Educational Rationale of

Problem Based Learning

dr Rimonta F Gunanegara,SpOG,MPdKed
Maranatha Christian University
Bandung
 “ Let’s be clear — we are failing too many of our
children. We’re sending them out into a 21st
century economy by sending them through
the doors of 20th century schools.”

Obama Speech at the Center

for American Progress
4th dec 2013
Introduction
• Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-
centered pedagogy in which students learn
about a subject through the experience of
problem solving.
• Students learn both thinking strategies and
domain knowledge.
• The PBL format originated from the medical
school , and is now used in other schools of too.
Problem Based Learning
• The goals of PBL are to help the students
develop flexible knowledge, effective problem
solving skills, self-directed learning, effective
collaboration skills and intrinsic motivation.[1]
• Problem-based learning is a style of active
learning.
Small Groups
• Working in groups, students identify what they
already know, what they need to know, and how
and where to access new information that may
lead to resolution of the problem.
• The role of the instructor (known as the tutor in
PBL) is to facilitate learning by supporting,
guiding, and monitoring the learning process.[2]
Tutor
• The tutor must build students' confidence to take
on the problem, and encourage the students,
while also stretching their understanding.
• PBL represents a paradigm shift from traditional
teaching and learning philosophy,[3] which is
more often lecture-based.
Definition
1. Student Centered Learning
2. Learning is done in Small Student Groups, ideally 6-
10 people
3. Facilitators or Tutors guide the students rather than
teach
4. A Problem forms the basis for the organized focus
of the group, and stimulates learning
5. The problem is a vehicle for the development of
problem solving skills. It stimulates the cognitive
process.
6. New knowledge is obtained through Self-Directed
Learning(SDL) [4]
History
• PBL was pioneered in the medical
school program at McMaster University in the
late 1960s by Howard Barrows and his
colleagues.[5]
• Traditional medical education disenchanted
students, who perceived the vast amount of
material presented in the first three years of
medical school as having little relevance to the
practice of medicine and clinically based
medicine.[4]
Assist the Learners
• The PBL curriculum was developed in order to
stimulate the learners, assist the learners in
seeing the relevance of learning to future roles,
maintain a higher level of motivation towards
learning, and to show the learners the
importance of responsible, professional
attitudes.[4]
Adopted by Others
• Problem-based learning has subsequently been
adopted by other medical school
programs,[4] adapted for undergraduate
instruction,[6][7][8] as well as K-12.[4][9]
• The use of PBL has expanded from its initial
introduction into medical school programs to
include education in the areas of other health
sciences, math, law, education, economics, busi
ness, social studies, and engineering.[9]
How People Learn
• The use of PBL, like other student-centered
pedagogies, has been motivated by recognition
of the failures of traditional instruction.[10][11] and
the emergence of deeper understandings of how
people learn.[12]
• Unlike traditional instruction, PBL actively
engages the student in constructing knowledge.
• PBL includes problems that can be solved in
many different ways and have more than one
solution.[13]
Constructivism and PBL
1. Learners are presented with a problem and through
discussion within their group, activate their prior
knowledge.
2. Within their group, they develop possible theories or
hypotheses to explain the problem. Together they
identify learning issues to be researched. They construct
a shared primary model to explain the problem at hand.
Facilitators provide scaffold, which is a frame work on
which students can construct knowledge relating to the
problem.
3. After the initial team work, students work independently
in self directed study to research the identified issues.
4. The students re-group to discuss their findings and refine
their initial explanations based on what they learned.
[2][3][14]
Role of Tutor
• PBL follows a constructivist perspective in
learning as the role of the instructor is to guide
and challenge the learning process rather than
strictly providing knowledge.[15][16]
• From this perspective, feedback and reflection
on the learning process and group dynamics are
essential components of PBL.
Assist the Journey
• Students are considered to be active agents who
engage in social knowledge construction.
• PBL assists in processes of creating meaning
and building personal interpretations of the world
based on experiences and interactions.[17]
• PBL assists to guide the student from theory to
practice during their journey through solving the
problem.[18]
Supporting evidence
• A systematic review of the effects of problem-
based learning in medical school on the
performance of doctors after graduation showed
clear positive effects on physician competence.
• This effect was especially strong for social and
cognitive competencies such as coping with
uncertainty and communication skills.[19]
Supporting evidence
• Another study from Slovenia looked at whether
students who learn with PBL are better at
solving problems and if their attitudes towards
mathematics were improved compared to their
peers in a more traditional curriculum.
• The study found that students who were
exposed to PBL were better at solving more
difficult problems, however, there was no
significant difference in student attitude towards
mathematics.[13]
Criticisms
• Certainly active problem solving is useful as
learners become more competent, and better
able to deal with their working memory
limitations.
• But early in the learning process, learners may
find it difficult to process a large amount of
information in a short amount of time.
Cognitive Load
