What is Project Based Learning (PBL)?

Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for
an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or
challenge. In Gold Standard PBL, Essential Project Design Elements include:

Key Knowledge, Understanding, and Success Skills - The project is focused on student
learning goals, including standards-based content and skills such as critical thinking/problem solving,
collaboration, and self-management.

Challenging Problem or Question - The project is framed by a meaningful problem to solve or a

question to answer, at the appropriate level of challenge.

Sustained Inquiry - Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of asking questions, finding
resources, and applying information.

Authenticity - The project features real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact
or speaks to students personal concerns, interests, and issues in their lives.

Student Voice & Choice - Students make some decisions about the project, including how they
work and what they create.

Reflection - Students and teachers reflect on learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and
project activities, the quality of student work, obstacles and how to overcome them.

Critique & Revision - Students give, receive, and use feedback to improve their process and
products.

Public Product - Students make their project work public by explaining, displaying and/or
presenting it to people beyond the classroom.
BENEFITS OF PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Most of the study describes a classroom where the teacher is using the project-

based learning model effectively. In such a setting:

There is a problem with no predetermined answer
There is an atmosphere that tolerates error and change
Students make decisions with a framework
Students design the process for reaching a solution
Students have a chance to reflect on the activities
Assessment takes place continuously
A final product results and is evaluated for quality
Recognizing situations that make for good projects
Structuring problems as learning opportunities
Collaborating with colleagues to develop interdisciplinary projects
Managing the learning process
Integrating technologies where appropriate
Developing authentic assessments
Indeed, teachers may have to be willing to take risks to overcome initial challenges. A
supportive administration can help by implementing more flexible schedules, such as

block schedules or team planning time, and providing teachers with professional
development opportunities.

WHAT IS PROBLEM BASED LEARNING?

Traditionally, students learn by listening to lectures and reading, and are assessed on their ability to recall
and communicate what they have learned. With problem-based learning, students are assessed on their
ability to go through a problem solving process.
WHY PBL?
Research shows that PBL gives the learner greater long-term benefits than traditional learning, and many
successful and progressive universities around the world use it in their courses. Graduates of PBL courses
advance faster and further in their careers.

Other benefits of PBL:

Develops critical and creative thinking;

Creates effective problem-solvers;

Increases motivation;

Encourages lateral thinking;

Improves communication and networking skills;

Is based on real-life situations.

WHAT IS INVOLVED?
Every PBL project is carefully designed by experts to expose you to the information and skills that we want
you to learn. When assigned a project, you are given:

A statement of the problem (eg. diseased animal; failing business; anorexia case study);

Questions to consider when solving the problem;

A framework for the time and effort you should spend on the project;

Support from the school.

The problems that you will solve in your course will relate to what you are learning. They are problems that
you might encounter when working that field, adapted to your level of study.

What Is Problem-Based Learning (PBL)?

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an approach that challenges students to learn
through engagement in a real problem. It is a format that simultaneously develops
both problem solving strategies and disciplinary knowledge bases and skills by
placing students in the active role of problem-solvers confronted with an ill-structured
situation that simulates the kind of problems they are likely to face as future
managers in complex organizations.
Problem-based learning is student-centered. PBL makes a fundamental shift--from a
focus on teaching to a focus on learning. The process is aimed at using the power of

authentic problem solving to engage students and enhance their learning and
motivation. There are several unique aspects that define the PBL approach:

Learning takes place within the contexts of authentic tasks, issues, and
problems--that are aligned with real-world concerns.

In a PBL course, students and the instructor become co-learners, co-planners,

co-producers, and co-evaluators as they design, implement, and continually
refine their curricula.

The PBL approach is grounded in solid academic research on learning and on

the best practices that promote it. This approach stimulates students to take
responsibility for their own learning, since there are few lectures, no structured
sequence of assigned readings, and so on.

PBL is unique in that it fosters collaboration among students, stresses the

development of problem solving skills within the context of professional
practice, promotes effective reasoning and self-directed learning, and is
aimed at increasing motivation for life-long learning.

Why PBL?

Traditional education practices, starting from kindergarten through college,

tend to produce students who are often disenchanted and bored with their
education. They are faced with a vast amount of information to memorize,
much of which seems irrelevant to the world as it exists outside of school.
Students often forget much of what they learned, and that which they
remember cannot often be applied to the problems and tasks they later face in
the business world. Traditional classrooms also do not prepare students to
work with others in collaborative team situations. The result: students tend to
view MBA education as simply a "right of passage," a necessary "union card,"
and an imposed set of hurdles with little relevance to the real world. Education
is reduced to acquiring a diploma (merely another commodity to be purchased
in the marketplace), and the final grade becomes the overriding concern
(rather than learning).

Research in educational psychology has found that traditional educational

approaches (e.g., lectures) do not lead to a high rate of knowledge retention.
Despite intense efforts on the part of both students and teachers, most
material learned through lectures is soon forgotten, and natural problem
solving abilities may actually be impaired. In fact, studies have shown that in
90 days students forget 90% of everything they have been told (Smilovitz,
1996). Motivation in such traditional classroom environments is also usually
low.

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of PBL is that students genuinely

enjoy the process of learning. PBL is a challenging program which makes the
study of organization design and change intriguing for students because they

are motivated to learn by a need to understand and solve real managerial

problems. The relevance of information learned is readily apparent; students
become aware of a need for knowledge as they work to resolve the problems.
Benefits of Problem-Based Learning
For Students

Its a student-centered approach.

Typically students find it more enjoyable and satisfying.

It encourages greater understanding.

Students with PBL experience rate their abilities higher.

PBL develops lifelong learning skills.

For Instructors

Class attendance increases.

The method affords more intrinsic reward.

It encourages students to spend more time studying.

It promotes interdisciplinarity.

For Institutions

It makes student learning a priority.

It may aid student retention.

It may be taken as evidence that an institution values teaching.

Risks of Problem-Based Learning

For Students

Prior learning experiences do not prepare students well for PBL.

PBL requires more time and takes away study time from other subjects.

It creates some anxiety because learning is messier.

Sometimes group dynamics issues compromise PBL effectiveness.

Less content knowledge may be learned.

For Instructors

Creating suitable problem scenarios is difficult.

It requires more prep time.

Students have queries about the process.

Group dynamics issues may require faculty intervention.

It raises new questions about what to assess and how.

For Institutions

It requires a change in educational philosophy for faculty who mostly lecture.

Faculty will need staff development and support.

It generally takes more instructors.

It works best with flexible classroom space.

It engenders resistance from faculty who question its efficacy.

Reference: Pawson, E., Fournier, E., Haight, M., Muniz, O., Trafford, J., and Vajoczki, S. 2006.
Problem-based learning in geography: Towards a critical assessment of its purposes, benefits and
risks. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 30 (1): 10316.

Excerpted from The Teaching Professor, February 2007.