Group projects center learning as a collaborative process, but they often produce mixed results in terms of student commitment and final products. The authors outline their experience with a course designed to engage undergraduate biomedical engineering students in a semester-long group experience and share data from their students' analyses of…

Undergraduate student learning focuses on the development of disciplinary strength in majors and minors so that students gain depth in particular fields, foster individual expertise, and learn problem solving from disciplinary perspectives. However, the complexities of real-world problems do not respect disciplinary boundaries. Complex problems…

Since the 1960s, there has been growing and sustained interest in small-group learning approaches at the school level and in higher education. A voluminous body of literature in this area addresses theory, research, classroom practice, and faculty development. The approaches most highly represented in the literature are cooperative learning,…

Over the past 30 years, problem-based learning (PBL) has become a major force in health professions education and even in the broader educational world. This article focuses on the outcomes that have been found from using PBL in the health professions based on at least 20 reviews done since 1990. The outcomes identified in these reviews are…

The author argues that there is still too much teaching to the test, and the consequence is growing "constellations" of problem-based learning (PBL), some of which are useful, and some of which are not. Today, what passes for PBL practice often seems more like guidelines than any kind of reasoned pedagogy. While at one level the range of…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method where student learning occurs in the context of solving an authentic problem. PBL was initially developed out of an instructional need to help medical school students learn their basic sciences knowledge in a way that would be more lasting while helping to develop clinical skills…

This study revisits case learning's effects on student engagement and assesses student learning as a result of the use of case studies and problem-based learning. The author replicates a previous study that used indirect assessment techniques to get at case learning's impact, and then extends the analysis using a pre- and post-test experimental…

The authors address three questions: (1) What are the foundational practices of team-based learning (TBL)? (2) What are the fundamental principles underlying TBL's foundational practices? and (3) In what ways are TBL's foundational practices similar to and/or different from the practices employed by problem-based learning (PBL) and…

In order to achieve their course learning outcomes, public affairs instructors can train students to solve real community problems (SRCP). This approach focuses on the learners themselves and aims to transform the role of college professors from traditional teaching (lecturing) to facilitating and coaching students' learning activities. This study…

The author examines using problem-based learning (PBL) to guide preservice teachers' problem-solving abilities. Two classes of preservice teachers were divided into either an experimental group, who were taught to solve classroom problems using PBL, or a control group, who used traditional teaching methods such as discussion and videoclips of…

The author details the implementation of team-based learning (TBL) in a graduate-level special education class. TBL use has grown in popularity in colleges of business and in the sciences; however, few applications of TBL in other areas of higher education are documented in the literature. A traditional lecture format was replaced by individual…

The author examines how problem-based learning (PBL) and technology may be combined in the English literature classroom in order to inspire various types of collaboration, which, in turn, improves critical reading, thinking, and writing skills; hones research skills; encourages interdisciplinary study; energizes discussion; enforces connections…

The authors detail technology-based active literacy strategies that they employed with preservice teachers to enhance their skill and comfort level in providing appropriate technology-supported literacy instruction to future students. They examine four theoretical and pragmatic threads to include in course design: active learning, open-ended…

A study explored the impact of structured team problem solving (STEPS) on 15 cognitive and social skills and examined learning outcomes among 26 undergraduates in a health science course. Results suggest STEPS can enhance problem-based learning (PBL) by improving task completion and group processes and may enable implementation of PBL in larger…

This reflective case study traces the journey of an early adopter over almost a decade of online teaching and learning. The author uses specific examples to discuss issues of technology, pedagogy, content, expectations, and outcomes. The evolution of a Web-based course is used as a touchstone for innovations, including video and audio clips, case…