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 Higher Education Research & Development
Vol. 30, No. 3, June 2011, 329341

The power of problem-based learning in developing critical

thinking skills: preparing students for tomorrows digital futures in
todays classrooms
Megan Yih Chyn A. Kek* and Henk Huijser
Downloaded by [University of Southern Queensland] at 13:31 04 February 2013

Learning and Teaching Support Unit, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba,

Australia
(Received 15 December 2009; final version received 1 June 2010)
Taylor and Francis
CHER_A_501074.sgm

Higher
10.1080/07294360.2010.501074
0729-4360
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2011
30Article
30
Dr.
huijser@usq.edu.au
000002011
HenkHuijser
&
Education
Francis
(print)/1469-8366
Research &(online)
Development

This article describes problem-based learning as a powerful pedagogical approach

and an aligned teaching and learning system to explicitly and directly teach critical
thinking skills in a broad range of disciplines. Problem-based learning is argued to
be a powerful pedagogical approach as it explicitly and actively engages students
in a learning and teaching system, characterised by reiterative and reflective cycles
of learning domain-specific knowledge and doing the thinking themselves. At the
same time, students are guided and coached by the problem-based learning
teacher, who models critical thinking skills in the acquisition of the domain-
specific knowledge. This article will explore what critical thinking actually means.
What are critical thinking skills? How best to teach such skills? What is the
potential role of problem-based learning in teaching critical thinking skills?
Finally, the article reflects on how critical thinking can be developed through
problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach in an aligned learning and
teaching context.
Keywords: constructively aligned teaching and learning; critical thinking; deep
learning; digital futures; problem-based learning; student-focused approach to
learning

Introduction
It now almost sounds like a clich when we say students of today lack independent
thinking skills, particularly critical thinking skills. With advances in technologies, a
wealth of information is freely available that could be harnessed by students.
However, lacking in the abilities to identify credible and reliable information, and to
discriminate effectively between good sources of information and bad, it is little
wonder that Net Generation students (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005) struggle to make
critical judgements or simply what we call think. At the same time, regular
comments in the corridors of higher education institutions suggest a common
perception that most students after leaving university have not acquired the necessary
levels of skills, particularly when it comes to critical thinking.
The challenge for many higher education educators is thus how critical thinking
can best be taught in an integrated manner in an already busy and discipline or content
laden curriculum, without it being approached as merely an add-on (Huijser,

*Corresponding author. Email: megan.kek@usq.edu.au

ISSN 0729-4360 print/ISSN 1469-8366 online

2011 HERDSA
DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2010.501074
http://www.informaworld.com
 330 M.Y.C.A. Kek and H. Huijser

Kimmins, & Galligan, 2008). This begs the question of how to teach traditional
domain-specific knowledge and critical thinking skills simultaneously. We propose
that problem-based learning is a particularly powerful pedagogy and teaching and
learning system to promote and develop transferable critical thinking skills amongst
students, whilst they simultaneously acquire domain-specific knowledge or content.
Thus, problem-based learning is seen here as an integrated pedagogical approach to
teaching critical thinking, rather than a specific teaching activity. Furthermore, this
pedagogical approach is ideally suited to address the identified characteristics and
learning challenges of the Net Generation (Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray, &
Krause, 2008; Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005) and therefore an approach that appears to
be perfectly suited to engage Net Generation students in the learning process.
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Critical thinking
Before discussing problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach to teaching crit-
ical thinking, it is necessary to explain what we mean by critical thinking. An often
heard description of a critical thinker is someone who possesses higher order thinking
skills or has the ability to think critically, to analyse effectively and to be an able prob-
lem solver. The descriptions are often similar, even though the language used to
describe critical thinking comes from discipline-specific contexts such as business,
education, politics, law, medicine and nursing.
The literature offers many definitions of critical thinking. John Dewey (1910)
provided a foundational definition of critical thinking: active, persistent and careful
consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds
that support it (p. 6). Edward Glaser (1941, p. 5), co-creator of the broadly used
Watson-Glaser instrument to test critical thinking refined Deweys definition of criti-
cal thinking to something involving three elements: (1) an attitude of being disposed
to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range
of ones experiences, (2) knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning
and (3) some skill in applying those methods. Cognitive psychologists view critical
thinking as use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of
a desirable outcome (Halpern, 1998, p. 451, 1999, p. 70). The cognitive psychology
perspective can be traced back to Blooms (1956) work where he identified critical
thinking as a skill on the higher scale of his taxonomy of educational objectives such
as analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation, in contrast to lower order thinking skills
such as knowledge, comprehension and/or application. Other well-known definitions
of critical thinking are disciplined, self-directed thinking (Paul, 1990, p. 52),
reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do (Ennis,
1993, p. 180), self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective
thinking (Paul & Elder, 2006, p. 4) and purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which
results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference (Facione, 1990, p. 6).
Thus, it is clear that critical thinking is viewed as important in higher education to
prepare students for todays complex and rapidly changing world. What students have
often learnt well before they enter higher education is being able to repeat what their
teachers have said in the classrooms or lecture halls or what is printed in their text-
books (Paul, 1990). This is low-level knowledge acquisition, which is definitely not
sufficient anymore to survive todays perplexing challenges and tomorrows increas-
ingly digital futures. Herein lies both the paradox and the challenge. Net Generation
students of today arguably come to university with a range of different skills and
 Higher Education Research & Development 331

