Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject in the context of complex, multifaceted, and realistic problems. Working in groups, students identify what they already know, what they need to know, and how and where to access new information that may lead to resolution of the problem. The role of the instructor is that of facilitator of learning who provides appropriate scaffolding of that process by (for example), asking probing questions, providing appropriate resources, and leading class discussions, as well as designing student assessments.
PBL was pioneered in the health sciences at McMaster University in the late 1960's and subsequently it has been adopted by other medical school programs (Barrows, 1996) and also been adapted for undergraduate instruction (Boud and Feletti, 1997; Duch et al., 2001; Amador et al., 2006). The use of PBL, like other student-centered pedagogies, has been motivated by recognition of the failures of traditional instruction (Wingspread, 1994; Boyer, 1998) and the emergence of deeper understandings of how people learn (National Research Council, 2000). Unlike traditional instruction, PBL actively engages the student in constructing knowledge in their own mind by themselves, and thus addresses many of deficits of traditional classroom where knowledge is expounded by an instructor.
Characteristics of PBL are:
- Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended, ill-defined and ill-structured problems.
- Students generally work in collaborative groups.
- Teachers take on the role as "facilitators" of learning.
In PBL, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their group and organize and direct the learning process with support from a tutor or instructor. Advocates of PBL claim it can be used to enhance content knowledge while simultaneously fostering the development of communication, problem-solving, and self-directed learning skills.
