 3. evaluation is as more or less satisfactory rather than right or wrong 4. group interaction is usually involved.)
- What kind of activities do students do while engaged in a PBL project? What kinds of thinking skills and collaboration skills do they develop?
(See above. As to thinking skills, students memorize less and problem solve more.)
- How inter-disciplinary can PBL be?
(Given the examples above, it is quite inter-disciplinary)
- Is PBL implemented the same everywhere?
(Despite the commonalities listed above, implementation can be quite varied. )
- Is PBL a complete success? A partial success? What are its weaknesses?
(There have been a number of criticisms of PBL, usually by the educational establishment, but these criticisms are also subject to criticism. Suffice it to say that there have been numerous success stories leading to general optimism. We would be interested in finding out more about the failures that people have had with PBL because much can be learned from such.)
- What is the philosophy that underlies the design of PBL? How is it congruent with the goals of a good education and the characteristics of an ideal learning environment?
(The standard lecture format provides information but doesn't provide students with the skills to process the information in order to solve problems. The goals of a good education would need to include preparing students to solve the problems that they will encounter in their lives and work.)
- In Bridges' book, Problem Based Learning for Administrators, he describes criteria for evaluating pupils--what are some practical suggestions you could incoporate?
( out of time for this one)
- How does PBL compare to traditional instruction?
(PBL: indirect, active, more visual, student-centered Trad: direct, passive, more auditory, instructor-centered)
- What kinds of teachers can use PBL? What kind of personality or other qualities do they need? How do teachers feel about PBL after they have done it for awhile?
(Reasonably flexible and self-confident (tolerant of ambiguity). The ones we know are enthusiastic about the process. )
- What kinds of learners are best suited to PBL? How do students feel about PBL?
(Students who come from traditions where working in groups, tolerating the absence of direction and "the answer", and such are not available or standard will be uncomfortable in a PBL system. We don't know much about how quickly students adjust.)
- The Bottom Line: Should universities adopt PBL for use in all classes? Will you?
(Because administrators, faculty, and staff do not come from a PBL tradition a quick conversion to PBL would lockup the system with grievances.)
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San Diego State University