The goal of the study is to overcome two main drawbacks of traditional science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) pedagogical strategies using PBL - lack of student engagement and students who are not prepared for more complex problems. PBL teaching strategies practiced in an introductory class are assessed. Classroom observations and…

What Illeris' "Problem orientation and participant direction -- A proposal for alternative didactics" (1974) signified for Roskilde University, Eva Hultengren's "Problem orientation, project work and report writing" (1976) signified for Aalborg University. Both books were soon published in a second edition, but only Hultengren…

This paper explores how the concept of "the facilitator as a fool" can be used as a guiding principle for supervising students at universities adhering to problem-based learning pedagogies. With the example of students enrolled at spatial planning studies, the paper argues that students should learn how to face uncertainty and take…

Even though using group examinations aligns well with the epistemology of problem-based learning (PBL), the dilemma of using joint learning while simultaneously fulfilling individual assessment requirements in higher education make group examinations difficult to use. In this study, the aim was to explore whether an individual reflection paper…

The purpose of this article is to describe the results from an investigation of the development of students' attitudes and behaviours conducive to self-directed learning (SDL) in problem-based learning. The article reports the results from an application of a newly validated statistical instrument to measure self-directed learning on bachelor…

This paper presents a model which can be used to help teachers to design pedagogical opportunities for meaningful reflections in higher education. Within the PBL Future initiative of Aalborg University, we worked with a group of students from different study programmes and levels. In a three-semester long process these students engaged in a series…

Problem-based learning (PBL) involves using problems as a starting point of learning rather than relying on traditional learning settings. In the present paper we present the theoretical framework behind a specific PBL setting we have developed since 2012 for training Danish psychologist students in a small university children's clinic…

This article examines why students experience Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environments differently and discusses considerations for improving PBL environments to support a more diverse student population. Based on theoretical perspectives regarding motivation, identification, and learning, we present a new typology consisting of four types of…

This paper presents findings from a small-scale research study eliciting students' perceptions of benefits and challenges of working in interdisciplinary groups to solve an engineering challenge using problem-based learning. Penultimate and final year undergraduates and postgraduate MSc students in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences…

Art and Technology is an interdisciplinary art program at AAU that involves knowledge and methods ranging from the humanities, to engineering sciences. Art and Technology is a hybrid program that combines science and technology with the artistic imagination, and thus combines both artistic and academic methodologies. The main question this paper…

This paper reflects on a slow re-reading of Maggi Savin-Baden's "Impact of Transdisciplinary Threshold Concepts on Student Engagement in Problem-Based Learning" and its relation to the author's experiences as a teacher and curriculum developer in Techno-Anthropology at Aalborg University. It explores four transdisciplinary threshold…

Within the framework of the CITYLAB LA "Engaging students with sustainable cities in Latin-America" Project, ERASMUS Program, this article reflects on the application of the Project-oriented Problem-Based Learning pedagogical method in the workshop work carried out by the Chair Urbanism IIA--Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design,…

The urban design courses of the urban planning career in the Universidad Simón Bolívar (USB, 2017) Caracas-Venezuela, are part of the backbone of workshops (4 of 11) and invite to the study of parts of the city whose problems demand to be resolved, according to traditional teaching methods. Considering this precedent and within the framework of…

This paper presents how a ninth semester teaching programme created employability skills among students. During the semester, students were expected to collaborate with a company or an organization to solve a task set by the external partner. The students used their academic and analytical skills and competences as a part of working with the…

An essential part of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is the students' group work. What happens in students' group work when no tutor/facilitator is present is normally a hidden land. Thus, there is limited research on students' interactional way of doing PBL, this study tries to amend this by looking at how students conduct group work without any…