Previous research found that critical thinking skills of students need to be trained more intensively using authentic problems in daily life. Critical thinking can be developed through problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach in an aligned learning and teaching context. This research aims to obtain the profile of students' critical…

In this study, we explored the critical thinking of 47 eleventh-grade students in a mathematics problem-based learning (PBL) classroom in November 2016. A critical thinking test was used along with classroom observations to gather the critical thinking data in five dimensions according to the Association of American Colleges & Universities…

This paper examines how virtual worlds and other advanced social media can be married with problem-based learning to encourage creativity and critical thinking in the English/Language Arts classroom, particularly for middle school, high school, and undergraduate college education. Virtual world experiences such as "Second Life," Jumpstart.com, and…

Problem-based learning (PBL) with simulated cases is one method of delivering standardized pediatric curricular objectives, but the fact that students are dispersed and participating in community-based practices makes group meetings difficult. To address these issues, researchers developed and tested a new modality for presenting PBL cases, a…

This paper proposes the use of specific coaching strategies to facilitate students' use of expert-like problem-solving strategies while analyzing and solving instructional design case studies. Findings from an exploratory study, designed to examine changes in students' problem-solving skills as they analyzed case studies, suggested that students…

Problem-based learning (PBL), often used in medical education, is an educational approach that organizes curriculum and instruction around carefully crafted "ill-structured" problems, to which students apply knowledge from multiple disciplines and critical thinking. PBL is being investigated as a teaching approach for elementary and middle…

This study investigated the perception of university teachers regarding what critical thinking skills are needed for successful undergraduate study, and determined the relative importance of these skills within and across academic disciplines. A total of 31 university teachers in 6 academic disciplines of Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences,…

Education in Hong Kong has been developed along a British model that uses examination results to determine students' academic futures: to be allowed to go on to a university to study or to go into the workplace with a tenth-grade education. The system has been described by likening students to Peking ducks who are forced to eat, fattened up for…

In October 1998, the Coordinating Board Committee of the Department of Education at the University of Texas--Pan American (UTPA) recommended adoption of a problem-based learning model for use in the university's stand-alone doctoral program in educational administration. This recommendation came despite some apprehension and confusion among some…

Problem-based learning in educational administration preparation programs is increasingly the focus of university departments, professors, presenters at symposia, and the literature in the field. This increasing attention, while appropriate, creates the need for additional reflection before organizations move ahead with problem-based learning…

This paper discusses the author's personal experiences in developing and implementing a problem-based college mathematics course for liberal arts majors. This project was initiated in response to the realization that most students are dependent on "patterning" learning algorithms and have no expectation that self-initiated thinking is a…

The conceptual framework of the Modes of Problem Solving Action (MPSA) model integrates Dewey's pragmatism, critical science theory, and theory regarding the three modes of inquiry. The MPSA model is formulated in the shape of a matrix. Horizontally, there are the following modes: technical, interpretive, and emancipating. Vertically, there are…

This document contains three papers on professional development. "An Inquiry into the Continuing Professional Education of Information Technology Workers" (David D. Branigan) reports on a study in which the model of the critically reflective teacher was used to examine the practice of continuing education for the information technology…

Research on how the brain works has resulted in wider-scale adoption of the principles of problem-based learning (PBL) in many areas of education, including technology education. The PBL approach is attractive to curriculum developers because it is based on interdisciplinary learning, results in multiple outcomes, is integrated and…