1. Students at Arcadia Middle School in central Ohio are asked to design a menu for a local restaurant that includes a healthy selection of meals and represents all areas of the food group. They work individually on creating menus for a local restaurant. The students have lots of fun.
----Feedback: In project-based learning, the instructor sets the stage for the experience and provides clear direction in terms of the specific project requirements Blumenfeld, Soloway, Marx, Krajcik, Guzdial & Palinscar, 1991). During students' self-guided exploration, the instructor provides expertise and guidance to assist the students in project completion (Savery, 2006). In this example, there are no tutor groups, but there may be problem-solving in terms of figuring out what a healthy meal for the menu could be. The class may begin with an ill-structured problem or a problem may be introduced within the learning experience. However, the focus isn't on the authentic problem; the focus is on an end project, product, or presentation (Savery, 2006). Correct Answer:Problem-solving. Is this problem-based learning?Nope!----
2. Students in a graduate law school classroom are assigned to read a case that describes the issues surrounding eminent domain. The students are asked to study the case, consider the points in the lawsuit, and apply the law they are studying in class. The professor provides a series of discussion questions about the case, and the students work together in small groups to answer the questions. They have to provide the best solutions to the case.
----Feedback:While cases may deal with problems, the learning isn't situated around the problem and it doesn't necessarily have to be authentic; rather, the learning is situated around a case. Cases can be used at any point in a learning experience. For example, a case may be used to assist students in exploring and understanding essential elements of the curriculum, or a case could be used at the end of a learning experience as a means for assessment. In case-based instruction, the instructor sets the stage for the case and provides expertise and guidance to assist the students in the desired outcomes (Savery, & Duffy, 1995). Oftentimes, the instructor has specific outcomes that should result from students' exploration and that the instructor will point to throughout the discussion.The students engage in new knowledge construction through their analysis of the case (Savery, 2006). Students may work in tutor groups in solving the case.Correct Answers:Problem Solving & Tutor GroupsIs this problem-based learning?Nope! ----
3.Students in a middle classroom are investigating the school garden and notice that the plants are wilted. One student points this out at the beginning of science class and begins to asks several questions about the garden. The instructor asks, what is going on with our garden? The students and instructor investigate the reasons why the plants may be wilting and ways they may be able to help the garden thrive. The class splits into small groups to look at what could be causing the garden problem.
Spot PBL ----Feedback:DID YOU SPOT PBL?? THIS HAS IT ALL---Authentic Problem, Tutor Group, AND Problem-solving!----
References
Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J. S., Guzdial, M., & Palinscar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26, 3(4), 369-398.
Savery, J. R. (2006) Overview of problem-based learning: Definitions and distinctions. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 1(3). Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ijpbl/vol1/iss1/3.
Savery, J.R., & Duffy, T.M. (1995). Problem-based learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. In B. Wilson (Ed.), Constructivist learning environments: Case studies in instructional design (pp. 135-148). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
Spot PBLDo you feel ready to DEMONSTRATE what you know? I think you are ready! If you agree, move forward to >>> Demonstrating your knowledge OR if you need more time to think about what you have just learned <<< go back to Discovering. The choice is up to you!
