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Investigating PBL: A WebQuest

Here's the situation

In your last faculty meeting before you came to San Diego State, it came up that you would be taking part in a workshop on problem based learning. Some of your colleagues were intrigued. They've heard that PBL is used at Harvard Medical School, but they're not quite sure if it has any relevance for their discipline and the student population you have. They feel some new teaching strategies would be very interesting, and they ask you to report back to them about PBL. In the next few hours, you will write the report and develop an understanding of this innovative strategy.

The Task

Working with the other members of your campus team, divide up the task of investigating PBL. Assign each individual a unique number between 1 and 4 (if for some reason you have more than 4 people in your group, use a number twice&emdash;do not use "5"). Each person will pursue different resources, and you can touch base with each other periodically. After approximately an hour, you'll come back into your groups and teach each other what you've learned. As a group, you'll then work on a report to give to the educators back at your home campus which answers the following questions:

Questions

Here are the questions for your team...

  1. What exactly IS PBL? How is it implemented? How much time does it take? What kind of resources are needed to incorporate PBL methods?

     

  2. 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?

     

  3. What are some good examples of PBL problems and what characteristics do they have in common?

     

  4. What kind of activities do students do while engaged in a PBL project? What kinds of thinking skills and collaboration skills do they develop?

     

  5. How inter-disciplinary can PBL be?

     

  6. Is PBL implemented the same everywhere?

     

  7. Is PBL a complete success? A partial success? What are its weaknesses?

     

  8. 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?

     

  9. In Bridges' book, Problem Based Learning for Administrators, he describes criteria for evaluating pupils--what are some practical suggestions you could incoporate?

     

  10. How does PBL compare to traditional instruction?

     

  11. 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?

     

  12. What kinds of learners are best suited to PBL? How do students feel about PBL?

     

  13. The Bottom Line: Should universities adopt PBL for use in all classes? Will you?

Resources

Your group is assigned to a room with a computer at your disposal for searching the web for information on PBL. Other resources are also available. Assign two group members to search the web, while one attends the Bridges audio conference and another checks out print materials. One of the web searchers might want to check out the PBL software for awhile as well. Here are some details and locations for each of the available resources:

  1. A software program, "The Problem Solving Assistant" is available for review in NE 71.

     

  2. Examples of PBL instructional units delivered using multimedia, such as Vanderbilt University's Jasper Woodbury and Dicovery CD's Science Sleuths are available in NE 71.

     

  3. In NE 173 are selected books and articles dealing with PBL.

     

  4. In NE 273 there's an audio conference with Dr. Edwin M. Bridges, author of Problem Based Learning for Administrators and Implementing Problem Based Learning in Leadership Development. Everyone will attend the teleconference in four different twenty minute blocks. Have your questions ready to discuss.

     

  5. Howard Barrows at Southern Illinois Univerity's Department of Medical Education is one of the best known proponents of Problem Based Learning. SIU has had extensive experience in the development and application of PBL, and they offer a wide variety of services to educators or institutions interested in this approach to education.

     

  6. PBLIST is a moderated Internet discussion list on Problem-Based Learning in health care with approximately 580 subscribers worldwide. Check out their home page.

     

  7. This web site is for the 5th Annual Conference on Problem-Based Learning in Undergraduate Science Education at The University of Delaware, June 9-12, 1996. Includes articles on: Teaching with Tutors; But I Teach a Large Class..., Introducing Art History through PBL; PBL in a Large Introductory Geology Class; A Comparative Study of Learning in Lecture vs. Problem-Based Format; Problems: A Key Factor in PBL; From the Students' Point of View (student comments); From the Tutors' Point of View (tutor comments).

     

  8. Professor R. Bloch at the University of Berne, Switzerland, comments "In this paper I am trying to present arguments for and methods how to utilize the hypertext technology developed for the Internet, to advance the development of a flood of effective computer-based learning resources, geared specifically to medical students in problem-based-learning (PBL) curricula. Towards this venture to succeed, it requires a more or less structured, cooperative effort of many individuals involved in medical education."

     

  9. Educational Development Resource Centre at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Especially see Problem Based Learning.

     

  10. This is the Exploring the Environment: NASA Classroom of the Future project at Wheeling Jesuit College, Wheeling, WV. Topics include: Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Defined; Short Cut to PBL; What the Research Tells Us; Goals of PBL; Resources for Learning. Using the Internet, as well as other resources for problem solving; Creating Ill-Structured Problem Sets; Problems In Implementing PBL; PBL, A short paper about this approach; and References.

Your Report

To allow your report to be shared widely, you'll be writing it in HTML. A template has been prepared for your use. Once your group is ready to begin writing, download the template and open it up with Web Weaver. Later this evening, we'll post your report on the web for world-wide perusal.

The Results

The results can be viewed here.

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Page Authors: Gail Lucas & Bob Hoffman with inspiration from Bernie Dodge
All contents copyright © 1996, 1998 SDSU. All rights reserved.
Revised: August 11, 1998
URL: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/clrit/PBL_WebQuest.html