First the Problem, then the Content

The first thing you need in problem-based learning is…a problem.

Sounds obvious, but if you think about it, you'll realize it's actually pretty different from the approach many common teaching strategies take. Usually, no matter what the discipline, teachers begin with content—the idea being that students must have some basic knowledge of a subject before they can do anything with it.

In problem-based learning, it works the other way.

First, students are given a problem or a problematic question like…

• "What happens when twins marry twins?" (for a racy biology class)

OR

• "Are there really hotheaded moles in Antarctica?" (for an interdisciplinary approach)

After being introduced to the problem, students then spend time working in groups to try to solve it. This requires them (1) to identify what they know and what they don't know about the topic at hand and (2) to find a way to acquire the knowledge they need.

The Benefits of PBL

Proponents of PBL (yes, we're still talking about problem-based learning, not a peanut butter and lox sandwich—although…yum) believe that working on real-world problems gives student motivation a boost, riling up kids to seek out content and apply the knowledge they gain in the process—and to do all that on their own.

And because students are seeking the information for a reason and putting it to use immediately, rather than keeping it cooped up in those sieve-like brains they've got, they may also have better retention of that information.

Practitioners just keep adding on the pros: they say that PBL helps students acquire problem-solving skills (they are, after all, solving problems), not to mention research skills and social skills. Maybe you'll even get some numchuk skills thrown in there, too. In addition, PBL encourages students to engage in critical thinking and writing and to work cooperatively and collaboratively with their peers.

Not too shabby.

And you'd better believe there are big perks for teachers of PBL, too. Instead of being responsible for having all the answers all the time, teachers in PBL classrooms act more as facilitators, helping to guide students through the process of asking and answering questions. It's about helping them get to the heart of the problem than telling them the solution right off the bat.

Additionally, the process of PBL (let's recap: finding a problem, analyzing it, doing research to acquire knowledge, using that knowledge to solve the problem) helps students learn to learn. The more they practice, the better they'll get at asking and seeking out answers to their own questions. And to sound as clichéd as possible, that's a practice at the core of becoming a lifelong learner.

You can find out more about problem-based learning via the University of Delaware, where you'll also find more sample problems like the ones mentioned above.

And in case you want another big research university to back up the idea, we'll go ahead and drop that Stanford University rolled out PBL in its classrooms in 2001. Here's an article from their Center for Teaching and Learning titled (what else?) "Problem-Based Learning," that talks about the benefits of PBL as well as strategies for preparing to move to a PBL format. If Stanford's into it, it can't be all bad.