Problem based learning (PBL) is a recognised teaching and learning strategy used to engage students in deep rather than surface learning. It is also viewed as a successful strategy to align university courses with the real life professional work students are expected to undertake on graduation (Biggs, 2003). Problem based learning is practised…

This article examines the Kentucky Initiative for Social Skill and Emotional Development which provides annual training and technical assistance to build early childhood programs' capacity to deliver practices known to promote social and emotional competency. The initiative is based on the 3-tiered Positive Behavior Support model that teaches…

Universities, because of their vast human and fiscal resources, can play the central role in assisting in the development of school-centered community development programs that make youth development their top priority. The Futures Academy, a K-8 public school in the Fruit Belt, an inner-city neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, offers a useful…

Posing questions about an article might improve one's knowledge--a cognitive function, or monitor one's thought processes--a metacognitive function. This study focuses on guided question posing while using a metacognitive strategy by 12th grade honors chemistry students. We investigated the ways by which the metacognitive strategy affected…

In this study, five elementary teachers and a university researcher developed and implemented problem-based learning (PBL) experiences in the context of science teaching and learning. Collaborative inquiry was adopted as a methodology, while a variety of qualitative methods were used to examine the engagement and development of teachers'…

Studied the main effects of problem-based learning on knowledge and skills and explored potential moderators of the effect of problem-based learning in a meta-analysis of 43 articles. Findings show a robust positive effect on skills, but a tendency to a negative effect, strongly influenced by two studies, on student knowledge. (SLD)

Asserts that the processes of becoming educated and developing problem-solving skills are parallel and related. The article further asserts that professors must engage students in problem-based learning because to ignore problem-solving skills is to undermine the academy's responsibility to develop educated individuals. (SWM)

Defines heuristics as cognitive "rules of thumb" that can help problem solvers work more efficiently and effectively. Professors can use a heuristic model of problem solving to guide students in all disciplines through the steps of problem-solving. (SWM)

Discussion of the four basic types of educational simulators that are available foe medical education for problem-based, interactive learning focuses on the role of microsimulators. Describes educational medical simulators and suggests that the development of microsimulators should focus on the intelligent, educational feedback in the debriefing.…

Reviews papers on problem-based learning that appear in this journal from 1993-2000. (YDS)

This article presents a phenomenographic study that investigates students' approaches to achieving understanding. The results are based on interviews, addressing physiological phenomena, with 16 medical students in a problem-based curriculum. Four approaches--sifting, building, holding and moving--are outlined. The holding and moving approaches…

This article describes an alternate way to utilize a circular model to represent thirds by incorporating areas of circular segments, trigonometric functions, and geometric transformations. This method is appropriate for students studying geometry and trigonometry at the high shool level. This task provides valuable learning experiences that…

As the evaluation profession has continued to grow and develop, there has been a corresponding concern about how to properly train future evaluation practitioners. Those who teach evaluation strive to develop training opportunities that create the appropriate balance of the practical, how-to knowledge of evaluation with the burgeoning theoretical…

Many innovative approaches to education such as problem-based learning (PBL) and inquiry learning (IL) situate learning in problem-solving or investigations of complex phenomena. Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) grouped these approaches together with unguided discovery learning. However, the problem with their line of argument is that IL and…

This paper reports on work undertaken within phase 2 of a research study concerned with the use of online problem-based learning (PBL) resources with teachers studying for a specialist qualification through distance education. The principal aim of this phase was to explore how pilot online PBL resources could be effectively embedded within two…