Zeitschrift für Hochschuldidaktik Nr. 1/1997
Problem-based Learning: Theory, Practice and Research
Florian Eitel (Munich, Germany) und Wim Gijselaers (Maastricht, the Netherlands)
Preface
Modern theories of learning and instructional design suggest that learning results from learner's actions and that instruction plays a role only to the extent that it enables and fosters these constructive activities. Transmission of subject-matter through direct instruction (for example lecturing) is, from this perspective, only of limited use. If instruction is to play any role in the learning process, teachers should focus on helping students acquire self-directed learning skills. Problem-based learning is regarded as an approach that meets this requirement.
Problem-based learning typically involves students working on problems in small groups of five to twelve with the assistance of a faculty tutor. Problems serve as the context for new learning. Their analysis and resolution result in the acquisition of knowledge and problem-solving skills. Problems are encountered before all relevant knowledge has been acquired and not just after reading texts or hearing lectures about the subject-matter underlying a problem. This latter feature reflects one of the essential distinctions between problem-based learning and other problem-oriented methods.
Problem-based learning (PBL) is given credit for the paradigm shift in education. Many universities, medical schools too, are adopting PBL as the primary educational method. There are many publications, empirical or non-empirical ones and even meta-analyses, which emphazise the advantages of PBL. Few publications deal with its disadvantages or drawbacks. A common prejudice of traditional faculties is that the efficiency of PBL compared to, say lecturing, has yet to be proven. To sum this situation up we are faced, with, on one hand, this evolving approach to education and trying to gain experience by applying PBL in more and more different settings. On the other hand, there is remarkable resistance to change in the minds of tradi-tional faculties, especially in the German speaking countries in Europe.
The agenda for action in this situation could be structured by some reflection on the theoretical and empirical basis of PBL. This volume aims at a statement of what we have and where we are going. The goal of present educational research is to work out evidence for the value of PBL in more detail. For example, it is questionable whether PBL in its pure form is actually implemented and realized in a specific learning environment or whether some kind of hybridization of different approaches are being used. There is little known, good or bad, about the possibilities of combin-ing PBL with other educational methods which are based, for example, on the cogni-tive apprenticeship model. The use of modern technologies like Hypermedia in a PBL setting is still embryonic. The definition of what PBL means in instructional design is not quite clear: On one hand PBL is characterized as the "seven jump" method. But on the other hand, the specific dif-ferences of PBL to other educational methods like coaching by experts, or reflection in action, or autodidactic approaches, are not systematically worked out . For example, one of the fathers of PBL, Howard Barrows, claims PBL as a "genus with many species". Others regard PBL as one educational method among others.
Although PBL has some theoretical underpinning with respect to pedagogy, the consistent implementation of that theoretical framework to educational practice has not been evaluated sufficiently. Is a PBL curri-culum, for example in clinical medicine, actually performed as explicitly designed or is it implicitly mixed up with other approaches? In other words, what is lacking is a canon of guidelines for the instructional designer or practitioner which aids her choice of which specific educa-tional approach should be used in which specific setting, to match the educational goals and contents given. Critically seen, PBL is a wonderful educational method but not the only one , we should become more conscious of the choices we have available.
Although problem-based learning has gained the reputation of a far-reaching innovation, and despite its wide-spread use, the very idea of implementing problem-based learning often evokes passionate resistance or scepticism. In general, two issues need to be addressed for a successful implementation of problem-based learning: 1) examine whether there is a professional need to make a shift from a disciplinar oriented curricu-lum towards a multi-disciplinar organised curriculum, 2) reconsider the instructional need for abandonning lectures as the dominant teaching approach. It is generally recognised that both issues have to be dealt with when implementing problem-based learning.
In conclusion, instructional design with respect to PBL is still in an evolutionary status which makes it worthwhile to stop for a moment, lean back, let the newest experiences actually available pass by, and then try it out.
Florian EITEL is professor of theoretical surgery at the Department of Surgery (innercity of Munich), Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany.
Wim GIJSELAERS is associate professor of education at the Department of Educational Development and Educational Research, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
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