Problem Based Learning ( PBL )

What is PBL?

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a curriculum development and

delivery system that recognizes the need to develop problem solving skills as well as the necessity of helping students to acquire necessary knowledge and skills.

There are several organizations that provide support for teachers and students of PBL and others that research PBL and related topics.

Why use PBL?

There are several reasons for using PBL and many of them have resulted from the findings of research.

1.      Students retain little of what they learn when taught in a traditional lecture format (Bok 1989).

2.      Students often do not appropriately use the knowledge they have learned (Schmidt 1983).

3.      Since students forget much of what is learned or use their know ledge appropriately,  instructors should create conditions that optimize retrieval and appropriate use of the knowledge in future professional practice.

4.      PBL creates the three conditions that information theory links to subsequent retrieval and appropriate use of new information (Schmidt 1983):

●     activation of prior knowledge - students apply knowledge

        to understand new information.

●     similarity of contexts in which information is learned and later applied - research shows that knowledge is much more likely to be remembered or recalled in context in which it was originally learned (Godden and Baddeley 1975). PBL provides problems within context that closely resemble future professional problems.

●     opportunity to elaborate on information that is learned during the problem-solving process - elaborations provide redundancy in memory structure, reduces forgetting, and facilitates retrieval. Elaboration occurs in discussion with peers, peer-teaching, exchanging views, and preparing essays about what students have learned during the problem-solving process.

What does PBL look like in the classroom?

There are several models of how PBL works in the classroom. All of them agree that in a PBL curriculum

1.      students work through a series of problems designed to:

●     be authentic (i.e. address real-world concerns)

●     target defined areas of the curriculum

●     be "ill-structured" - they must be defined and analyzed through inquiry from a minimum of presenting information

●     approximate the real world, so that students find

        themselves actually engaged in the problem and not just observers of it;

2.      the role of the instructor changes from a "sage on the stage" to a "guide on the side";

3.      students work collaboratively in small groups toward the problem's resolution. 

Process and Purpose

 

• Students read and address problem, without background preparation. 

• Teaches students to encode and organize information in useful ways.

• Allows students to find what they know and what they don t know.   Misconceptions can be corrected in discussion of the problem.

• Mimics the real life context they will face as teacher. Students discuss and analyze problem using prior knowledge and resources available.Tutor poses questions: ie. Do you need more information? Are you sure of the facts or will a review be helpful? Do you think more information on this area would be helpful? Tutors encourage hypotheses are grounded in science.     

• Development of cognitive skills for problem-solving process

• Development of self-monitoring skills to identify the learning needs

• Development of habitual student-initiated questioning. Students decide what they need to know and where they might best find the information. They decide which resources to use (people, published papers, etc.).   

• Self-directed study. Students revisit problem with new information and knowledge acquired during self-study. Students critique learning resources used.Group decides appropriate hypotheses and critiques prior performance.

• New organization of information to problem-solve.

• Self-assessment

• Peer-assessment. Students should think about how what they learned has added to their understanding     

• Reflection

SUMMARY :

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a curriculum development and
delivery system that recognizes the need to develop problem solving skills as well as the necessity of helping students to acquire necessary knowledge and skills. and basicly PBL have a several process like :
1. Assessment
2. Problem Learning Materials
3. Course Resources
4.Feedback ( Evaluation )
5. Information Teacher

and with the way  to purpose is :
1. Students can read and address problem
2. Allows students to find what they know and what they don t know
3.Development of cognitive skills for problem-solving process
4. New organization of information to problem-solve.
5. Collaborative Learning

COMMENT :

I think all teachers should be able to apply the learning styles such as PBL, because with PBL student can more active in the class, they can express opinion with group discussion and also they are can to train public speaking ability.

Based on my observation in SDN 12 Benhil Jakarta for three days, some teacher are apply PBL of way but maybe the other teacher not yet to apply that. And all of the students very enthusiastic if  teacher their delivery of materials with PBL charateristic

And also all of my lecturer always apply PBL way in the collage, and i very find it useful and meaningful for me also the others.