Essential Components of Problem-Based Learning
for the K-12 Inquiry Science Instruction

HsingChi A. Wang, Patricia Thompson, and Charles F. Shuler
Ó 1998 CCMB, School of Dentistry
University of Southern California


 


Problem-Based Learning (PBL): From Medical Education to K-12 Science Classrooms

Inquiry science learning has long been advocated and was recently documented in the national science education standards (Schwab, 1962; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993; National Research Council, 1996). One instructional approach that emphasizes inquiry, PBL, as first developed by a Canadian medical school in 1968 (Neufeld & Barrows, 1974). The effectiveness of a PBL approach to physician training has been comprehensively collected and edited in Kaufman’s (1994) Implementing Problem-Based Medical Education: Lessons from Successful Innovations.

PBL has gradually gained the attention of K-12 educators and is perceived as an effective inquiry learning model for either multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary curricula (Aspy, Aspy, & Quinby, 1997; Checkley; 1997; Glasgow, 1996; Stepien & Gallagher, 1997). With PBL’s increasing impact on the kindergarten to grade twelve classroom, it is also perceived as a powerful professional development model for lead teachers, administrators, and school principals, as designed and advocated by Bridges and Hallinger (1995). Bridges and Hallinger believe that PBL methodology, "knowing by doing," challenges traditional professional development practices, which hold that "knowledge is learned most effectively when it is organized around the disciplines."

In 1993 a television program called Classrooms of the Future reported how a Northern California school had earned the State of California School Board Association’s Golden Bell Award by adopting PBL to emphasize science, mathematics, and technology instruction (Glasgow, 1996). Recently, in Ohio, PBL was adopted for K-12 for science, society, and technology interdisciplinary education. The teachers have reported effective learning outcomes from this inquiry approach. The instructional approaches, lesson units and student work have been published on the Internet to provide teaching examples using a PBL approach (http://www.pioneer.sparcc.ohio.gov). This growing interest in transforming PBL from medical education into K-12 classrooms paints an exciting picture of the science classroom for the new millennium.

The Ideology in Science Education

"Science as inquiry" is the guiding belief of the California Science Project (CSP), located in the Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology (CCMB) at the University of Southern California (USC). Inquiry, as practiced at CCMB, recognizes the fact that individuals have pre-knowledge and they learn best when they are empowered and take responsibility for their own learning process. Inquiry science learning at USC-CSP means that learning is accomplished through "learning prompts," which serve both to intrigue the learner and to ensure standards-based learning outcomes. The later part of addressing specific learning outcomes aims to resolve the issue of weak content knowledge acquisition that usually follows "inquiry" instruction.

This inquiry-driven ideology is shared by the Los Angeles Systemic Initiative (LA-SI) of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). When teachers of LAUSD began to participate in the USC-CSP workshops, there was a consensus that inquiry was the "backbone" around which activities for content knowledge acquisition as well as pedagogical skills preparation would be assigned.

One example of content knowledge acquisition activities through PBL inquiry learning was a scenario that revolved around a crime scene. Through the process of identifying a suspect, teachers worked side-by-side with scientists in the lab at CCMB learning about sophisticated hair analysis and DNA testing techniques. In another example, teachers of LAUSD attended a two-week Orchid Project Summer Institute-1997 that was intensively focused on Problem-Based Learning as an inquiry pedagogical approach. PBL as a pedagogical strategy was not only modeled by experienced lead teachers but also used as a design format for communication, planning, and curriculum demonstration sessions, throughout the two-week institute. Through these activities, the teachers recognized that they need learning cases to help them to organize their new semester science instruction. Using what they had learned in the institute they generated a variety of learning cases, tested cases on each other for practice, and exchanged feedback with their peer teachers.

Essential Components of PBL

PBL at CSP-USC is an instructional approach emphasizing student learning through active inquiry in small groups; it downplays the teacher as "information distributor." There are three essential elements in a PBL approach:

    1. a loosely structured case or prompt embedded with links to desired leaning content,
    2. student-centered learning, and
    3. small group cooperative learning.
Learning cases. The learning case is the core of Problem-Based Learning. The origin of any learning case is not limited to any one source. It can come from teachers, newspaper articles, textbooks, literature, or even texts downloaded from the Internet. However, one important characteristic of a good learning case is that the case should be engaging! When students work through a learning case, they will be eager to find out any related information to help them understand the case, if it captures their interest.

Learning cases do not always have a solution; thus, solving the problem is not the ultimate goal of PBL. Instead, a learning case serves as a learning vehicle. The content knowledge and problem solving skills are the destination of this learning vehicle. Cases need to have specific learning outcomes embedded in them. In our case, these learning outcomes are carefully aligned with learning standards described in the national science standards documents. Cases will have duplication also overlapping of learning outcomes, so when the same outcomes emerge, students have an additional opportunity to master that knowledge.

