PBL to Create Active, Accountable Learners

I'm not sure how I developed my methods for teaching--they grew somewhat organically out of experience, I suppose, but what I've learned about PBL so far feels so very familiar to me. I understand the distinctions the authors are making between PBL and "traditional" methods of teaching, but I guess my approaches have never been very traditional. I've always advocated for active learning. I refuse to assume "traditional" roles of teacher as disseminator of knowledge and student as passive recipient. I force students to take responsibility for their own education. I have for a long time now been using collaborative learning strategies in my classroom despite their inherent difficulties. Many of my projects are "inquiry-based." I don't pretend of feel the need to have all the answers in my classroom. I don't believe in simplifying the complex issues for the sake of "easier" teaching and learning. I believe in the difficulty of complexity--in problematizing issues students are quick to oversimplify. Critical thinking is one thing I value highly in my classroom. I believe that knowledge is socially constructed and that meaning is communally negotiated. From what I read, these ideas and attitudes seem to be well-aligned with PBL. I am faced now with three questions:

• How can you develop thinkers in your classroom rather than passive recipients of information?
• How does PBL differ form traditional teaching methods?
• How does PBL differ from other inquiry forms of instruction?

Kain offers some advice for developing thinkers rather than passive recipients. He suggests allowing students to struggle with the puzzle even when we, as teachers, know the answer. It is through the struggles that real and lasting learning will occur. I often tell my students at the start of the semester that it is my hope they will leave my course with more questions than answers, for the ability to form the questions and a willingness to struggle with the complexities of the questions is worth far more than the satisfaction of a simple answer which brings inquiry and curiosity to an end. The teacher's role in this, as I have experienced, and as suggested by William Kilpatrick (cited in Kain 2), is to provide the student with the "experiences in learning to pose the questions and to work out solutions."

Some of the ways PBL is not like "traditional" methods of teaching is that learning occurs in a real-world context, motivation is real, the focus is on inquiry more so than on verification, the learning process is valued more than the product, and the student directs the learning more than the teacher.

PBL has an inquiry-based method of instruction, but it is not the only one. Other inquiry forms include project-based learning and case study learning. While PBL has similarities to these other forms, it is markedly different as well. PBL differs from project-based learning in that the focus is more on process than product. In project-based learning all student projects will be more or less the same, but with PBL the learner defines the problem and the solution; therefore, the end product will vary greatly from student to student. PBL is also broader than the case study method in that the work extends far beyond the discussion of a narrative case study. According to Kain, "The PBL approach as presented here provides learners with a series of artifacts that are not collapsed into a narrative summary" (4). The learners themselves examine the issue, define the problem, and propose multiple, alternative solutions. After this work, the dialogue characteristic of the case study approach ensures. PBL is a broad, process-oriented, inquiry-based instructional approach.