dispositions, to which current pedagogical practice does not adequately cater

(Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). While we acknowledge the problematic nature of a
construct like the Net Generation, in the sense that it does not reflect the diversity of
a contemporary higher education student cohort and in the sense that it implies homo-
geneity where there is none, the Net Generation literature provides a useful combina-
tion of changing skill sets, both in terms of what students bring to a higher education
context and in terms of the skills they may need upon graduation. The identified Net
Generation characteristics are assumed to result from having grown up in information
and technology rich environments. However, the ability to effectively select and
apply all this information does not automatically follow from being immersed in such
an environment, as empirical studies are increasingly suggesting (Kennedy et al.,
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2008). Although many students are highly skilled at multi-tasking and handling a sea
of information at seemingly dazzling speed, the ability to critically assign value to
such information is often missing. A higher form of learning is required, which
resembles characteristics of deep learning from the field of student approaches to
learning. Reaching such high levels of learning, or a deep approach to learning, is
arguably the ultimate aim of higher education (Biggs, 1989, 2003). We would argue
that problem-based learning is well suited to teaching critical thinking skills in a
manner that is ideally aligned with some of the characteristics that Net Generation
students bring to the twenty-first century classroom, most particularly their preference
for social and experiential learning. Thus, students learn relevant domain-specific
knowledge whilst solving the problems they have been presented with. The use of this
pedagogical approach thereby simultaneously equips students with the skills to find
and evaluate the validity and use value of just-in-time, strategic and fast-changing
knowledge. Furthermore, the problem-based learning approach will increasingly be
aided in the digital future by new technologies, for example mobile technologies
(Bradwell, 2009; Johnson, Levine, Smith, Smythe, & Stone, 2009). As Zimmerman
and Trekles Milligan (2007) argue:

Students must develop critical thinking skills and literacy in online communication, since
those who possess well-developed communication skills across platforms, along with
problem-solving skills and technological capability, will be the ones who excel in
todays digital world and tomorrows. It is our task as educators to help our students
gain those skills. (para 10, our emphasis)

On a pedagogical level, approach to learning is one of the more strongly theo-

rised areas of research in higher education (Tight, 2003). The learning approaches of
students paradigm is directly derived from students perceptions of context and their
qualitatively different responses to their own learning processes (Biggs, 2001). The
concept of approach to learning is about the what and how students learn, rather
than how much they remember (Ramsden, 1992). The term approach to learning has
evolved today to refer to two things: the processes adopted during learning, which
directly determine the outcome of learning, and a predisposition to adopt particular
processes (Biggs, 2001). Broadly, the two ways of relating to learning are surface
and deep learning. Students who employ surface learning use low-order cognitive
strategies, which consume the least amount of time and effort, such as memorisation,
reproducing facts, associating facts and concepts unreflectively and seeing facts as
discrete and unrelated (Biggs, 1987; Ramsden, 1992). Links can be drawn between
such approaches and Net Generation characteristics, especially with elements like
immediacy (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). In contrast, a deep approach to learning
 332 M.Y.C.A. Kek and H. Huijser

