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Purpose
of this Site
What
is PBL?
Why
PBL?
Theory
Research
PBL
in the classroom
Group
Dynamics
Individual
Roles
Role
of instructor
How
to do PBL
Example
Problems
Resources
Schools
using PBL
PBL
at Stanford
PBL
Organizations
Ways
to learn PBL
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There are several reasons
for using PBL and many of them have resulted from the findings of research.
- Students retain little of what they learn when taught in a traditional
lecture format (Bok 1989).
- Students often do not appropriately use the knowledge they have learned
(Schmidt 1983).
- 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.
- 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.
From Bridges,
Edwin M., Problem Based Learning for Administrators, 1992.
The next page will
describe what PBL typically looks like in the classroom.
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