Problem Based Learning: A Practical Approach To Education

In today’s educational system, educators value teaching students how to use their minds over what to learn. Dealing with actual problems is important in PBL which puts students at the core of education. 

Active involvement in complex questions helps students hone their critical thinking, join forces with others and learn by themselves. Created for medical education in the 1960s, PBL is now used in classrooms of various subjects.

This was formulated to help students understand topics more broadly and useful for real-life situations. 

This article takes you into the depths of problem based learning, showing pros and cons, differences, and methods for implementation.

What is Problem Based Learning (PBL)?

The idea with problem based learning is for students to gain knowledge by addressing open, authentic and challenging problems. The purpose is to study the problem well, see where you need more knowledge and find workable solutions. 

In this kind of teaching, the teacher mainly serves as a helper, letting students explore, research, analyze and consider ideas together.

As a result, students become involved in their own education. Thus, sharpening their motivation, working with others, handling time efficiently and making decisions.

These are important skills for both high achievement and daily life.

Main Elements of Problem Based Learning

• Real-World Problems: As PBL is based on, students address a tough, real-world issue that may not have an obvious solution. They are designed to be similar to challenges students come across anywhere, hence encouraging active learning.
  
• Student-Centered Learning: PBL changes the regular way a classroom operates. Rather than listening to information, students are in charge of their own learning. 
  
  They decide what they are already aware of, identify what they still have to discover and work out how to obtain it. Such freedom encourages students to learn more effectively.
  
  Read more on student-centered learning.
  
• Self-Directed Learning: Self-direction is an important quality nurtured by PBL. Part of their role is to find and review information from different places, raise questions and sharpen their comprehension. 
  
  It encourages students to continue learning all their lives.
  
• Collaboration: Collaborating in small groups allows students to cooperate, speak openly and honor everyone’s beliefs. Through this type of interaction, students are taught how to get along and learn with their colleagues in their chosen future field.
  
• Using Multiple Fields of Knowledge: Students in PBL have to relate various subjects to each other. An environmental problem could be solved by using biology, chemistry and geography. 
  
  With this approach, students better understand that different disciplines are linked.
  
• Reflection: Reflection allows students to review both their learning and the process they used to learn. As students think about their learning process, they gain skills that help them reflect and change approaches for similar issues.
  
• Facilitator Role: In PBL, the teacher’s job becomes helping students navigate the process instead of teaching all of the information themselves. Instead of lecturing, the facilitator assists questions, keeps everyone on track and encourages students to think more thoroughly.

Problem Based Learning Process

The procedure of problem-based learning revolves around the following steps. If performed with efficiency, it can bring multiple benefits to the students.

1. Stating the Problem

A complex and ill-structured issue should be presented in the beginning of the learning effort. By doing this, students are expected to explore ideas that are new to them. 

It needs to be about things that matter, yet be vague enough for people to see it differently.

2. Problem Analysis

Students explain their knowledge of the issue and suggest different ways it might be solved. They find out what they don’t know and plan learning tasks to address those gaps.

3. Self-Directed Learning

Using the goals they have set, students either investigate by themselves or in groups. They may depend on textbooks, research papers, interviews or different digital sources. 

Pupils are required to be information literate and to accurately evaluate the sources they use.

4. Information Synthesis

Once they’ve done their research, students rejoin their groups to discuss their findings and combine their data. Together, they break down, organize and revise what they know about the problem and start designing solutions.

5. Solution Development

With the information they have, students create useful solutions for the problem. Depending on the subject and location, these projects could be written documents, presentations, models or experiments.

6. Present Study with Peer-Review

Students demonstrate how to solve issues to other peers. Participants have the chance to discuss and improve their work at this time. 

The process helps to ensure accuracy and expands how researchers think.

7. Reflecting and Assessing 

Both looking at yourself and talking with a group are essential. Learners review what they found out, their problem-solving techniques and what they plan to improve going forward. 

They both look at the outcomes and how individuals cooperated, thought creatively and questioned what they were doing to improve.

8. Continue to Learn Regularly

When PBL is done right, it is broken into cycles. Experiences help students improve their skills as they continue to work on each one. 

Future problems challenge students to reuse their past learning experience in different ways.

Examples of Problem Based Learning

Example1: Environmental Science 

Students have to design a way to decrease pollution in the river near them. For this reason, they must look at biological, chemical and social influences. 

They interview local residents, learn about pollution problems and present effective ideas to local officials or the school board.