focuses on the intention to comprehend and adopt strategies to maximise conceptual

understanding, such as ability to relate previous knowledge to new knowledge, from
different courses to everyday experience, to coherently organise material, to integrate
disparate elements into a coherent whole and to see relationships and form hypotheses
(Biggs, 1987; Ramsden, 1992).
Importantly, critical thinking can be taught. Consistent with the field of student
approaches to learning, learning approaches of students are not fixed characteristics of
an individual person but are relational to teaching conditions and activities (Ramsden,
1992). Thus, if teachers are to develop deep learning among students, students need
to be taught in a learning environment driven by deep learning skills as learning
outcomes whilst they acquire domain knowledge. Students in such a context will then
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be more likely to develop high-level skills (Biggs, 1999, 2003), as evidenced in a recent
study that suggests that students who employ deep learning approaches show improved
self-directed learning skills when compared with students who employ surface learning
approaches in a problem-based learning classroom (Kek & Huijser, 2011).
In many definitions, critical thinking is characterised by various skills such as
interpretation, analysis and ability to integrate. Critical thinking is not just about
having the right skills, there is also a need to recognise the attitudes or dispositions
involved when using critical thinking skills. Disposition is about recognising that a
particular skill is needed and a willingness to exert the mental effort needed to apply
it (Halpern, 1998, 1999). In short, a person apt in using critical thinking skills has a
critical spirit (Facione, 2009, p. 8).
Of additional importance is that critical thinking skills cannot only be taught but
are also transferable to other domains (Brown, 1997; Halpern, 1998, 1999). We start
from the assumption that critical thinking skills taught in the context of specific
subject matter can be transferred or transcend specific subjects or disciplines into
other domains (Brown, 1997; Facione, 1990), which fits with contemporary thinking
about teaching critical thinking skills. This transferability relies on critical spirit,
which problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach is ideally suited to achieve.
This does not mean that other approaches do not teach critical thinking skills, nor that
they teach critical thinking divorced from domain knowledge, but, rather, that they are
not likely to reach the same levels of integrated and applied critical thinking skills
acquisition as problem-based learning potentially does.

Components of critical thinking

As mentioned, there are numerous definitions of critical thinking, which include skills
and disposition components. Only the skills component of critical thinking is
discussed here. The skills referred to are those guided by the American Philosophical
Associations Delphi Research Project, which offered a comprehensive list of skills
and dispositions that characterises an ideal critical thinker. The Delphi Project
involved a national panel of 46 cross-disciplinary experts across North America in
1990 and culminated in the Delphi Report (Facione, 1990).
The expert authors of the Delphi Report reached a consensus that the cognitive
skill dimension of critical thinking constitutes six core skills: interpretation, analysis,
evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation (Facione, 1990, 2009), which
are explained in more detail by Facione (1990, pp. 1319).
Importantly, the Delphi Reports self-regulation core skills could also be consid-
ered as the dispositional or attitudinal element found to be similarly important in
 Higher Education Research & Development 333

teaching critical thinking (Facione, 1990). This implies that in teaching critical think-
ing skills using the Delphi Reports core skills, students who are to be equipped with
and proficient in the use of a set of mental skills would also be acculturated with the
aptitude to execute those skills at the right time and context, which relates to self-
regulation. Scholars have recently emphasised that meta-cognitive skills are crucial
for critical thinking (Kuhn, 1999). Meta-cognitive skills are also fore-grounded in
Pauls (1990) statement that learning is illegitimate if students are not taught the
skills to assess their own thinking. This is important because it directly relates to effec-
tive instructional strategies to teach critical thinking skills.
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Strategies for teaching critical thinking skills

