Designing Assignments to Wrap-Up PBL

Problems

Workshop at Marymount University

May 9, 2003

Courtesy of Hal White

PBL Problem Assignments

Why consider a PBL assignment separate from a PBL problem?

Isn’t the problem the assignment?

You have drafted a PBL problem for your course.

It addresses important concepts in a substantive context.

Students will learn, understand, and remember.

Why Assignments?...Accountability

What does it mean when a student says,I understand?....

Does it mean the same thing to that studentthat it does to another student or to you, the professor?..…

How can students demonstrate their understanding to you and others?

…and Closure

PBL problems are typically open-ended.

Student within a single group often pursue different learning issues.

Students frequently have difficulty knowing what the instructor thinks is important.

Assignments focus on central issues and bring closure to PBL problems.

Activity for Everybody

Consider some of the PBL problems you have encountered to date.

What are some examples of student assignments from these problems?

You may contribute examples from other sources as well.

Activity for Groups

Based on these examples and others, generate a list of considerations that would be appropriate when designing an appropriate assignment to wrap-up a PBL problem.

Considerations for PBL Assignments

• Individual or group response?• Course/problem content objectives? • General education and PBL goals? • Graded or not?• Difficulty? (Bloom’s Taxonomy)• Interest level for students?• Form of the response?

PBL Problem Assignments

Written assignments

Write a 2-3 page paper on a learning issue you researched.

Critique this recent magazine article in terms of the problem you have just finished.

Transform an experiment described in this article into a laboratory exercise appropriate for undergraduates.

Who is the audience in each case?

PBL Problem Assignments

Written assignments

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper on this issue.

Compose a 200 word abstract for the article you have just read based on the Guidelines for Authors in JBC.

Research a topic related to the course and write a PBL problem for this course based on that topic.

Who is the audience in each case?

PBL Problem Assignments

Written and visual assignment

Create a website appropriate for high school students on this topic.

PBL Problem Assignments

Written, oral, and visual assignments

Prepare a case for your position and present it to the class as a debate.

Prepare a 15-minute informative talk on this topic

using PowerPoint slides.

PBL Problem Assignments

Visual Assignment

Prepare a concept map incorporating the major issues related to this problem.

Concept Mapping:

• What is a concept map?

• What are the features of a concept map?

• How do you construct a concept map?

• How do you use concept maps?

An Instructional Tool to Organize Content and Assess Student Learning

What is a Concept Map

“a general method with which one can clarify and describe people’s ideas about some topic in a graphical form”

Katsumoto 1997

a pictorial representation that shows the relationships between and among a connected set of concepts and ideas

Purposes for Concept Mapping

• Generate ideas (brainstorming)

• Design complex structures (long texts, web-sites)

• Communicate complex ideas

• Aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge

• Assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding

Arrange the following three terms and connect them with arrows and

linking phrases

Bacteria Pneumonia Antibiotics

Short Assignment

BacteriaPneumonia

Antibiotics

Caused by

Treated with

Kill

A Mini Concept Map

Concept Maps

IdeasPropositions

Concepts

Research & Assessment Tool

Misconceptions

Feelings &Values

Affective Objectives

Learning

Interest

Enjoyment

Motivation

Learning Effectiveness

LearningProcesses

Metacognition

Study & Revision AidLinear Text

ClassroomTeachers

Adapted from K. S. Taber (1994) Physics Education 29(5) 276-281

ofincreasing

mayincrease

awarenessof

maydevelop

used

as

alte

rnat

ive

torelate

related by

consists of

suitable for

reveals

may

ad

dres

s

used as

to assess

to do with such as increasing

improving

CONCEPT MAP OF CONCEPT MAPPING

Problem-Based Learning

Cooperative Learning Groups

Concept Mapping

ProcessSkills

ContentObjectives

Learning Goals

Library & Internet Resources

Real WorldOpen-endedComplex

Individual Learning

LeadershipCommunicationConflict ManagementSharing InformationAccepting InformationPeer Evaluation

Writing Assignments Divide and Conquer

Strategies

Scholarly SynthesisOrganizationDisciplinary RhetoricStudent Voice

Term PapersPBL ProblemsCase Studies

IndividualAccountability

Grades Problems

Revision

FacultyStudentsSociety

Academic Dishonesty

Examinations

uses

working on

that are

to promote

depends on

reflected in

tied toexpected by has

Group Accountability

including

Peer Evaluation

based on

GroupAssignments

need

achieved with

should limitseen in

such as

including

such as

that displaythat access

that addressand minimize

that

inco

rpor

ate

Peer Feedbackinformed by

reflected in

Where does Concept Mapping Fit Into PBL?

A Concept Map Based on the Proposition:Without the industrial chemical reduction of

atmospheric nitrogen, starvation would be rampant in third world countries.

FOOD

Human Healthand Survival

Contains

Required for

and

Requiring more

Essential Amino Acids

Animals

Used for

Such as

Madeby

Plants

Grains Legumes

Required forgrowth of

Symbiotic Bacteria

“Fixed” Nitrogen

Possess

That produce

Agricultural Practices

Population Growth

Politics

Economics

Distribution

Climate

Starvation and Famine

Malthus 1819

Eastern Europe

India

Africa

Deprivation leads to

Can be limited by

and

Such as in

Pesticides HerbicidesGenetics & Breeding

Irrigation

Fertilizer Which significantly supplements naturally

Such as

Predicted by

Can be increased by

NH3Haber Process

Atmospheric N2

Protein

Includes

Eatenby

Use

d by

hum

ans

as

Stages in the Constructionof a Concept Map

Brainstorming StageOrganizing Stage

Layout StageLinking Stage

Revising StageFinalizing Stage

http://www.udel.edu/chem/white/teaching/ConceptMap.html

Designing Assignments to Wrap-up PBL Problems

Assignments are an integral part of PBL problems.

PBL assignments address issues of accountability and closure.

In writing PBL problems, consider the assignment carefully.

PBL assignments can have many forms.