Student-centered learning. In small groups, a "scenario" or case is read, group members identify the "Facts"—what they know—inherent in the scenario. Then, they offer their "Ideas"—hypotheses or thoughts—about why they think these facts are relevant. Next they identify their "Learning Needs"—what they need to learn—to prove whether their ideas are valid. Students then go to a variety of learning resources, such as the Internet, library, local laboratory, teachers, or experts in the field, to acquire the information needed. They may also use available resources to design experiments or activities to test their ideas.

Teachers in PBL become group learning facilitators to facilitate the learning process for students. For example, teachers introduce various strategies for effectively utilizing learning resources. Part of their role is to implement positive feedback strategies, engender group interaction skills, foster cooperation, and downplay competition during the learning process.

PBL teachers as facilitators need to develop good questioning skills. When students are working on their learning cases, an important task for teachers is to use questions to help the students:

Small group cooperative learning. Ideally, PBL students work within small groups. The ideal group size is five to seven. Cooperative learning in PBL is especially important. Since PBL teacher facilitators are no longer lecturers or information distributors, students are responsible for their own learning. In a small group, everyone is held accountable for the successful learning of his or her group members. When learning needs are identified in a learning case, each member will take a small portion of the learning tasks and become "master" of those tasks. They will then come back to help their teammates understand where, what, and how they learned their information. PBL students are becoming recognized as skillful communicators because they must communicate what they learn to their teammates on a continuing basis. They are also becoming recognized as more active learners as a result of each group member being held accountable for his or her group success; peer pressure from teammates provides added incentives for PBL students.

Figure 1 shows a general flow chart of the PBL learning process. Each segment of the process is crucial in reaching learning objectives. Science teachers at the Venice/Westchester Cluster of LAUSD have completed a two-week adult-level science content knowledge institute through PBL. The positive feedback from the teachers makes it apparent that PBL can be applied in any format of education, including professional development—that is, in-service teacher education.

Figure 1.

PBL Learning Processes


 
 
















More About PBL

Many successful PBL cases have been applied in LAUSD’s elementary schools. Michael Blount, Moni Olguin, and Nettie Pena created a video to document how PBL can be applied to both English- and Spanish-speaking students in science learning. Together with Ginnene Branch, an elementary science teacher who has a masters degree in art, they produced a PBL case—Sex in the Garden—to show to the class the substance carried by the pollinators of plants and the anatomy of flowers. In 1997 California Science Teacher Annual Conference, they brought the "Sex in the Garden" workshop to science teachers of California. In addition, LaNelle Harvey, another elementary teacher who is currently pursuing her masters degree in science education, has written several PBL cases for her four to six graders to learn earth sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences. Lastly, teachers of PBL evidenced such pedagogical approach helped students learning outcomes. Vicky Seabold has been applied PBL for two years as an instructional approach for her bilingual 4th graders. She uses various problem prompts initiated by her students. Her PBL approach successfully helped her students distinguish themselves in various learning assessments during the past two years. In 1997 for their excellent performance, these Martin Luther King Elementary Students were ranked fourth for their grade level district-wide on the Standford Nine Test. It is believed that such exciting implementation reports are will continue as more LAUSD teachers are introduced to the Problem-Based Learning.
 
 

References

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Aspy, D. N., Aspy, C. B., Quinby, P. M. (1997). What doctors can teach teachers about problem-based learning. Educational leadership, 50(7), 22-24.

Bridges, E. M., & Hallinger, P. (1995). Implementing problem based learning in leadership development. Eugene, Oregon: ERIC Clearninghouse on Educational Management.

Checkley, K. (1997). Problem-Based Learning: The search for solutions to Life’s Messy Problems. In the newsletter of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Summer Issue. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Glasgow, N. A. (1996). New curriculum for new times: A guide to student-centered, problem-based learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Kaufman, A. (1994). Implementing problem-based medical education: Lessons from successful innovations. (4th ed.). New York: Springer.

National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Neufeld, V. R. & Barrows, H. S. (1974). The McMaster philosophy: An approach to medical education. Journal of medical education, 49. 1040-50.

Schwab, J. J. (1962). The teaching of science as enquiry. In J.J.Schwab & P.F. Brandwein (Eds.). The teaching of science. pp. 3-103. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Stepien, V., & Gallagher, S. (1997). Problem-Based learning: As authentic as it gets. Ducational leadership, 50 (7). 25-28.