Advocate Online
Thriving in Academe
Problem-Based Learning
Engaging students actively
in meaningful learning.
By Maria Harper-Marinick and Alan Levine
The goal of PBL is not to find the
solution to a problem but for students to learn concepts and develop critical
thinking skills.
Some of the techniques I learned even
in the first week still help me through my life right now.
Don’t these words from a student
summarize how we see our role as educators: to facilitate the learning
of skills that transcend a course or even a discipline?
In problem-based learning (PBL), students
work collaboratively to seek solutions to problems set in real-world contexts.
Lessons, and sometimes entire curricula, are structured around problems.
Students get limited direction and no
direct information from their teacher. Driven by the need to find a solution,
teams of students use research skills to identify learning issues or questions
to investigate. They identify and locate resources and gather and evaluate
information. Students also decide if and how to integrate the new knowledge
into what they knew previously about the problem and decide how to communicate
the information to others.
PBL places the responsibility for learning
and self-assessment on the students. Teachers move from being providers
of content to facilitators of learning.
 Meet
Maria Harper-Marinick and Alan Levine
Maria Harper-Marinick and Alan Levine are part of the team at the Maricopa
Center for Learning & Instruction, located at the district office
for the Maricopa Community Colleges in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.
Maria is an instructional designer currently serving as interim director
of the Center. She is also the program manager for the Maricopa Institute
for Learning, which promotes the scholarship of teaching and learning
and provides support to faculty development and assessment and evaluation
initiatives. Alan Levine is an instructional technologist who coordinates
system-wide technology task forces, facilitates district-wide initiatives
in instructional technology, and develops special R&D projects in
multimedia and Web technologies. They can be reached at maria.harper@domail.maricopa.edu
and alan.levine@domail.maricopa.edu
next "Thriving"
article
|
