All Problems are not Equal: Implications for Problem-Based Learning
By David H. Jonassen, Woei Hung. 2008
425 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional model that assumes the centrality of problems to learning. Research on PBL has focused on student learning, student roles, tutor roles, problem design, and technology use (Hung, Jonassen, & Liu, 2008), but little attention in the PBL literature has been paid to the nature of the problems that provide the focus for PBL. In this paper, we articulate a model for evaluating problem diffi culty. Problem diffi culty is defi ne in terms of complexity, including breadth of knowledge, attainment level, intricacy of procedures, relational complexity, and problem structuredness including intransparency, heterogeneity of interpretations, interdisciplinarity, dynamicity, or competing alternatives. Based on these characteristics, we identify four classes of problems and then describe three diff erent kinds of problems: decision-making, diagnosis-solution, and policy problems. We then examine the amenability of these classes and problem types as foci for PBL curricula. Finally, we challenge PBL researchers and designers to consider the issue of problem diffi culty in articulating PBL curricula.
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/70a7c9145ee87a612e0c2a389f3b879ea4ee501f
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Citations in the corpus
- Theory to reality: a few issues in implementing problem-based learning (2011, background): “Thus, as Jonassen and Hung (2008) suggested, utilizing appropriate type of problems to provide the students with appropriate contexts as well as the unique characteristics of that type of problem is critical for ensuring the effectiveness of PBL instruction, and in turn, optimizing PBL students’…”