Problem Based Learning
"How, then, can educational institutions provide an education as rich in experience as in knowledge, an education that will enable students to relate their education to the experiences and responsibilities that constitute a part of living for all of us? That question points to a key aspect of contextual learning goals: to provide an education that connects information and knowledge with real life experiences. Young people of today and tomorrow need an application-rich as well as an information-rich educational program.
From: Why Do I Have to Learn This? Teaching the Way People Learn Best
By Dale Parnell (1995)
Overview
The SMART Partnership is first and foremost an evolving, developing and collaborative educational forum for the exploration of effective methods of increasing student achievement and understanding. Recent and extensive research on how we learn and how the brain processes information centers on enabling students to make a connection between classroom instruction and its application and meaning in the real world. A variety of terms can be used to describe these new approaches to teaching and learning including: contextual learning; brain based learning; authentic learning; constructivism; project based learning; and more. The SMART Partnership uses a problem based learning approach as the operational model for changing the way we teach.
What is Problem Based Learning?
The Center for Problem-Based Learning housed at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) defines problem-based learning as (1993, 1995) "… an educational approach that organizes curriculum and instruction around carefully crafted 'ill-structured' problems. Students gather and apply knowledge from multiple disciplines in their quest for solutions. Guided by teachers trained as cognitive coaches, they develop critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative skill as they identify problems, formulate hypotheses, conduct data searches, perform experiments, formulate solutions and determine the best "fit" of solutions to the conditions of the problem. Problem-based learning enables students to embrace complexity, find relevance and joy in learning, and enhance their capacity for creative and responsible real-world problem-solving." (Sage 1996, 3).
How SMART Implements a Problem Based Learning Approach
The SMART partnership links middle schools and business/community partners together as partners in the development and implementation of a series problem based learning activities and lessons. Together with the students, the partners identify large scale issues pertinent to the students, the business and/or the community and focus on a problem to be examined. A series of examinations, research, investigation and explorations are organized that require and encourage students (often organized in teams) to gather information, reach conclusions and make recommendations relative to the identified problem. Finally, students are then asked to prepare a presentation to all project partners that summarizes their efforts, frames their conclusions and outlines their recommendations. The problem investigation and presentation process requires the use of multiple technologies by students (See Project Implementation Process).
Founding Sponsor:
