In a climate of rapid change, increasing innovation, and proliferating knowledge, lifelong learning is an important educational objective. Lifelong learning skills need to be developed if educators intend for their students to stay current in their fields. Staying abreast of new innovations, research, techniques, and information is a prerequisite…

Interactive multimedia (IMM) and problem-based learning (PBL) are both promoted in response to the current need to offer authentic and effective professional education. An emphasis on collaborative work in PBL contexts may have discouraged the application of IMM, more commonly designed for individual use. This paper describes preliminary…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that has been used successfully for over 30 years and continues to gain acceptance in multiple disciplines. It is an instructional (and curricular) learner-centered approach that empowers learners to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop…

Contemporary constructivist views of mathematical learning have encouraged curriculum developers to devise instructional materials that help students build their own understanding and procedures for doing rational number computations, solving proportions, and applying those skills to real and whimsical problems. The Connected Mathematics Project…

These two newsletters from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) contain the following articles: (1) "NRC/GT: Professional Development--Not an Event" (E. Jean Gubbins), discusses NRC/GT research-based principles related to professional development and the importance of ongoing professional development; (2)…

A third-year pharmacology course in a doctoral pharmacy program that is case based and intended for a large class is described. Aspects discussed include learning objectives, course organization, classroom activities, case selection and design, faculty involvement, grading, and areas identified for improvement. (MSE)

Analyzes one third grader's participation in mathematics class discussions, his beliefs about class discussion, and his arithmetical development throughout a school year in a problem-centered learning classroom. Concludes that a fruitful classroom discussion both necessitates and, conversely, is facilitated by the negotiation of social norms and…

Profiles a teacher workshop sponsored by the School of California On-line Resources in Education (SCORE). The teachers developed units of instruction using problem-based learning (a constructivist approach where students discover techniques and information to solve problems) and combining them with Web-based information and tools. Briefly…

Describes a software shell, STAR.Legacy, designed to guide attempts to help students learn from case, problem, and project-based learning. STAR.Legacy supports the integration of four types of learning environments: learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered. Describes how a STAR.Legacy constructed for an…

Describes the modification of a University of Florida dental school course in clinical case studies to better integrate basic and clinical sciences and increase the role of problem-based learning (PBL). Early results suggest students have better understanding of the relationship between basic and clinical science and are receptive to the new…

New information and communications technologies and research in cognitive science have led to new ways to think about and implement learning environments. Among these new approaches to instruction and new methods to support learning and performance is an interest in and emphasis on complex subject matter (e.g., complex and dynamic systems…

This study examined the effect of a computer-enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment on middle school students' learning, investigating the relationship among students' self-efficacy, attitude toward science, and achievement. As Bandura defined it (1986), self-efficacy refers to the beliefs people have about whether or not they can…

Claims made for the value of problem-based learning (PBL) as an effective method for professional education programmes draw on constructivist principles of teaching and learning to achieve essential content knowledge, higher order thinking skills, and a team approach to problem-solving through the interdisciplinary, student-directed study of…

Drawing on 11 years' experience with a problem-based learning master's in business education program, educators at Ohio University identify critical issues in implementation of the approach, including definition of goals, elements of the curriculum development process, problem design and method of extracting learning, the teacher's role, skills…

Leadership education is intended to teach strategies for getting results through others. A Stanford University (California) graduate program for prospective public school principals uses complex problem-based learning projects in which students are required to develop a solution and a mode for presenting it as they would in an actual school…