• Sweller (1988) proposed cognitive load theory to
explain how novices react to problem solving
during the early stages of learning.[20]
• Sweller, et al. suggests a worked example early,
and then a gradual introduction of problems to
be solved.
Learning early
• They propose other forms of learning early in the
learning process (worked example, goal free
problems, etc.); to later be replaced by
completions problems, with the eventual goal of
solving problems on their own.[21]
• This problem based learning becomes very
useful later in the learning process.
Novice Learners
• Many forms of scaffolding have been implemented
in problem based learning to reduce the cognitive
load of learners.
• These are most useful to fade guidance during
problem solving.
• As an example, consider the fading effect helps
learners to slowly transit from studying examples to
solving problems.
• In this case backwards fading was found to be quite
effective and assisting in decreasing the cognitive
load on learners.[1]
Various Factors
• Various factors can influence the implementation
of PBL: extent of PBL incorporation into
curriculum, group dynamics, nature of problems
used, facilitator influence on group, and the
motivation of the learners.
• There are also various outcomes of PBL that
can be measured including knowledge
acquisition and clinical competence
References
1. Hmelo-Silver, Cindy E. (2004). "Problem-Based Learning: What and How
Do Students Learn?". Educational Psychology Review 16 (3): 235–266.
2. Schmidt, Henk G; Rotgans, Jerome I; Yew, Elaine HJ (14). "The process
of problem-based learning: what works and why". Medical
Education 45 (8): 792–806.
3. Hung, Woei (2011). "Theory to reality: a few issues in implementing
problem-based learning". Educational Technology Research and
Development 59 (4): 529–552.
4. Barrows, Howard S. (17). "Problem-based learning in medicine and
beyond: A brief overview". New Directions for Teaching and
Learning 1996 (68): 3–12.
References
5. Neville, AJ (2009). "Problem-based learning and medical education forty
years on. A review of its effects on knowledge and clinical
performance.". Medical principles and practice : international journal of
the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre 18 (1): 1–9.
6. Boud, David; Feletti, Grahame (2008). The challenge of problem-based
learning: Chapter "A Hybrid Model of Problem-based Learning" (2nd ed.,
(1st pbk. ed.). ed.). London: Routledge.
7. Duch, Barbara J.; Groh, Susan; Allen, Deborah E. (2001). The power of
problem-based learning : a practical "how to" for teaching undergraduate
courses in any discipline. (1st ed. ed.). Sterling, VA: Stylus Pub.
8. Peters, José A. Amador, Libby Miles, C.B. (2006). The practice of
problem-based learning : a guide to implementing PBL in the college
classroom. Bolton, Mass.: Anker Pub. Co.
References
9. Gasser, Kenneth W. (June 2011). "Five Ideas for 21st Century Math
Classrooms". American Secondary Education 39 (3): 108–116.
10. Wingspread Conference. (1994). Quality Assurance in Undergraduate
Education: What the Public Expects. Denver, CO: Education
Commission of the States
11. Kenney, Shirley Strum. "Reinventing Undergraduate Education:A
Blueprint for America’s Research Universities". The Boyer Commission
on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. Northern
Illinois University.
12. How people learn brain, mind, experience, and school (Expanded ed.,
4. printing ed.). Washington, DC: National Acad. Press. 2001.
References
13. Cotič, Mara; Zuljan, Milena Valenčič (June 2009). "Problem‐based
instruction in mathematics and its impact on the cognitive results of the
students and on affective‐motivational aspects".Educational
Studies 35 (3): 297–310.
14. Yew, Elaine H. J.; Schmidt, Henk G. (March 2012). "What students
learn in problem-based learning: a process analysis". Instructional
Science 40 (2): 371–395.
15. Hmelo-Silver, Cindy E.; Barrows, Howard S. (2006). "Goals and
Strategies of a Problem-based Learning Facilitator". Interdisciplinary
Journal of Problem-based Learning 1 (1).
16. Dolmans, DH; De Grave, W; Wolfhagen, IH; van der Vleuten, CP (July
2005). "Problem-based learning: future challenges for educational
practice and research.". Medical education 39 (7): 732–41.
References
17. Hmelo, C.E. & Evensen, D.H. (2000). Problem-based learning: Gaining
insights on learning interactions through multiple methods of inquiry. In
Evenson, D.H. & Hmelo, C.E. (eds). Problem-Based Learning: A
Research perspective on learning interactions, 1-18
18. Edens, Kellah M. (25). "Preparing Problem Solvers for the 21st Century
through Problem-Based Learning". College Teaching 48 (2): 55–60.
19. Koh GC, Khoo HE, Wong ML, Koh D (January 2008). "The effects of
problem-based learning during medical school on physician
competency: a systematic review". CMAJ 178 (1): 34–41.
20. Sweller, John (NaN undefined NaN). "Cognitive load during problem
solving: Effects on learning". Cognitive Science 12 (2): 257–285.
21. Sweller, J., Van Merriënboer, J., & Paas, F. (1998). "Cognitive
architecture and instructional design". Educational Psychology
Review 10 (3): 251–296.
“Half of what you are taught as medical students will in
10 years have been shown to be wrong.”
And the trouble is none of your teachers know which
half.”

So the most important thing to learn is “how to learn on

your own”.

Dr. Sydney Burwell, Dean Harvard Medical School In:

Evidence based medicine, Sackett et al, 2000: 31
The old way of learning, was
knowing what you should know.

BMJ 2003;327:1430-1433
Now the way of learning is knowing
what you don't know, not feeling bad
about it, and knowing how to find out.

BMJ 2003;327:1430-1433
Uncertainty was discouraged and
ignorance avoided.

Now, uncertainty is legitimized and

questioning encouraged

BMJ 2003;327:1430-1433
Medical education was learning by
humiliation, with naming, shaming,
and blaming. Now, students are
encouraged to question received
wisdom.

BMJ 2003;327:1430-1433
Thank You