Reflections: Workshop 3--The Benefits of Problems: Using Problem-Based Learning and Problem Solving to Promote Critical Thinking

Since I first joined the TA consultants last spring, I have been hoping to have the opportunity to delve more deeply into non-traditional pedagogies. When my fellow TAC Jeff Anderson proposed developing workshop on problem-solving, I jumped at the chance. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more about problem-solving and Problem-Based Learning (PBL).

As we developed the workshop, Jeff, Ann, and I challenged each other to think about how all of these different techniques applied in our own disciplines. Unlike Jeff the mathematician and Ann the ecologist, I have taught mostly courses such as literature and composition that do not obviously involve “problems.” The process of researching tools like PBL and discussing them with Jeff and Ann forced me to think about innovative ways to approach teaching in my discipline. We all found the process of thinking through these approaches valuable enough to build a lot of reflection and participant-directed brainstorming into the workshop.
Reflections on the Workshop:
This workshop built upon the work of the previous workshop on developing assessments and promoting critical thinking, so we began with a review of our critical thinking discussions.
Our workshop had four simple goals:

• Introduce PBL as a pedagogy
• Discuss how to prepare students for problem solving and PBL.
• Brainstorm ways in which PBL can be used in all classrooms/disciplines
• Give participants some guidelines for developing problem-solving and PBL activities in their classrooms.

To get the creative juices flowing, we opened with Ann’s activity comparing PBL and traditional instructional methods. Participants were given one of two assignments designed to help students understand the characteristics that allow flying squirrels to glide through the air. Both assignments involved cerating a paper-airplane model. Half of the groups had a problem-based assignment, and the other half had a more traditional assignment that showed students how to complete a model and then asked questions about it. The ideas--and the airplanes--were flying around the room!
Once the dust had settled, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the two different assignments. The PBL assignment groups seemed to develop a more intuitive understanding of the squirrel’s aerodynamics, but they had confusion along the way. The traditional assignment groups found themselves more focused on completing the task than on evaluating it, but they thought that clearer instructions and more time might have allowed them to reach the same understanding. The goal was not to establish that PBL is a superior method, but to have participants think about how and when it might be appropriate in their classrooms.
Ann discussed the following 6 characteristics of PBL:

1. Student centered: Places the responsibility of learning on the students and allowing them to focus on areas of limited knowledge and purse areas of interest
2. Utilizes small group work
3. Instructors facilitate and guide students: We ask questions that students should be asking them selves to show them how self-directed learning works
4. Activities are organized around a problem: Problems can be case studies, observation etc. These problems help the students with recall what they learned because it’s in a real-world context
5. Designed to develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills for real world situations.
6. Is self-directed by students: Students work together to determine what they need to do, discussing, comparing, reviewing and debating what they learned – This allows practice in critical thinking.

The next step was to give participants some time to imagine how this approach would work in their own classrooms and to begin to discuss some of the major challenges it poses.
We looked over a few examples of PBL assignments--one from a History course (http://www.pbl.uci.edu/winter2000/hist41c.html), and one from a Linear Algebra course.
Jeff presented a worksheet that he had developed to help participants begin to think about what they would need to do to prepare their students to do problem solving and PBL and to begin to brainstorm some PBL assignments for their class.
Participants discussed these assignments in pairs. In my observation, this was where some of the most exciting thinking of the day took place: participants from vastly different disciplines, like population biology and English, worked together to develop assignments for both classes. Each person drew on his or her own expertise to make a partner’s work more exciting.
While Problem-Based Learning is no magic pill for developing amazing active learning experiences, I think that participants in general found the process of thinking through PBL a valuable way to gain some perspective on teaching--I know I did!