PROJECT TOPICSWhat is
Problem-based learning?

What is PBL

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which complex real-world problems are used as the vehicle to promote student learning of concepts and principles as opposed to direct presentation of facts and concepts. PBL as it is generally known today evolved from innovative health sciences curricula introduced in Medical faculty at McMaster University in Canada 60 years ago. During the 1980s and 1990s the PBL approach was adopted in other medical schools and became an accepted instructional approach across North America and in Europe. PBL can promote the development of critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and communication skills. It can also provide opportunities for working in groups, finding and evaluating research materials, and life-long learning (Duch et al, 2001). PBL is a student-centered, inquiry-based instructional model in which learners engage with an authentic, ill-structured problem that requires further research (Jonassen & Hung, 2008). Students identify gaps in their knowledge, conduct research, and apply their learning to develop solutions and present their findings (Barrows, 1996). Through collaboration and inquiry, students can cultivate problem solving (Norman & Schmidt, 1992), metacognitive skills (Gijbels et al., 2005), engagement in learning (Dochy et al., 2003), and intrinsic motivation. Through PBL, students face real practical problems, which further stimulates them in finding solutions. PBL involves teamwork in finding appropriate sources of information and content relevant to problem solving. Teacher select scenarios and problems or influence them to be selected (students should strive to identify and formulate the problem as independently or in cooperation with market entities) so as to cover a significant part of the subject or group of subjects within which the project is located. The problem is at the center of the action. Through the problem discussion, teacher directs the work of the students and builds the content of the activities until an acceptable solution is reached. Such an approach implies the activation of previous knowledge as a starting point for a new learning process. Provided that students have some prior knowledge of the basic requirements of PBL (principles, group formation, methodology of work, etc.), PBL would basically contain the following basic phases: