Parameters

In essence, it has been defined by three key constants.

• Problem-centredness
  Learners encounter a problem without the teacher first providing the requisite knowledge. The problem is not one with a textbook solution. A ‘good’ problem is one that:
  
  • is complex in nature and not neatly definable;
    
  • susceptible to change with additional information;
    
  • requires inquiry and reflection;
    
  • has ‘best case’ solutions rather than a simple or obviously ‘right’ answer;
    
  • designed to achieve desired curriculum outcomes, adapted to learner characteristics, and approximating situations in the real world.
    
    
• Learner responsibility
  Learners engage actively with a problem, working in small groups to define various aspects of the problem, gathering and investigating information, and constructing evidence-based and judgment-informed solutions, thereby taking responsibility for their own learning.
  
  
• Role of teacher/tutor
  That PBL is a learner-led approach should not in any way reduce the critical function of the teacher. In a study done at the former University of Limburg (now Maastricht), Schmidt and Moust (1995) found that:
  
  …a commitment to the students’ learning and their lives in a personal, authentic way, and the ability to express oneself in the language used by the students are all determinants of learning in problem-based curricula.⁸
  
  
• While the role of the teacher/tutor changes from the traditional one of being provider of information and a figure of authority, there are other priorities. As a coach, he/she should:
  
  • develop a master plan of learning events;
    
  • anticipate students’ learning needs and the resources that will be necessary;
    
  • coach learners’ cognitive as well as metacognitive learning processes (e.g. by challenging the learner to think and to think about his/her thinking, managing group dynamics and generally monitoring the learning);
    
  • model such learning behaviour.
    

Involving as it does curriculum design and instructional approaches, PBL is indeed “not just a method but a way of learning”⁹

Philosophy | Parameters | Process | Pointers | Problems | Promises

8. H.G. Schmidt & J.H.C. Moust. (April 1995). ‘What Makes a Tutor Effective?: A Structural Equations Modelling Approach to Learning in Problem-based Curricula’. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 385 189).
   
9. C.E. Engel. (1997). ‘Not Just a Method But a Way of Learning’. In D. Boud & G. Feletti. (Eds.). The Challenge of Problem Based Learning (2nd ed.). London: Kogan Page Association. pp. 17–27.