The majority of literature regarding problem-based learning demonstrates its usefulness as a teaching technique in the natural sciences curriculum. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the broad purpose is to illustrate the application of problem-based learning for instructing students about controversial issues in sociology. Within the…

An experimental study was designed to study the effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the context of higher education in an urban-city university in Lima, Peru. In the fall semester of 2004, eleven sections of Chemistry 1 were offered to first year students in the College of Science at this University. In six of these eleven sections…

There is much information from educational psychology studies on how people learn. The thesis of this paper is that we should use this information to guide the ways in which we teach rather than blindly using our traditional methods. In this context, problem-based learning (PBL), as a method of teaching widely used in medical schools but…

When one walks into the classrooms at New Technology High School (NTHS) in Napa, California, he or she will see that students there are always at work: writing journals online, doing research on the Internet, meeting in groups to plan and make their Web sites and their digital media presentations, and evaluating their peers for collaboration and…

In this paper we report upon the Virtual Economy (VE), an Internet simulation which operated for the first time in Spring 2000 involving students at Indiana University, USA and at Napier University, Edinburgh, UK. During 2001, the VE was extended to include participants from other institutions. The main thrust of the project was to encourage…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a powerful instructional design for professional education, which may be used to guide the design of interactive multimedia (IMM). An IMM package incorporating PBL principles has been developed to assist teachers in learning to integrate information and communications technologies (ICT) into their teaching. The…

This project used techniques from problem-based learning to aid students in developing a technology-based science lesson. In this case, the "problem" students were asked to solve, was that of combining curriculum knowledge and pedagogical skills to incorporate computer graphics animation technology within a science lesson and then teach the lesson…

Objective: To explore the experience and practice of students entering a problem-based (PBL) medical undergraduate course and to identify contributory social, curricular and contextual factors. Design: A multiple case study exploiting the natural experimental features of the setting. Qualitative data collection methods, including participant…

Problem-based learning (PBL), widely employed in medical schools, has much to offer management education as well. This article presents a comparative analysis of PBL's likely benefits for medical and management education. Its considerable value notwithstanding, researchers have argued that PBL does not develop medical students' problem-solving…

Most of today's students are skilled in instant messaging, Web browsing, online games, and blogs. These have become part of the social landscape and have changed how we learn and where we learn. The question becomes how to harness the attractiveness and ubiquity of electronic venues toward the goal of teaching neuroscience. At the Rice University…

Students coping with the escalating complexities of available electronic resources often demonstrate undesirable behaviors including the inability to identify information needs, uncertainty about selecting information resources, poor evaluation of information sources, and inappropriate use of information for problem solving. To eliminate these…

The idea underlying this study is that the prospective teachers develop their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills throughout the learning process supported by the Problem Based Learning (PBL), a method that produces independent learners who can, then, continue to learn on their own in their chosen careers. The major goal of the…

Much of traditional schooling in America is built around systems of compliance and control, characteristics which stifle the creative and entrepreneurial instincts of the children who are subjected to these tactics. This article explores a different approach to education, one that involves capturing the interest of the student through the use of…

The two case studies presented explore the potential offered by in-depth qualitative analysis of students' online discussion to enhance our understanding of how students learn. Both cases are used to illustrate how the monitoring and moderation of online student group communication can open up a "window into learning", providing us with…

Designing and implementing pedagogies that support collaborative groupwork experiences and which also incorporate the use of information and communications technology is a commonplace, yet complex, task. This article describes a case study that uncovered problems with such an approach that employed interdisciplinary group projects in an…