Engineering educators are being challenged to create learning environments that not only teach technical skills, but also foster higher-order thinking skills and instill professional attributes. Problem-based learning has been proposed as an effective method to prepare our future engineers. However, pedagogical innovations, like PBL, disrupt…

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines are considered key to the scientific and economic improvement in the United States. As noted by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (2011), we need a nation in which "all" teachers and thus, all students, are "STEM-capable" (p. 2), that is, equipped with a broad…

A mixed-methods research study was designed to examine teachers' knowledge and confidence for implementing a STEM-based problem-based learning (PBL) unit in their 6-12 grade science and math classrooms. Twenty-one teachers (7 in-service and 13 pre-service) participated in an intensive two-week summer workshop during which they engaged in, and then…

This study focused on the barriers that middle school teachers faced when implementing technology-enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) in their classrooms. Using a human performance-based model, we interviewed teachers, administrators, university faculty and technical support staff to determine the perceived importance of multiple barriers to the…

Although computers are now commonplace within our lives, integration within schools is much less ordinary. While access and training are no longer considered significant barriers, attention has turned to the potential influence of teachers' beliefs. In response, problem-based learning (PBL) has been proposed as an effective approach for changing…

Despite the challenges inherent in adopting problem-based learning (PBL) in the middle school classroom, successful PBL teachers are able to find suitable solutions. In this exploratory study we examined the perceptions and practices of five successful middle school PBL teachers regarding the specific difficulties encountered with PBL and the…

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…

While problem-based learning (PBL) has been found to be effective with gifted and average students (Hmelo-Silver, 2004), little is known about its impact on students with special needs. This study examines the perceptions of middle-school students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities and of their teachers regarding the value of…