The need for effective teachers is growing while national and state standards are putting ever-increasing demands on teachers and raising expectations for student achievement. Low science and mathematics standardized test scores, particularly in the middle grades, reflect unprepared adolescents, perhaps because of ineffective teaching strategies…

This study reports on a pilot study of a public speaking class in which problem-based learning and service-learning were combined in a freshman engagement course. The paper describes how the two elements were combined and provides assessments that used the University of California-Berkeley Service-Learning Attitudinal Survey, narrative responses…

Discusses the problem-based learning (PBL) model, including underlying principles and the three phases of the cyclical process: (1) problem development; (2) initiation of PBL events, inquiry, and investigation; and (3) problem solution. A case study illustrates use of PBL in an educational psychology class. A table lists sample problems for…

Describes the use of videoconferencing to teach courses for NYNEX (a New York telephone company) employees through the Center for Distance Learning of the State University of New York Empire State College. Topics include process education, cooperative learning, problem-based learning, student roles, and program effectiveness. (LRW)

The authors examined the potential differences between problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional instructional approaches in building knowledge of macroeconomic concepts and principles in high school students. Using data from 252 economics students at 11 high schools and controlling for individual characteristics, most notably verbal ability,…

This article comprises the results of a qualitative study designed to examine community college leaders' attitudes toward problem-based learning as a method for teaching leadership. The respondents in the study participated in a year-long community college leadership academy, which used problem-based learning as the primary instructional method.…

This paper presents a goal-based scenario approach to teaching introductory database concepts to undergraduates using two different scaffolding methods. One method, termed "worked-out examples," attempts to reduce extraneous cognitive load by requiring students to complete increasingly complex missing parts of worked out examples. The other…

The aim of the present work was to see if storytelling in a clinical dental anatomy course would increase student satisfaction. We enhanced teaching by spontaneous storytelling in problem-based learning, in half of the third-year dentistry class. At the end of the course, we administered an anonymous questionnaire to the students in the class,…

This study evaluated the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) in social work education. The participants were 132 second-year social work students who took the core courses of Social Work Theory and Practice and Skills Laboratory in the PBL mode. A 40-item scale was used to measure the students' perceptions of their social work knowledge,…

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of problem-based learning (PBL) on critical thinking ability and content knowledge among selected secondary agriculture students in Missouri. The study employed a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent comparison group design. The treatment consisted of two instructional strategies: problem-based…

This study examined a civil engineering capstone course that embedded a sophisticated simulation-based task within instruction. Students (n=28) were required to conduct a hazardous waste site investigation using simulation software designed specifically for the course (Interactive Site Investigation Software) (ISIS). The software simulated…

Field testing of a series of group-learning units in pharmacology based on a patient-oriented problem-solving approach found that the units were well crafted and that students had higher scores on tests of their knowledge of pharmacology after they had used the units. (Author/DB)

Questions are raised about the effectiveness of the traditional lecture method in meeting the objectives of optometric education, and the use of problem-based learning as an alternative approach is examined. (MSE)

Critical review of the literature on problem-based learning (PBL) in medical education focuses on: (1) the credibility of claims (both empirical and theoretical) about the ties between PBL and educational outcomes and (2) the magnitude of the effects. Concludes there is no convincing evidence that PBL improves knowledge base and clinical…

Reprints an article originally published in 1949. Determines the relative effects on learning of problem-centered and subject-centered units of instruction. Finds that pupils learned significantly more factual information and made more connections of specific rules of action with their corresponding facts with the problem type. Suggests that…