RE: problem with problem-based learning

[Robert Grossman]

Kathy,
Good questions.

If students resist learning in this way, why do we persist in trying to teach them this way?  What are the data we can use to convince them that this might be a better way of doing things than the old "we talk, you listen" approach?

I use them for two reasons: 

        first I learned a lot using the methods and most importantly the learnings stayed with me a long time. I remember that in doing "story problems" in high school math-I knew I didn't really understand the concept until I could do those problems.  I think it was the same in physics (which was the first problem based course I had-Physics PSSC) and chemistry.
        second when I am able to do it right students report learning a lot, liking it and they tell me they are still using the learning years later (when we did an evaluation of our program the problem based learning course was mentioned most often and they said it provided them with important job related skills--mostly careful observation and detailed report writing). 

Admittedly this is anecdotal.  There were some carefully done studies in medical schools which offered some support for this perspective.  In the med school studies they used board scores and grades in internships.  I think the lecture mode led to slightly higher scores on the boards and the problem based led to higher internship grades, if I remember correctly.  The differences in both areas was small.  I can look those up if you don't have them. 

The strongest evidence I know about is in college physics teaching.  There with "hands on" laboratory approaches, that approximate problem based learning, they consistently show double the learning compared to the lecture approach.  R. R. Hake 1998.  Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods:  A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses.  American Journal of Physics 66: 64-74  http://carini.physics.indiana.edu/SDI/welcome.html#z44  Now I haven't tried the web address but I have read the article. 

I think they are able to show this amount of learning difference because they have a high standard which can be used to do the measuring.  It is hard to find a similar tool in other disciplines.  I wonder if the fact that doing mechanics in physics requires a totally different way of looking at the world leads to these strong  learning differences.  I know the skills I teach require looking at human behavior with much more precision and in much more detail than students have ever done before. That may be a key I've never heard mentioned.  You may need a very high payoff in learning something that's hard to learn and applies to other situations for it to be worth the students' while to do the problem based learning.

Bob Grossman
Professor of Psychology
Kalamazoo College
1200 Academy Street
Kalamazoo, MI 49006
Psychology Department: http://www.kzoo.edu/psych/index.htm ---
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