Many aspects of the problem-based learning cycle aim at stimulating students to elaborate on their knowledge. This elaborative process is considered to be one of the most effective study aids for learning and applying information. One of the opportunities to stimulate this elaboration process is by offering students more, and more diverse,…

In this case-based research article, we describe how the implementation an instructional method, problem-based learning, across disciplines at a single institution stimulated scholarship on teaching among the faculty involved in the project. We conducted interviews with 30 participating faculty and administrators and triangulated these data with a…

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) forges effective communications between adult (communicational and pedagogical workers and parents) and at-risk youth (jeopardizing their present and future adjustments) to explore their engagements with community activism engaging in building their communities. PBL is vital for them to be engaged citizens, informed…

Workplace learning in a crisis-rich environment is often difficult if not impossible to integrate into programs so that students are able to experience and apply crisis management practices and principles. This study presents the results of a pilot project that examined the effective use of a virtual reality (VR) environment as a tool to teach…

Business professors in the twenty-first century have been engaging in another form of problem-based pedagogy to unite business school and business practice. This teaching methodology, called "active learning," has become the new case method in college courses. Like the case-based approach, active learning bridges the gap between theory and…

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of using computer databases as cognitive tools to share learners' cognitive load and facilitate learning in a multimedia problem-based learning (PBL) environment designed for sixth graders. Two research questions were: (a) can the computer database tool share sixth-graders' cognitive load? and…

This study examined how scaffolds and student achievement levels influence inquiry and performance in a problem-based learning environment. The scaffolds were embedded within a hypermedia program that placed students at the center of a problem in which they were trying to become the youngest person to fly around the world in a balloon. One-hundred…

In this work, we describe the use of several strategies employing the philosophies of active learning and problem-based learning (PBL) that may be used to improve the teaching of metabolic biochemistry to medical and nutritional undergraduate students. The main activities are as follows: 1) a seminar/poster system in a mini-congress format (using…

A science education center at a university medical school had grant funding to develop a genetics curriculum unit, but needed a dissemination plan. A statewide science teacher organization that provided professional development training was facing decreased funding. These two groups combined their efforts, and created a unique partnership, called…

Research on help seeking with a computer coach providing on-demand help has not produced fully adequate models of the process from a cognitive perspective. The present study postulates a model of help seeking from a cognitive perspective and tests this model in a learning situation characterized as problem-based and computer-supported. The…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical method that challenges students to think intuitively, learn cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems. These problems are used as the building blocks to engage students' curiosity and initiate independent learning of subject matter. Authentic, alternative assessment plays a key…

Problem-based learning experiences that extend at least two weeks provide an opportunity for students to investigate a real-world problem while learning science content and skills in an exciting way. In this article, students are challenged by the president of the United States to serve as employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to…

Research on Problem-Based Learning in medical education has undergone an evolutionary process from initial proof of concept studies through critiques of the original methods and beyond. Initial studies focused on whether or not the instructional method was effective for medical students and the goals of medical education. Despite much movement…

Subjects such as techniques for genetic diagnosis, cloning, sequencing, and gene therapy are now part of our lives and raise important questions about ethics, future medical diagnosis, and such. Students from different countries observe this explosion of biotechnological applications regardless of their social, academic, or cultural backgrounds,…

Classroom discourse analysis has contributed to understandings of the nature of student-teacher interactions, and how learning takes place in the classroom; however, much of this work has been undertaken in teacher-directed learning contexts. Student-centred classrooms such as problem-based learning (PBL) approaches are increasingly common in…