To better approach the problem related to nature, we should be knowing how to raise environmental awareness among young people.

Example 2: Studies of Business

Groups of students are required to invent a startup concept that is both profitable and chiefly eco-centric. Participants have to study the market, pinpoint public wants, estimate project costs and present their idea to a panel. 

Educators must be aware of the importance of inculcating an entrepreneurial mindset in students. It improves people’s understanding of economics, marketing and teamwork.

Example 3: Digging Into History

Instead of just having to recall dates, students are challenged to discover what happened before the French Revolution. They need to study politics, economics, culture, and racism history (if any).

So that they can use their skills to represent famous individuals and support their ideas in a model debate.

Example 4: Training for Medical Professionals

Students of medicine are presented with a fictional illness and told to diagnose and give treatment.

They should investigate various symptoms, study medical documents and discuss the best treatment while acting like medical professionals.

Positives and Negatives of Problem-Based Learning

Advantages of using Problem-based Learning

• Fosters Critical thinking and Problem solving: PBL teaches students to solve challenges, assess material from numerous resources and make wise decisions. Having to think and react this way teaches children critical thinking skills that are important in real life.
  
  Facilitators and parents can also contribute how to develop critical thinking skills in students by creating an environment, supporting curiosity.
  
• Supports Student Interaction: PBL encourages students to interact by using everyday challenges and problems that matter to them. When students know why a topic is important, they focus more on it.
  
• Enforces Collaboration and Communication Skills: When students learn in groups in PBL, they practice being social by expressing themselves, listening well, compiling solutions and cooperating.
  
  Read more on collaborative learning.
  
• Supports Self-Learning: Students know how to determine their own learning needs, plan the process and find the help they need. All of these help them become independent and learn for life.
  
• Learning From Several Areas of Study: PBL brings together things taught in different subjects. So students notice how different fields relate to each other and can apply what they learn in various situations.
  
• Makes Learning Easier to Recall: Applying ideas in actual situations helps students keep the information and understand the material more deeply. When learners are subjected to solving problems, they tend to retain their lessons more accurately and for a longer time.
  
• Develops Ability to Learn Through Research: Students practice asking important questions, doing research and confirming information. These are some essential skills for life and school. 

Disadvantages of Problem-Based Learning

• Time-Consuming: It usually takes more time for projects to start up, given the hours students spend on research, discussion and reflection.
  
• Assessing Them is Difficult: Since collaboration, innovation and process management can be judged differently, it becomes hard to use a single rubric for grading.
  
• Demands Detailed Teacher Training: To design real-world problems and guide open exploration, educators must be very prepared and able to adapt.
  
• Risk of Systemic Inequality: When working in groups, some students lead the discussion, but others have little to add. If people are not given clear roles and everyone is not supervised, joint work can become unfair.
  
• Could Overload Some Learners: Not all students are familiar with self-directed learning, so they may stumble without being led. Without proper help, this situation can make children feel frustrated and learn less.
  
• Dependency on Resources and Infrastructure: It is common for PBL to call for technology, many resources and sometimes outside experts. And due to this not all areas and schools are able to provide these.
  
• Curriculum and Exam Not Matching: In certain educational systems, teaching by projects does not fit well with standardized tests, so some of the anticipated content is missed.

Problem Based Learning vs Traditional Learning Methods

The key differences between problem based learning and traditional learning include certain aspects. These are as follows:

1. Learning Approach

• PBL: The main idea in Problem-Based Learning is to stimulate students to think and discover by themselves. To learn, students explore actual issues that happen in real life.
• Traditional: With traditional Learning, the teacher shares pre-prepared lessons by means of lectures and textbooks. Learners just take in information in these settings.

2. Student Role

• PBL: Learners act on their own, decide what to do and address problems together. They take care of their own education.
• Traditional: Students take notes, study them and repeat what they’ve learned. They focus on doing what their teachers say, largely without autonomy.

3. Teacher Role

• PBL: Helps students and gives guidance so they can stay focused on exploring topics by themselves.
• Traditional: The teacher guides comprehension, provides knowledge and steers the entire academic experience.

4. Content Delivery

• PBL: PBL is flexible and involves all different subject areas. As students investigate the problem, ideas for content appear to them.
• Traditional: Classrooms are set up with one teacher leading in a specific sequence. Uses a given syllabus and the same textbook for all students.

5. Collaboration

• PBL: Teams are important throughout the process. Children work with each other, speak to each other and solve issues as a team.
• Traditional: Mostly students are assigned individual work and only join in group sessions occasionally.

