The First PBL Group Session
Steps
1. The tutor starts the session with presentation of a problem that a new graduate might be faced with. He may show a short video tape, play a brief audio recording or distribute a written account.
2. The students are expected to organize their thoughts about the problem and to attempt to identify broad nature of the problem and the factors or aspects involved in the problem.
3. After a period of brainstorming in relation to underlying causes/mechanisms/solutions, the students are encouraged to examine each of their suggestions more critically.
4. Throughout the discussion the students will quite naturally pose questions on aspect that they do not understand or need to know more about. These questions will also be recorded by the scribe.
5. Before the end of the session, the tutor will help the students to concentrate on questions that are particularly important at this stage of their studies. The students decide which of these questions they will all want to follow up and which questions they will leave to individuals who will subsequently teach their fellow students.
The Second PBL Session
Steps
1. The tutor starts the session by encouraging the students to reflect on what they have learned towards answering the questions that are still on the flip chart/chalkboard/white board. They will start by exploring each others answers to the questions which all the students had decided to follow up. The next step is to invite individual students to pass on to their peers the insights they have gained from their study of questions which they alone had agreed to tackle.
2. New knowledge and understanding is applied to the original problem. The students consider whether their earlier conjectures or hypotheses can be reordered or refined, and what further information about the problem will assist in the further exploration of the problem. Throughout both sessions the tutor can provide further data about the problem, when the students have advanced cogent reasons for access to such information. A definitive resolution of the problem may not be necessary, particularly early in the course.
3. Perhaps, once every two weeks, at the very end of a second session, the tutor will call "time out" and stimulate the group to reflect on how their studies are progressing, what they have learned, how their learning fits together, how they, as individuals, are progressing and how they have functioned as a group.
The First PBL Group Session
What the Students Are Doing in Each Step
1. The students are stimulated to attempt to tackle a realistic problem in the field in which they wish to become competent.
2. The students practice observation and succinct presentation of what has been observed. The students are challenged to begin by applying their existing knowledge and experience.
3. The students are given constant practice in logical, analytical, scientific approach to unfamiliar situations.
4. The students are consistently encouraged to identify what they do not yet understand or know and to regard this as a challenge to further learning (not as a disgrace).
5. Students are helped to recognize that nothing is ever learned to finality, that learning in a variety of subjects/topics is concurrent in order to be applied in an interrelated fashion.
Also that when a great deal has to be learned, the task needs to be shared with other students.
Principles of Learning Applied in Each Step
1. Learning in the context in which it is to be applied is remembered longer and can be retrieved more easily for application in the context in which it is to be used. Relevance to the goals of the learner provides an incentive to learning.
2. Learning is cumulative, leading to increasing familiarity. Stimulation of existing knowledge facilitates anchoring of the new knowledge.
3. This facilitates the progressive development of a mental process for the storage, retrieval and application of knowledge.
4. Adults find it easier to learn if they can ask their own questions and seek answers to their own questions.
5. Integration of learning assists integrated application. Cooperation is fostered instead of competition with colleagues.
The Second PBL Session
What the Students Are Doing in Each Step
1. The students practice exchanging information on the usefulness of various sources of information. They practice sharing new learning by presenting it to their peers and by interrogating each other.
2. The students practice the application of new knowledge to the original or a similar problem.
3. Students are encouraged to reflect on what they have learned, how they have learned, and how they have contributed to the group's work.
Principles of Learning as Applied in Each Step
1. They learn how to obtain information from various sources, including consultation of experts. They learn how to convey information and how to question others critically but without causing offence. Active use of what has been learned and feedback on how well new learning has been assimilated assist to embed new information in long term memory. Students learn how to compare their performance with that of their peers and to identify their own strengths and weaknesses.
2. They practice transfer of knowledge through application in a realistic context.
3. Reflection on recent experiences is an effective method of learning: Wisdom through reflection.
ROJ@17apr16