There is a suite of strategies on how best to teach critical thinking skills and disposition
in higher education in Paul (1990), Halpern (1998, 1999) and Paul and Elders series
of guidelines (Elder & Paul, 2002; Paul & Elder, 2002, 2003) were more recently turned
into a book (Paul & Elder, 2006).
For Paul (1990), instruction about critical thinking skills requires a total transfor-
mation of the curriculum, with critical thinking skills as a primary element explicitly
leading the curriculum. This entails rethinking the learning objectives, teaching
strategies, assessments and professional development to support staff in making the
curriculum transformation to systematically address the educational goal of develop-
ing critical thinking skills amongst students. Examples of instructional techniques to
teach critical thinking skills include having students brainstorm their own ideas and
argue amongst themselves about solutions to problems, rather than discussing ideas
found in texts or routinely asking students for their point of view on issues, concepts
and ideas.
Halpern (1998, 1999) focuses on the transferability issue in her four-part model for
teaching critical thinking. She argues that a powerful teaching model of critical think-
ing promotes the learning of transcontextual thinking skills and meta-cognition. The
model consists of four components: (1) disposition or attitude to recognise that a skill
is needed and the willingness to apply it, (2) instruction and practice is needed so that
students and public in general know that critical thinking skills can be generalised,
identifiable and assessable, (3) structured facilitation of transfer to new or novel prob-
lems or contexts and (4) meta-cognition directing what we know about what we
know. Appropriate teaching techniques include teachers modelling their thinking to
make it visible and open to scrutiny and embedding the use of ill-defined, messy,
complex problems and cues in problems so that they can serve as triggers for applying
critical thinking.
Paul and Elder (2006) offer 18 specific techniques for students to master critical
thinking skills, which in turn have implications for teachers instruction. Examples
include being an active learner, asking questions, thinking of the instructor as a coach,
looking for interconnections and so forth.
A common thread runs through all these instructional strategies and a paradigm shift
can be identified within teaching and learning from a primary focus on teachers to a
primary focus on students. These student-focused strategies are consistent with
research and evidence emerging from the approach to teaching field, which parallels
the development identified in learning approaches (Entwistle, McCune, & Walker,
2001). Approaches to teaching fall into two broad categories teacher-focused and
student-focused approaches (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999). Teacher-focused teaching
 334 M.Y.C.A. Kek and H. Huijser

approaches conceive of learning as information accumulation to meet external demands

and teacher-focused strategies generally aim to transmit information to students well,
which means that the primary focus is on transmissive practice. In contrast, student-
focused approaches conceive of teaching as helping students develop and change their
conceptions and employ more sophisticated student-focused strategies that focus on
changes in students conceptual thinking.

Problem-based learning as a powerful solution for teaching critical

thinking skills
So far we have established what critical thinking is and the skills associated with crit-
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ical thinking. The central point is that these skills can be taught and, furthermore, that
critical thinking skills are transferable. Our position is that critical thinking skills
taught in the context of specific subject matter are transferable and do not need to be
taught separately in a specific, add-on skills course. Indeed, we argue that critical
thinking should not be taught in isolation from subject or discipline matter. Key
themes identified in the various instructional strategies and models include the use of
student-focused teaching strategies such as having the teacher as coach who facilitates
deep learning, thinking skills and domain knowledge and as someone who models
thinking, makes thinking explicit and visible to all and uses real-life problems to
stimulate learning.
Lastly, to make critical thinking skills an integral part of sustainable lifelong learn-
ing, curriculum reform requires such skills to be written as learning outcomes into the
curriculum. Similar to Pauls (1990) argument about curriculum reform guided by
critical thinking skills as a learning goal, we adopt the design principle of constructive
alignment as outlined by Biggs (1996). This refers to alignment of teaching method
and assessment to learning objectives or goals. In this case, critical thinking skills are
embedded in the curriculum as one of the educational outcomes to be demonstrated
by students and they are aligned with assessments and with problem-based learning as
the teaching method. Biggs (1999) has identified problem-based learning as a good
example of a constructively aligned teaching system.
Early evidence from the field of student learning and teaching approaches also
shows that a student-focused teaching approach has a high impact factor that influ-
ences higher order thinking skills, in the form of deep learning and self-directed
learning (Kek & Huijser, 2009, 2011). Evidence also shows that students in a student-
focused problem-based learning environment demonstrate higher-order thinking and
learning skills (Brodie, 2009; Lin, 2003; Yuan, Kunaviktikul, Klunklin, & Williams,
2008). Overall, then, this brings us back to the question of what it is about problem-
based learning as a pedagogy that makes it well-suited for teaching critical thinking
skills.

