Problem Based Learning

Problem based learning is an instructional methodology that engages learners, by presenting them with scenarios reflecting real world challenges. This approach to education is different from the traditional methodology of “chalk and talk” characterized by an extensive use of lectures and the passive engagement of students. Traditional instructional methods operate from an assumption that knowledge flows downhill. Trainers and educators are expected to extensively lecture students, bestowing wisdom upon the minds of the less informed. Within this paradigm educators are the active agents in this relationship. A learner’s role within this model is that of an “empty receptacle”, digesting presented information merely to regurgitate it on a later occasion.

Problem based learning moves away from this vision of education to one that places the learner at the center of the instructional engagement. Students are challenged to construct knowledge for themselves through problem solving. The expectation of engagement transforms learners from passive entities to active agents within the instructional environment.