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ABSTRACT: Nathaniel Lasry (2009) wrote: "MedEd has been onto
student-centered approaches for quite a while. McMaster's medical
school developed problem based learning (PBL) in the late 60s." But
Don Woods of the McMaster University Chemical Engineering Department,
has pointed out that PBL HAS BEEN AROUND FOR CENTURIES and that all
research is PBL. This and a wealth of other information on PBL is
hidden in the PhysLrnR archives
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html>, as revealed
by the approximately 60 hits obtained by typing "PBL" (without the
quotes) into the powerful but seldom used PhysLrnR search engine at
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=physlrnr&X=->.
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Nathaniel Lasry (2009) in his PhysLrnR post "PER and Medical Education," wrote:
". . . . . My main point is that MedEd has been onto
student-centered approaches for quite a while. McMaster's medical
school developed problem based learning (PBL) in the late 60s."
But, as indicated in "Problem-based learning (LONG!)" [Hake (2000d)]
and again in "Problem Based Learning" [Hake (2005)], Don Woods
<http://www.chemeng.mcmaster.ca/woods.html> of the McMaster
University Chemical Engineering Department, has pointed out that PBL
HAS BEEN AROUND FOR CENTURIES and that all research is PBL. Woods
(2005) wrote [bracketed by lines "WWWW. . . "; my CAPS"]:
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Why does there seem to be so much confusion about what is and what is
not PBL? Problem-Based Learning, learning because you need to solve a
problem, HAS BEEN AROUND FOR CENTURIES. Indeed, in the stone age,
people learned skills and approaches to solve problems to survive.
They just didn't say to each other "Hey, you are using PBL."
Similarly, I SUGGEST THAT ALL RESEARCH IS PBL, although we don't call
it that, we call it research. In the 1960's McMaster Medical School
introduced a learning environment that was a combination of small
group, cooperative, self-directed, interdependent, self-assessed PBL.
Since then this approach has been called "PBL"'. But PBL, as I
suggested previously, can be in any form where a problem is posed to
drive the learning. To overcome the confusion, I suggest we use the
awkward terminology of small group, self-directed, self-assessed PBL
when referring to learning environments similar to the McMaster
Medical school approach."
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
For yet more on PBL type "PBL" into the "Search for" slot of the
powerful but seldom used PhysLrnR search engine at
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=physlrnr&X=-> to obtain
59 hits on 30 August 2009 09:15:00-0700, among them Hake
(2000a,b,c,d; 2004a,b; 2005; 2009).
To access the archives and search engine of PhysLnR one needs to
subscribe, but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html> and then
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Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives and/or post
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"Science should be visualized as progressing from problem to problem
- to problems of ever increasing depth. Problems crop up especially
when we are disappointed in our expectations, or when our theories
involve us in difficulties, in contradictions; and these may arise
either within a theory, or between two different theories, or as the
result of a clash between our theories and our observations. Thus
science starts from problems, and not from observations; though
observations may give rise to a problem, especially if they are
unexpected; that is to say, if they clash with our expectations or
theories."
Karl R. Popper (2002) in "Conjectures and Refutations"
Hake, R.R. 2000b. "History of PBL," PhysLrnR post 21 Feb 2000
20:23:20-0800; online at <http://tinyurl.com/lfpuc4>.
Hake, R.R. 2000c. "PBL in Engineering Education, "PhysLrnR post of 22
Feb 2000 12:14:29 -0800; online at
<http://tinyurl.com/lptsr9>.
Hake, R.R. 2000d. "Problem-based learning (LONG!), " PhysLrnR post 14
Mar 2000 11:37:46-0800; online at <http://tinyurl.com/lg4zxg>.
Hake, R.R. 2004a. "Re: Effectiveness of PBL," PhysLrnR post of 21 May
2004 18:42:23-0700; online at <http://tinyurl.com/mvhxra>.
Hake, R.R. 2004b. "Re: Effectiveness of PBL - Response By Don Woods,"
PhysLrnR post of 23 May 2004 12:02:34-0700; online at
<http://tinyurl.com/mfy44t>.
Hake, R.R. 2005. "Problem Based Learning (was Teaching Methods,
Fads,Time Spent on Mechanics, Etc.)," PhysLrnR post of 3 Aug 2005
14:48:37-0700; online at <http://tinyurl.com/kvvzmh>.
Hake, R.R. 2009. "Re: Active Learning in Medicine," PhysLrnR post of
11 May 2009 14:31:12-0700; online at <http://tinyurl.com/ljhzxw>.
Lasry, N. 2009. "PER and Medical Education (was Why don't faculty
use PER products more often?)," PhysLrnR post of 27 Aug 2009
16:21:11-0400; online at <http://tinyurl.com/kk2wu3>.
Popper, K.R. 2002. "Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of
Scientific Knowledge." Routledge, 2nd ed. Amazon.com information at
<http://tinyurl.com/oxy675>. Note the searchable "Look Inside"
feature. See also Popper (2001).
Popper, K.R. 2001. "All Life is Problem Solving" Routledge.
Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/lpve6a>. Note the
searchable "Look Inside" feature.