6. Assessment Style

• PBL: Students focus on presentations, projects, peering at work and reflecting.
• Traditional: Emphasizes evaluation with tests, quizzes and written exams only.

7. Skill Development

• PBL: Helps students become better critical thinkers, creative people, good team players and able to work on their own.
• Traditional: Learners are expected to remember facts, take notes and focus on subjects by themselves.

8. Knowledge Retention

• PBL: It gives students the chance to use their learning in ways that last and are valuable.
• Traditional: Frequently results in only short-lived learning that is often forgotten after you take an exam.

Key Features	Problem based Learning	Traditional Learning
Objective	Problem-solving and taking well-evaluated decisions	Mostly theoretical or contextual knowledge
Learners Role	Active Learning	Passive learning (dependency on educator, syllabus)
Educators Role	Helper and facilitator	Giving all instructions
Assessment	Reflective and based on performance	Through exams, quizzes and tests taken regularly
Approach of Learning	Learners construct their own learning needs	Learners follow their educators instruction through repeated behaviours
Collaboration	Highly needed and executed	Not that much emphasis
Knowledge Retention	For longer period	Limited to exams taken

It is obvious that PBL encourages skills for today’s world, in contrast to the regular methods that keep things structured and predictable. 

Courses can include both approaches together, depending on what teachers want students to learn and how they are learning. 

In PBL, students apply what they learn, but with traditional methods, they are focused on just being given information. Using both methods works well, as long as the learning objectives are right.

How Teachers Guidance Helps in Problem Based Learning?

A teacher in Problem-Based Learning guides students instead of delivering facts. The new situation calls for education professionals to have new abilities that support student learning, self-sufficiency and team work.

1. Developing Real-World Questions

Teachers are supposed to choose or create problems that help students learn and think critically. The issues discussed should matter, be real and need everyone to participate and investigate.

2. Helping, Not Providing a Solution

Teachers guide students in figuring out their areas of weakness, creating objectives and finding useful materials.

Instructors show students how to plan, organize their studies and choose wisely, helping develop creative thinking skills.

3. Supporting Children’s Self-Learning

The teacher uses guiding, rather than direct instruction, thus supporting self-learning in students.

You should ask broad questions, guide students with useful ideas and motivate them to discover solutions on their own.

4. Effectively Handling Group Interactions

The focus of PBL on group work dictates that teachers oversee how interactions take place. So that all members participate and are respectful. 

In some cases, they need to give out roles, deal with conflicts or reshuffle teams so that teamwork improves.

5. Offering Support in the Form of Feedback

Getting steady, useful comments is vital for PBL. Besides observing final work, teachers analyze how students solve problems, work in groups, and what thoughts and feelings they describe. 

Students become better learners and stay interested with feedback.

6. Encouraging Reflection

Learners are encouraged by teachers to recall their learning, evaluate the methods they used and think about areas for improvement.

Reflecting helps you strengthen your understanding and increase your thinking skills.

7. Meeting the Curriculum Standards

Though PBL is not strict, teachers have to verify that the skills and content addressed comply with the curriculum.

They fill in the gap between students controlling their learning and the standards required in schools.

8. Working with a Variety of Students

Teachers modify how they teach, challenge students appropriately and make sure that learners from all backgrounds can be involved.

If you are a parent, you can push yourself into choosing the right curriculum for your child.

Teachers in PBL mainly plan the details, guide inquiry and help students develop. Being a teacher means you need patience, imagination and a desire to grow with your students.

How to Incorporate Problem Based Learning In Classrooms?

Using Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in the classroom can make classes more interactive, meaningful to students and focused on the training.

Here’s a simple method educators can use to bring PBL into their classroom:

1. Find Problems Aligned With The Curriculum

Make sure to choose or create outside-of-classroom problems that connect to what has been learned in class. At this point, the problems should be shared.

• They are complex enough that they must be studied and worked on together.
• Related to what students are experiencing or facing in their community.
• Value more than one way of thinking or approach to a problem.

As opposed to presenting the science behind pollution, you can ask in a science class: “How might our community tackle plastic waste better?”

2. Prepare the Overview for the Unit

Details the planned schedule, goals, needed resources and forms of assessment. Break the work down into several phases.

• Problem introduction
• Looking up information and investigations
• Solution development
• Work is shown to others and feedback is provided by peers
• Thinking about and discussing one’s performance

All phases should have the core learning and material linked with the overall learning goals.

