A model of classroom characteristics and interaction is used to examine the roles of group size, problem types, and student behaviors, central concerns in problem-based learning, in medical education. The model incorporates six classroom dimensions, including four process variables (classroom organization, learning task, teacher's instruction,…

The purpose of this chapter is to draw some general lessons on curricular evolution processes and practices at the faculty level emerging from the creation of Renaissance College at the University of New Brunswick and the implementation of its BPhil program. The authors proceed by induction, working from the specific case of Renaissance College to…

The goal of problem-solving education should be to develop tools for thinking that will constitute a shell or framework of action procedures that can be applied on an ever-changing database. These tools come in the form of heuristics that can be modified and adapted to new situations. (Author/MLW)

The implications of the interaction between knowledge acquisition and problem solving are discussed. Options for the teaching of problem solving are listed including: giving students the opportunity to solve many problems, facilitating students' exploration of the mental processes used to solve problems, and providing explicit training in the…

Attempts to determine the skills that make people good problem solvers and some of the methods that have been developed to teach these skills are reviewed. Methods used by educators and psychologists to define, describe, or analyze problems and problem solving determine the method used to teach problem-solving skills. (Author/MLW)

An overview of Jung's theory of psychological type, a problem-solving model, types of students in different college majors, predictions about teaching problem solving to students, practical applications of the theory to the teaching of problem solving, and strategies that develop skills in perception and judgment are presented. (MLW)

Two astronomy professors, using the Decoding the Disciplines process, help their students use abstract theories to analyze light and to visualize the enormous scale of astronomical concepts. (Contains 5 figures.)

This chapter argues that liberal learning can be transformative and foster students' intellectual and ethical development only if we consider its development underpinnings and pedagogic strategies that illustrate that the skills of academic inquiry are the skills of personal development. (Contains 1 note.)