Bill Robertson has a blog at http://pensamientosdesantiagodechile.blogspot.com/2008/10/que-es-su-problema-what-is-your-problem.html. In a recent posting he describes the importance of having problem solving skills. After all, as he puts it, life is full of problems. This got me thinking about our teaching methods in higher education and how many of us as faculty still hold on to the lecture method to “teach” students. This method does nothing to help students become problem solvers. I have seen so many students become stumped while working on a problem and just give up without trying solve the problem. Those students have no knowledge of any methodology to solve a problem. As Bill says, problem solving requires critical thinking skills. You have to be able to analyze and evaluate. He uses problem based learning (PBL) when he teaches. PBL requires students to take charge and think critically, and problem solve. Rather than provide information to the student, the student is actively involved in finding information, or solutions. PBL is one form of open-ended learning that puts the student in the middle of the learning process. I think this is motivating to the student. I have never found lectures to be very stimulating whether I am listening to one or giving one.
There are those who would say that student-centered learning is inefficient and takes too long. I think if all you want to do is cover the topic content then those people are right. But if you want students to understand the content and be able to apply it and be able to retain it, then the extra time needed is a small investment with a large return on that investment. We need to be more open-ended in our teaching methodologies. I have moved in that direction and have found educating students in that way to be very fulfilling as they eagerly learn as opposed to turning off a lecture and daydreaming.
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2 comments:
Problem solving skills
The first thing that needs to happen is to teach students how to do research. I always assumed that they knew to open a book, do a web search, find a newspaper or journal article, but I'm finding more and more that once they get a problem, they stop at the first stage, which is to write what you already know about the topic. Education can be learner-centered, but the students at the high school level usually still need guidance in terms of how to solve problems.
When I lecture, it is an interactive experience. I take the work that they have done and begin to show them how to deconstruct it to make sense of the pieces. Once we have analyzed the errors and the good parts of the writing, we move forward to using the strategies to create more pieces of work. The lecture format becomes the teaching session that allows students to break out into groups and work on their own. Once the foundation is laid, then OLEs and PBLs come in handy, but if the students were never taught, they cannot be expected to work effectively.
I think that problem-based learning can help provide the motive for further investigation and learning. An instructional concern is finding a problem that is not too far out of reach that the learner is not interested in it. An apple may motivate a horse to walk but only if the horse can see it, smell it, is hungry for it, or meets any number of other prerequisites. Open Learning Environments can leave the learning door wide open so that students can find problems that they are interested in. Hopefully their choice encourages development of skills and does not turn into a repetitive drudgery of already mastered skills.
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