Problem-based learning
Problem-based learning is often perceived as a teaching technique rather than an
integrated pedagogical approach to teaching that uses problems to activate learning.
Problem-based learning was first introduced in medical schools in the 1960s as an
alternative approach to teaching a curriculum and developing skills among students
(Barrows, 2002). Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, problem-based learning has
appealed to an increasing number of teachers and is now being practiced in numerous
 Higher Education Research & Development 335

educational environments other than medicine, as well as on different levels and target-
ing diverse student profiles around the world such as dentistry, education, psychology,
engineering, computer science and business (Brodie & Porter, 2009; Edens, 2000;
Prosser, 2004; Savoie & Hughes, 1994; Sendag & Odabasi, 2009; Wee, Kek, & Kelley,
2003). However, the increasing popularity of problem-based learning has disadvan-
tages, too, in that the term problem-based learning is based on a specific epistemology
that some teachers may not understand (Barrows, 1996). Thus, many teachers perceive
themselves to be using problem-based learning without realizing that their teaching
practice has basically not changed, thereby not maximizing the potential benefits of
problem-based learning. For example, problem-based learning is sometimes said to be
implemented when teachers pose problems somewhere in the learning process or
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when teachers question or ask students about identified problems, without having
taught the skills to answer such questions. In such cases, the teacher has not created
affordances for productive discourse (Greeno, 1998) or knowledge building discourse
(Hmelo-Silver & Barrows, 2008), whereas students in an aligned problem-based learn-
ing context would actively participate in constructing and transforming knowledge. In
this context, it is also assumed that the students do not already possess levels of skills,
such as critical thinking skills, similar to those of their teachers.
Barrows and Tamblyn (1980; Barrows, 2000), the pioneers of problem-based
learning in the 1960s, defined problem-based learning as a learning approach that chal-
lenges students with ill-structured problems that serve as a stimulus for learning,
where problems are the lens for organizing what has been learned for application to
future problems. Ill-structured problems are complex problems that cannot be solved
with one single answer or solution but require students to think about alternatives,
provide a reasoned argument to support the solution they generate and, later, apply this
to new problems (H. Barrows, personal communication, January 15, 2002). This is
what Barrows (1986) terms learning by doing, where all learning activities are related
to the skills and knowledge that need to be acquired and the latter are then applied in
context, incidentally aligning closely with the experiential learning that characterizes
the Net Generation, as mentioned earlier. The goals of a problem-based learning
curriculum are the acquisition of an integrated body of knowledge that can be
retrieved, applied and transformed when needed and the development of critical think-
ing, team-building and self-directed learning skills that allow students to masterfully
deal with new and complex problems in their careers (Barrows, 2000).

Essential ingredients of problem-based learning to effectively develop critical

thinking skills
Problem-based learning as defined by Barrows (1986, 2000) is also based on what learn-
ing science considers more effective ways to learn and acquire expertise (Bransford,
Brown, & Cooking, 2000). The essential ingredients are the problem-based learning
process, carefully designed problems and a teacher as a skilled guide or coach (Barrows,
1998).
A problem-based learning process that is effective is made up of a sequence of
learning activities that are reiterative and reflective, involving far more than acquiring
facts and concepts to be recalled during an examination or test (Barrows, 1988). The
problem-based learning process goes beyond requiring domain knowledge to be inte-
grated and applied to finding a solution for particular problems. Focus is also on the
development of skills deemed critical to prepare students for tomorrows digital
 336 M.Y.C.A. Kek and H. Huijser

