A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Problem-Based Learning
A Review of the Theoretical Groundings, Instructional Characteristics, and Instructional
Effectiveness
Youliduzi Niyazi
EDIT 730
George Mason University

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Abstract
There have been a great number of studies conducted on the problem-based learning
(PBL), theoretical groundings, characteristics, and the instructional effectiveness in different
instructional settings. PBL is a teaching and learning method that has been successfully used
around 40 years. Problem-based learning is a student centered instructional approach, which
enables learners engage in learning by applying their existing knowledge and skills to enhance
their understanding to develop solutions to define a problem. This paper is the overview of
theoretical groundings, characteristics, and effective instructional implementation of PBL in
instructional settings.

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Problem-Based Learning
In the problem-based learning students can have the opportunities to apply their previous
and existing knowledge and skills by engaging a problem solving in a group discussion. One of
the natures of the problem here is ill-structured ones, which are able to motivating students
generate more questions and additional information(Wirkala & Kuhn, 2012).
The reviewed studies reflected that the very first steps of the studies on (PBL) originated
almost four decades ago (Neufeld & Barrows, 1974) (as cited in Leary, Walker, Shelton, &
Harrison, 2013). It is first introduced in medical teaching in 1958 in the McMaster University,
Canada, it has been widely implemented in medical and nursing education and is now gaining
popularity in different contexts (Barrows and Kelson 1995; Barrows 2000; Torp and Sage 2002)
(as cited in Jerzembek & Murphy, 2013) and subjects (Hmelo et al. 1995; Hmelo-Silver 2002;
Torp and Sage 2002) (as cited in Jerzembek & Murphy, 2013).
Theory Behind
Many PBL researchers have addressed the theoretical groundings that it is based on the
three aspects of information processing model, which are activation of previous knowledge,
elaboration and context matching. The other ones are cognitive theory and constructivist theory,
cognitive theories, and constructivist theories. (Onyon, 2012).
PBL improves students reasoning skill. Norman and Schmidt(2000) article presented
evidence to challenge these study results that the effectiveness of problem-based learning over
conventional methods is not supported from cognitive theory, which is studied by Collivers (as
citec in Norman & Schmidt, 2000), In their research Norman and Schmidt (2000) explained that
many studies in medical education demonstrated that the group discussion strongly activates

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

students prior knowledge, which is a nave theory or mental model that these students apply
for the problem at hand. In further support of their findings, Norman and Schmidt, (2000)
illustrated the effectiveness of backward reasoning in PBL by conducting a study in lab where
Undergraduate phycology students were taught EGG diagnosing in the same way. At the test,
59% of students who were told to come to diagnose as fast as they could gathered more
accurate information than other students who were told to carefully search EGG for abnormal
features (Norman GR, Brooks LR, Colle CK, Hatala RM, 1999) (as cited in Norman & Schmidt,
2000).
Characteristics and Implementation
Bastiaens and Nijhuis (2012) clarified in their study that PBL have several specific
characteristics, which makes it more effective in some educational settings. First of all, problembased learning is a learner centered, which means that students have their ownership on their
learning. Next, working in a team to solve an ill-structured problem at hand in a group discussion
and exchanging information related to the problem assist students to reflect the current and
previous knowledge. A recent illustration of the effect of PBL in math for K-12 future teacher,
Pilgrim (2014) studied of 14 undergraduate math students by using PBL methodology, she saw
the positive effects of PBL in her math teaching on the student and herself a teacher. And
examined the effectiveness of problem-based learning by using both student and teacher journals
and data from student comments class structure and course content. Here is an example of
Sequence of quotes from one particular student illustrates the change that took place as he
evolved with the course from the article:
1.! I failed to see a real goal in this lesson.

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

2.! I think it is fine to take that kind of time on something but it seemed like there was some
ambiguity at the start as to the depth we were supposed to complete the table and look for
patterns.
3.! [T] he other problems flowed very nicely and as I went through them they all built on the
previous problems without me even knowing it.
4.! The different graphs were a really good way to see what was going on and to come up
with patterns and ideas about extending the problems to more general solutions.
5.! I liked how each group was asked to present a problem on the board and share it with the
class. I think it was a good way of getting everyone on the same page and going deeper
into the connections being made.
6.! I really liked the problem where we had to come up with our own way to find the
approximation of the square root of seven. It allowed me to think about the previous
problems and why things worked the way they did and what I could do to manipulate my
own approximation.

This study assesses the expected goal based on both teacher and students prospective.
The results of Pilgrim (2014) revealed that the student journal and conversation indicated that
students really enjoyed working in a groups and exchanging different perspectives with peers.
Learning through group discussion motivates students become more confident and selfregulated.
PBL enhance learning by enabling teachers to become facilitators. By asking questions
teacher can help students to go through some obstacles during their self-directed learning
process. Also helps the teacher to be more engaged into the problem (Bastiaens & Nijhuis,
2012). Pilgrim (2014) described the challenges for the instructors to be a facilitators by stating

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

that it is not easy to find out right questions to facilitate and motivate students learning. It
requires the teacher to do more research and be equipped with the skills and knowledge to help
students be more engaging in learning. The other characteristics of PBL is that content and
skills to be learned are organized by problems Jonassen (2011). Students prefer to have more
specified resources over open resources to avoid from searching some unrelated and incorrect
information. Because the open resources likely to increase cognitive load. Huang (2011) stated
that the research on the implementation of the Problem-based learning is not just an explanation
of the unsettled data and it asks more effort from researchers.
Below are bullet pointed characteristics of PBL from Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland
(2005):
! Promotes a students-centered, group learning environment
! Promotes a self-directing learning
! Promotes authentic learning through real-world problems that are ill structured
! Emphasizes problem solving as the primary learning goal by allowing the
problem to serve as the center for instruction
! Promotes self-reflection as the primary assessment tool
! Allows students to generate hypotheses, set their learning goals, apply their own
learning strategies.
! Allows learners to integrate, use, and reuse newly learned information in context
! Supports recursive, iterative cycling through a reasoning process until a
hypothesis is reached
! Promotes facilitation and scaffolding through instructor guidance
Conclusion

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

The effectiveness of a pedagogical model depends on both its theoretical groundings and
the application in the instruction. As a general overview of problem-based learning and its theory
behind, characteristics, and application, this paper supports for the positive effectiveness of the
problem-based learning in different instructional settings. Because many studies have been
supporting for the strong theoretical groundings of PBL, even though most of them are finding
the research for the implications of PBL challenging. Moreover, according to he reviewed
studies the important factors in PBL student, teacher and the problem have high impacts to the
instructional effectiveness of problem-based learning.

A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Reference
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A REVIEW OF PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

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