3. Create a Collaborative Environment 

Make sure the working environment promotes people working as a group and being respectful of one another.

Make sure people in each group do equal work by giving them roles like researcher, presenter or person who manages notes. 

Teach your children how to listen carefully, be flexible and care for things together.

• Tip: A good idea is to organize icebreakers and group activities at the outset of the unit to help the group bond.

4. Clearly Explaining The Problem

Entertain student’s curiosity by presenting the issue through a case, video, article, speaker or an actual trip to a place.

Encourage students to ask all kinds of questions, explore solutions by brainstorming and come up with their own ideas.

5. Liberate Students To Ask Questions

Help students learn how to:

• Discover the difference between their current skills and the qualities they require.
• Check through books, articles, websites, interviews and experiments to gather information.
• Be sure to find and review information for yourself.

Teachers should help students by way of guidance, but let them make decisions on their own as well.

6. Support Interdisciplinary Knowledge

Help students relate their knowledge from one subject to other subjects. Often, one issue includes concerns from science, ethics, economics and communication. 

It supports learning that involves the entire brain and helps you think more deeply.

7. Integrate Technology and Real-World Material

Understand the contribution of technology in education and have access to real-world materials. Try to make use of devices and solutions such as:

• Examples of digital collaboration platforms are Google Docs, Padlet and Trello
• Browse research sites and learn from educational videos.
• Interviews with people connected to the community

This improves how students learn and makes the material more useful.

8. Assess and Evaluate

Assess students during the learning process with formative assessment tools and summarize progress by giving summative tests.

• Expressing thoughts in journals, taking part in discussion with the group, discussing with feedback partners.
• Students present, write papers and make digital collections of their work.
• Apply rubrics when judging a student’s use of logic, collaboration, innovation and understanding.

9. Encourage Peer-to-peer Education

Have students share their solutions or outcomes with students, staff, parents or members of the local community. Get students to discuss and exchange feedback to help sharpen their ideas and learn how to communicate.

Read more on peer-to-peer education.

10. Reflect and Learn Better

Organize regular sessions where students think about what has happened.

• Reflect on what they have done and how they learned.
• Look at the strategies you used to achieve your goals and the ones that didn’t work.
• Look for the abilities or expertise they acquired and facts they discovered.

It helps you understand yourself and the material better.

11. Repeat and Redefine

Use information given by students and what you see yourself to improve your teaching.

• Make improvements to how future PBL is done
• Solve any problems that you or your team might have (such as time limitations or lack of participation)
• Mark accomplishments and highlight what students have done.

Problems in Setting up Problem Based Learning 

1. Time Constraints

Issue: PBL means students need to spend more time doing their research, working with others and presenting their work than they would in regular lessons.

Solution:

• Use PBL only in a few units or topics instead of everywhere in the curriculum.
• Try to improve your PBL abilities by creating small mini-PBL projects.
• Make sure to set regular deadlines so that students are able to follow along.

2. Curriculum Limitations

Issue: Teaching from a standard plan may not allow space for learning that changes based on students’ interests.

Solution:

• Tie the problems in PBL to the main standards and outcomes that students will work towards in the curriculum.
• Blend subjects in activities that cover several disciplines at one time.
• Encourage the ability to change how lessons are delivered.

3. Assessment Complexity

Issue: Evaluating things such as critical thinking skills, the ability to cooperate and creativity, is often done based on subjective opinions.

Solution:

• Establish guidelines with clear points for the way students work together, approach problems, do research and communicate.
• Allow students to evaluate themselves and their peers as part of the evaluation.
• Regularly carry out activities such as testing, reflections and discussions, during the project.

4. Teacher Readiness

Issue: Not every educator has been fully trained to use facilitation instead of lecture-style teaching.

Solution:

• Arrange workshops that explain how to use PBL methods in education.
• Let teachers work with experienced colleagues in ways that support learning.
• Begin with easy PBL projects so that you improve your skills.

5. Resource Availability

Isuse: If technology, books or others with similar interests cannot be reached, PBL may be less successful.

Solution:

• You can rely on open-access databases, public domain case studies and freely available online information.
• Tap into local organizations, libraries or NGOs to give yourself a better feel of current issues.
• Helping students utilize all the common resources in the classroom grows their creativity.

6. Uneven Participation

Issue: Sometimes, one person will lead and others will remain passive amid group activities.

Solution:

• Each person in the group should assume a role (leader, researcher, presenter and note-taker), in turn.
• Check how group members communicate and help guide them on working together.
• Make sure students reflect on their answers to stay responsible for their work.

