Educatorsknowthatproblem-basedlearninganswersthatperennialstudentquestion:"WhenwillIeverusethisinreallife?"Facedwithameatyproblemtosolve,studentsfinally"get"whytheyneedtolearnthecontentandareenergizedtodoso.
Buthere'stheexcitingpart:problem-basedlearningdoesn'trequireweeksofstudyoranend-of-yearproject.Inthisbook,BrianPeteandRobinFogartyshowhowyoucanuseproblem-basedlearningasadailyapproachtohelpingstudentslearnauthenticandrelevantcontentandskills.Theyexplainhowtoengagestudentsineachofthesevenstepsintheproblem-basedlearningmodel,sostudentslearnhowtodevelopgoodquestions,launchtheirinquiry,gatherinformation,organizetheirinformation,createevidence,presenttheirfindings,andassesstheirlearning.Usingpracticalexamples,theyalsodescribehowtohelpstudentsmasterthesesevenimportantthinkingskills:develop,analyze,reason,understand,solve,apply,andevaluate.
Toputallthisincontext,theauthorsofferseven"PBLinaNutshell"lessonsthatcaneasilybeincorporatedinasingleclassroomperiod.Depthofthinkingandeaseofimplementationthisisproblem-basedlearningatitsbest.