futures, which some might argue are already here, but for which certainly not all
students are adequately prepared yet (Bradwell, 2009). Such skills include, for exam-
ple, reasoning skills to cope with new or complex information and problems in their
careers and self-directed learning skills that will allow them to recognize when they
need more information. Importantly, in the context of digital futures, students need to
know how to draw functional and relevant information from appropriate up-to-date
digital resources in a just-in-time manner and, indeed, at any time (Jones, 2008) and
they need team-work skills that will allow them to work as effective team members.
This is important in a context where collaboration in the work place is increasingly
becoming the norm.
There are distinct stages in an effective problem-based learning process. The first
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stage is where students first encounter or receive the problem as a trigger for learning.
They identify the facts, generate or explore possible ideas or hypotheses, identify learn-
ing issues determining what they need to know to manage the problem and articulate
an action plan to seek, evaluate, synthesize and apply the information that they need
to manage the problem (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). Throughout this stage, a scribe records
the groups discussion on a board visible to the group and tutor. The purpose of the
board is to make the students thinking and learning process visible to all. During the
second stage students then disperse for an independent self-directed learning stage,
sometimes called the research stage, before re-convening. This stage ensures the
inclusion of independent learning and applying learning in a group context. During this
stage, students learn to critically evaluate the knowledge they need independently, as
well as make critical judgements about the application and suitability of that particular
knowledge. During the third stage, they share and review information sources and
revise their prior discussion, based on the new knowledge and information acquired.
The students complete the learning process by reflecting with the intention to improve
their learning performance. They proceed to make generalizations about the problem
so they can transfer their learning to new future problems. The process typically ends
with each of the students and sometimes the tutor, providing feedback self- and peer-
assessment on their individual and team members work, seeking continuous
improvement.
As mentioned, the distinct essence of an effective problem-based learning process
lies in the reiterative and reflective characteristics, allowing for a knowledge building
environment where students and teachers are actively engaged in a critical discourse
concerned with solving problems (Scardamalia, 2002). Reiteration allows students to
go through a learning sequence where they can review their prior thinking about the
problem, generate hypotheses and decide on sources of information they will use before
doing their self-directed learning. They then discuss how they would modify their ideas
or hypotheses and possible solutions during the third stage, where they use new knowl-
edge they obtained in their self-directed learning to defend the changes, followed by
a discussion between all group members. If they merely described what they learned
during their self-directed learning, application and transformation of knowledge would
not occur (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2003). In crude terms, reiterative learning allows
students to learn how to learn, unlearn and relearn. Empirical studies have shown that
students from problem-based learning curricula are more adept at applying knowledge
to novel problems than those from non-problem-based learning curricula (Hmelo,
1998; Sendag & Odabasi, 2009; Tiwari, Lai, So, & Yuen, 2006).
The second, reflective, characteristic of the learning process is distinctive because
transferability of what has been learned from one problem to other problems is another
 Higher Education Research & Development 337

important concern of problem-based learning. As Halpern (1998) agues, transfer will

not occur unless students are asked to reflect on what they have learned. In problem-
based learning, reflections occur during the learning process and at the conclusion of
every problem. During the learning process, students need to verbalize and organize
their thinking, which is made visible with the aid of a board, thus opening it up for
debate and questioning. This applies in a face-to-face learning situation, but new types
of software are beginning to appear, which make this feasible in a virtual learning
environment (Brodie, 2009). The reflections are sometimes accomplished by having
students produce concept maps, pulling together all they know about the problem.
They then discuss how this may relate to previous problems encountered and whether
they can identify relevant concepts and principles. Ultimately, they need to consider
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how this new knowledge could help with other problems they might encounter in their
future work.
An effective problem-based learning problem is one that students will most likely
encounter outside their classrooms after graduation. The problems should be
presented in a same manner as in the real world, allowing students to inquire in similar
ways to when they encounter such problems after graduation, including the sequence
of behaviours paralleling the most effective in the real world of life and or career
(Barrows, 1998).
Effective problem-based learning teachers avoid making the students dependent
on them, instead using the model-observe-fade approach (Hmelo-Silver & Barrows,
2006). They scaffold student learning by posing questions through modeling, observ-
ing and eventually fading out their support. In the beginning of the problem-based
learning process, they would model good strategies to students as novice students and,
as students grow more competent and confident, they observe the learning process,
guiding students and ultimately making themselves redundant or fading away from
the learning process as the students become experts in adopting the questioning role.
Using the model-observe-fade approach, problem-based learning teachers model
high-level thinking skills in a non-directive manner, rarely providing students with
direct answers, knowledge or opinions.

