3.+How+to+Get+Started+with+Problem+Based+Learning

**Problem Based Learning** Students today need a set of skills for decision making, problem solving, and self-direction as they have never needed them before. Too many students leave high school without the skills to succeed in the workplace or in postsecondary institutions. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching and learning style. In the PBL approach, students are presented with an ill-structured problem and instructed to work in small groups to arrive at some resolution to the problem. The teacher is no longer the focus of all that happens, although the teacher plays a crucial role in selecting the problem and facilitating the student groups.



There are three stages of problem-based learning. 1. First, the teacher develops the problem and fits it into the curriculum. 2. Next, the teacher guides the students through the problem. 3. In the final stage, as students solve the problem, the teacher evaluates their performance. Before getting started think about whether or not this will be a major teaching technique used throughout the entire school year or if PBL will be used only at specific junctures. Once that determination has been made then the following steps are used to design a problem.  //Developing a Problem// 1. Consult standards and curriculum to determine content (what students need to know) and skills (what students should be able to do by the time the problem is solved). 2. Write a problem statement or choose one already developed. This problem statement should be linked to students’ experiences (real-world application). 3. Choose a motivation activity that will introduce the subject and show the connection to students’ lives (activate prior knowledge). 4. Develop a focus question that will help students focus on their task after they have become interested in the problem (setting the purpose). 5. Determine how you will evaluate student learning. For each problem, a product or performance should be used to evaluate the mastery of content, skills, and the process of problem solving.  //Considerations//  Think about how you can incorporate the 4D’s of problem solving into this information. What obstacles might you encounter? · Other teachers, Administrators, Parents · Students – lack of motivation, initiative, don’t know how to solve problems · How will you monitor students’ progress throughout the problem? · How will you evaluate their final product? Make sure that you have this determined ahead of time so that it can be shared with students when the problem is introduced.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> from How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom by Robert Delisle.

from Problem-Based Learning in Middle and High School Classrooms by Ann Lambros.