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Mr. / Girgis
Problem-based
learning. Why?
Employers like to see good problem solving skills because
it also helps
to show them you have a range of other
competencies such as logic,
creativity, resilience,
imagination, lateral thinking and determination. It is a
vital skills for your professional and personal life.
In my interactions with parents, I often find they do not yet
know about the power of PBL, or problem-based
learning as a critical thinking skill to implement.
Parents and sometimes even educators view PBL with
curiosity, however
the reality is that PBL is the optimal
educational pedagogy for the 21st
century, and is changing
education the world.
Introduced
nearly half-a-century ago, PBL is a teaching
strategy that prepares learners for the challenges of real life.
It’s a research-oriented
learning process, where children
are in the driver’s seat, they are at
the center of learning.
They don’t just follow instructions from an
adult in a
classroom-setting. Instead, children ask questions,
discover
answers, solve problems and tackle real
challenges being faced by their
community and the
larger society.
Learners
solve problems by imagining, investigating,
evaluating, designing,
inventing, collaborating, and
communicating. With the world advancing at
a rapid pace
into the 21st century, PBL is by far the most effective
teaching method for future-thinking learners.
Why do we need PBL in
teaching?
Today's world brings with it a rapid explosion of easily
accessible
knowledge. Today graduates need to be
self directed and possess lifelong
learning skills.
They need to be critical thinkers, problem solvers
and
analytical in their approach.
The inter-disciplinary nature of work
means that they
need to be able to integrate knowledge and skills
from a
number of disciplines as well as have the
interpersonal skills to be an effective team member.
- Active listening.
- Analysis.
- Research.
- Creativity.
- Communication.
- Decision-making.
- Team-building.
Problem solving requires two distinct types of mental skill,
analytical and creative.
Analytical or logical thinking includes skills such as ordering,
comparing, contrasting, evaluating and selecting. It provides
a logical
framework for problem solving and helps to select
the best alternative
from those available by narrowing down
the range of possibilities (a
convergent process).. Analytical
thinking often predominates in solving
closed problems,
where the many possible causes have to be identified
and
analysed to find the real cause.
Creative thinking is a
divergent process, using
the imagination to
create a
large range of ideas for
solutions. It requires us to
look
beyond the obvious,
creating ideas which may,
at first, seem unrealistic
or
have no logical connection
with the problem. There is a
large element of creative
thinking in solving open
problems.
Creative thinking skills are divided into several elements:
- fluency - producing many ideas
- flexibility - producing a broad range of ideas . originality - producing uncommon ideas
- elaboration - developing ideas.
Effective problem solving requires a controlled mixture of
analytical and creative thinking.
Curriculum and process:
PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The
curriculum consists of
carefully selected and
designed problems that demand from the learner
acquisition of critical knowledge, problem-solving
proficiency,
self-directed learning strategies and
team participation skills.
The
process replicates the common used systemic
approach to resolving
problems or meeting
challenges that are encountered in life and career.
Procedure:
1) First students are presented with a problem.
2) Students discuss the problem in a small group
PBL tutorial. They clarify the facts of the case. They
define what the problem is. They brainstorm ideas
based on the
prior knowledge.
They identify what they need to learn to work on the
problem, what they do not know (learning issues).
They specify an action
plan for working on the
problem.
3)
Students engage in independent study on their
learning issues outside the tutorial. This can include:
library, databases, the web, resource
people and
observations.
4) They come back to the PBL tutorial(s) sharing
information, peer teaching and working together on
the problem.
5) They present their solution to the problem.
6) They review what they have learned from working
on the problem.
2-Problem-Based learning method
Pre-solving problem
1-The teacher sets the objective
2-The teacher sets the problem
3-The teacher sets the time
4- The teacher prepares the tools
5-The teacher manages learners' work in groups
6- The teacher monitors, observes and facilitates.
During solving the problem:
1- learners work in groups to define the problem
the teacher set.
2- learners collect information.
3-Learners set several hypotheses.
4- Learners select the suitable hypothesis.
5- They test the hypothesis validity.
6- They present the solution as a learners' project.
Post-solving the problem:
1- The teacher allows each group to present their solution.
2- The leader and the presenter of each group present their
project.
3-
The other groups interview the leader and the presenter in
front as a kind of evaluation in the form of a wonderful
interview.
4- The other groups are interviewed in the same way.
5- The teacher monitors and checks in a wonderful scientific
congregation.
How to become a good problem solver?
To be a good problem solver you need to be able to switch
from one
group of skills to the other and back again,
although this is not always
easy. Traditional education
gives far greater encouragement to the
development and
use of left-brain thinking. This is reinforced in the
way we
are required to work, where emphasis is placed on
rational, logical analysis of data in drawing conclusions.
Some other terms which are often used in
discussions of creativity include:
Intuition - the ability to draw conclusions based on
impressions and
feelings rather than hard facts. It is a
characteristic of right-brain thinking and some people
rely on it more than others.
Incubation - the period between stopping conscious
work on a problem
and the time when we become aware
of a solution or part solution. People
struggling with
problems often suddenly become aware of a solution
after
a period of incubation, during which the mind is occupied
by other things.
Invention - the creation of new, meaningful ideas or
concepts.
Innovation - putting new ideas or concepts to a
practical use, as in the development of a new product or
service.
In dealing with our education problems, the American
EDX
program, Harvard university, USA :(Introduction
to Data Wise: A
Collaborative Process to Improve
Learning & Teaching)taught me the
following steps
to solve the problem of poor listening and speaking
skills:
Example:
1-Organizing collaborative work:
We formed a group work to exchange work, experience
and guide.
2-Creating data:
We did diagnostic tests collaboratively and collected
data using our senses, observation and statistics.
3-Digging into students' data:
We studied data to find the evidence that refers to
the problem reasons and the way of remedy.
4-Finding evidence:
Learners
couldn't speak well because of the lack of
language practice and
communication. The GTM
method(Grammar Translation Method) that depends
on grammar and translation was not good for learners
to use listening,
speaking or communication.
5-Deciding the problem:
Learners were poor at listening and speaking skills.
6-Developing the action plan:
Speaking
English through authentic situations,
guided and free practice was the
remedy. Teaching
rules can't help learners to develop their speaking skill.
7-Acting and assessing progress:
We started our
remedial work plan collaboratively
through focusing on using real
situations and free
practice for learners to work in pairs to ask and
answer questions through using gestures, pointing,
acting, CDs, songs,
music, games, realia and
authentic material and situations. Assessment
went
side by side.
8-Solving the problem.
Learners became good speakers when they used
and functioned the language.
I can pass EDX experiences, experiences of my study
in England and my work experiences in Egypt on to
my colleagues in the USA.