Teaching critical thinking with problem-based learning as an integrated

pedagogical approach
To reiterate, problem-based learning is about students acquiring domain knowledge in
context, while developing skills in critical thinking through the problem-based learn-
ing process, triggered by problems, with the guidance of the teacher. These three
essential components of problem-based learning the learning process, the problem
and the teacher play an important role in making problem-based learning an inte-
grated, powerful pedagogical approach to teaching critical thinking skills when
compared to other social constructivist approaches such as case studies and inquiry-
based teaching methods. Empirical evidence increasingly shows successful outcomes
of problem-based learning as a method of simultaneously teaching domain knowledge
and critical thinking, self-directed learning and teamwork skills (Jones, 2008; Sendag
& Odabasi, 2009; Tiwari et al., 2006; Wee et al., 2003; Yuan et al., 2008).
From an educational design perspective, the underlying design principle is Biggs
(1999) constructive alignment, making problem-based learning a powerful instruc-
tional system for teaching critical thinking skills. In line with Biggs constructive align-
ment argument, critical thinking must be embedded strategically into the curriculum
 338 M.Y.C.A. Kek and H. Huijser

as a learning outcome, along with a focus on domain knowledge. Thus, in an integrated

problem-based learning curriculum, critical thinking skills are explicitly written as
learning outcomes of the curriculum to be demonstrated by students upon completion
of that curriculum or course. Associated with writing critical thinking skills as part of
learning outcomes is the development of assessment tasks that assess critical thinking
skills and knowledge and an assessment rubric that includes criteria and standards for
critical thinking skills. This is an important point to stress, despite the fact that a detailed
discussion on the assessments used in problem-based learning is beyond the scope of
this article. The teaching of critical thinking skills is also made explicit and visible in
the form of course handbooks. This fits with an increased awareness and necessity of
the now common graduate attributes initiatives in higher education.
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Conclusion
In this article, a case has been developed for problem-based learning as a powerful
pedagogical approach to teaching critical thinking skills. There are numerous defini-
tions of critical thinking and a variety of specific teaching strategies to teach critical
thinking in higher education. However, these exist in a learning environment still
largely enveloped by a teacher rather than student-focused paradigm. It is clear that
critical thinking skills can be taught but the question is how we can more effectively
teach critical thinking skills to a Net Generation of students. We have suggested that
problem-based learning can be used as a powerful pedagogical approach to teach
critical thinking while simultaneously teaching domain knowledge. The potential
power of problem-based learning as an aligned educational system and pedagogy is in
its curriculum focused on both essential twenty-first century knowledge and skills and
on making these relevant to students future career or work place contexts. The prob-
lem-based learning approach facilitates teaching of both essential knowledge and
skills that are transferable beyond the classroom. When used effectively, it provides a
platform for students to learn how to learn, unlearn and relearn for digital futures in
todays classrooms.
For teachers to use problem-based learning effectively, they may need to rethink
their current teaching routines. This requires rethinking the design of the learning
environment to position students where they are most likely to learn, rethinking the
design of curricula to cover both relevant domain knowledge and skills needed in the
twenty-first century, not simply focusing on knowledge as the primary content,
rethinking the role of teachers as facilitators of learning, rather than a sage on a stage
and rethinking assessment so that it can measure both knowledge and proficiency in
twenty-first-century skills.
In summary, we have re-positioned problem-based learning as a pedagogical
approach that can teach and promote critical thinking skills and dispositions as part of
specific domain-based knowledge, which are in turn transferable to many domain
contexts and educational levels. Most importantly, problem-based learning is ideally
suited to engage Net Generation students in that it is not only closely aligned with the
identified characteristics of the Net Generation, but also addresses the identified skills
that this generation needs, the most important of which are critical thinking skills and
related dispositions.
Overall, then, problem-based learning is a powerful pedagogical approach that
produces learning that has the potential to address higher education institutions
perceived current failure, as observed by Paul (1990), to teach students critical thinking
 Higher Education Research & Development 339

skills. Problem-based learning is therefore a powerful way of preparing students in

todays challenging times for tomorrows increasingly digital futures.

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