How Can We Apply Problem-Based Learning in Online Classes?

Many believe that using PBL in online settings is not easy. However, it becomes equally effective and more flexible thanks to the right tools and approach. 

In this section, find out how we can successfully use PBL in an online environment.

1. Adapt Problems Meeting Needs of Online Teaching

Problems for online use must be understandable, concise and able to suit the digital world. Represent problems from real life so they can be investigated, explained and solved by people online. 

Students can look at case studies or work through virtual simulations by themselves at any time or in a live class.

• For Example: To mitigate a pollution problem in your area, use satellite pictures, readily available data and news articles to plan your investigation.

2. Select the Best Digital Platforms

Choose helpful, joint platforms for sharing information, collaborating and building projects. The platforms used most often are:

• Google Classroom, Moodle and Canvas are Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Google Docs, Microsoft Teams or Notion can be shared by a team for collaboration
• Forums operated by Edmodo and Padlet
• You can choose Zoom or Google Meet for video conferencing.
• Use boards in Trello or Miro for arranging tasks.

They allow students to interact with each other as if they were in the same room.

3. Set Up Small Online Groups

Let students work in groups so everybody can interact and learn from one another. Decide who will take the role of leader, note-taker, presenter or researcher, and take turns among your classmates every week. 

Give directives about good digital behaviour, how frequently to communicate and personal responsibility.

• Tip: You can take your teams to breakout rooms within the live session for discussions.

4. Guide Through Effective Instructions and Scaffolding

It is common for online learners to require more directed help to stay focused. Offer:

• A well-described problem
• An explanation of each phase as a series of steps
• Timelines and deadlines
• Ways to assess projects
• Use checklists or digital versions of templates.
• Divide the project into steps and set up dates to check how far you have come.

5. Encourage Inquiry and Self-centred Learning

Make sure students are in charge of their own progress by:

• Teaching students how to assess content found online
• Guiding them to seek out professionals, video content, guides or available databases
• Allowing them to choose the method they want to use to show their solution
• Doing PBL online enhances digital literacy which is important for this century.

6. Make Consistent Dialogue

Always keep open lines of communication between you and others.

• Regular emails or letters
• Collecting feedback on forms and exchanges in discussion threads
• Holding live question and answer meetings or scheduling online office hours
• Services that help friends and family communicate directly

Regular conversations stop people from feeling lonely and encourage them to keep up with what’s happening.

7. Utilize multimedia tools And Technology Platforms

Replace reading materials with fun interactive content with the help of interactive tools and virtual learning platforms. These tools include:

• Information which is presented through videos, podcasts and animations.
• Opportunities to complete experiments in online simulations
• Games, quizzes and polls to help examine a student’s understanding
• Constructing cloud-based online portfolios or logs for keeping records

They guarantee a learning experience that is more than simply reading from a text.

8. Support Students’ Ideas and Feedbacks

Provide students with chances to think back on what and how they have learned. Have them create written, video or audio experiences where they reflect on:

• What scientists discovered
• Challenges faced
• Skills gained
• Suggestions on how they should work differently next time

You can also arrange peer reviews to improve abilities in assessing and talking about work.

9. Evaluate Process and Outcomes

Reliable evaluations require you to use both formative and summative assessments. Moving further, you can process the outcomes and shift your methodologies. These comprise of:

• How people function within a group
• Come up with useful and creative solutions
• Applying your knowledge through critical thinking
• How well and clearly information is presented

Using Google Forms, peer assessment rubrics and video submissions makes online evaluation easier.

10. Stay Flexible and Supportive

Students who attend online classes may run into technical difficulties, interference from distractions or problems with accessibility. Teachers must:

• Provide a little more time or something else for them to use
• Make sure to talk with every student.
• Make sure to help on both a personal and academic basis
• Try to be ready for flexible routines and different kinds of assignments.

A helpful online environment encourages students to stay involved and complete their studies.

To Wrap Up

Problem-Based Learning isn’t only a new approach to teaching–it also changes the way students learn. PBL addresses real problems, promotes teams and encourages learners to explore ideas on their own.

Which in turn, equips them not just for exams but for a great experience in life. Although applying this technology may be tricky.

However, its role in inspiring creativity, improving thinking and teamwork makes it an important resource in teaching. In any classroom environment, PBL prepares students to think inquisitively and handle problems.

Exercise every possibility of PBL into your learning and stay unique from rest now!

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