This paper reports the development of innovative assessment sessions within two core technical courses in Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland. Peer Assessment Learning Sessions (PALS) facilitate a student's peer assessment of a colleague's problem-based learning assignment or tutorial within a "traditional" whole-class…

The Personal Leadership Conundrum leadership development project is a semester-long, personal leadership inquiry that provides students with a self-directed learning opportunity. The guiding framework for this leadership inquiry is a personal leadership conundrum developed by students based on their experience. Students engage in problem-based…

Project-based learning is not a new idea. It has a solid track record of increasing student motivation and improving students' problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills (Stites, 1998; Thomas, 2000). In the traditional model, students work in teams to investigate open-ended questions and apply their knowledge through culminating products or…

Medical physiology is known to be a complex area where students develop significant errors in conceptual understanding. Students' knowledge is often bound to situational descriptions rather than underlying principles. This study explores how medical students discern and process underlying principles in physiology. Indepth interviews, where…

Students get excited about science when they investigate real scientific problems in the classroom, especially when the investigation extends over several weeks. This article describes a health-science problem-based learning (PBL) investigation that a group of teachers and teacher educators devised together for a group of fourth- to sixth-grade…

In this article, the authors discusses Visualization in Technology Education (VisTE). VisTE units are designed to enhance students' knowledge in science, develop good visual and presentation skills, understand emerging technologies, and most of all help with the integration of standards that promote technological literacy. Technological changes…

This article discusses the necessary steps that need to be taken in order to prepare students in the work force and help them succeed. In this article, the author talks about how to change educational practices to ensure that all the right things are being taught. Curriculum standards are the place to start, and while none of the business people…

Asserts that within the context of problem-based learning environments, professors can encourage students to use computers as problem-solving tools. The ten-step Integrating Technology for InQuiry (NteQ) model guides professors through the process of integrating computers into problem-based learning activities. (SWM)

Analyzes results from the final clinical examinations of two separate campuses of the University of the West Indies that use two different learning approaches. Concludes that, except for a few isolated cases, there were no statistically significant differences between the performance of the traditional group and the problem based learning (PBL)…

At the University of Dundee (Scotland), distance learning is used to provide inservice opportunities for nurses and midwives. The modular courses feature problem-based and work-based learning, text-based study guides, and strategies to provide continuous learner support. (SK)

Discusses a new systems integrated course format that offers an attractive alternative to teachers at traditional medical schools that wish to obtain many of the benefits of problem-based learning without adopting a full problem-based learning curriculum. (Author/CCM)

Presents a scenario about a planet that uses problem based learning to teach evolution and ecology to freshman biology students. (YDS)

Examines the problem-based perspective and the pedagogy of problem-based learning. Outlines alternative philosophical perspectives for professional education. (SK)

This case study examines the application of problem-based learning to the teaching of introductory instructional design (ISD). Suggests that ISD is a dynamic process of problem understanding and problem solution and that ISD instruction should therefore focus more on the problem attributes and not on the generality of the systems approach model.…

An effective way to prepare teachers to facilitate problem-based learning (PBL) is group reflective practice. First the group discusses the practice of PBL facilitation. Then participants critically analyze their personal practice of facilitation in the context of PBL. (Contains 52 references.) (SK)