On the 19th of October, members of LTSN Bioscience travelled
to a wild and windy Swansea to launch the Centre with the learning and
teaching community of Wales. The theme of 'Teaching Poblem Solving Skills'
[with an emphasis on Problem Based Learning] was covered in addition to
an introduction to LTSN Bioscience and the services provided for the UKHE
Bioscience community.
Teaching Problem Solving Skills
Prof. Ed Wood [LTSN Bioscience Director] and Dr Les Jervis
[Special Interest Co-ordinator for the Problem
Based Learning in Science Education group] ran a presentation and
workshop on Teaching Problem Solving Skills. Ed introduced the audience
to the general principles and history of PBL, and discussed with the audience
the attendant problems.
Les talked about his use of PBL- a 'hybrid' form- in teaching
biochemistry to less-than-interested environmental biology students and
the modifications that have occurred since its introduction. The module
he uses is based around both lectures and practical sessions, with the
latter introducing the students to experimental design. These practical
sessions are based on student-designed work focussed on environmental
biology 'problems' that link back to the material covered in the lecture
framework.
Due to the popularity of this module, it has now been increased
to two semesters, and has been modified to include cellular and immunological
material. Group working has moved away from the 'team approach' common
in medical PBL and in American undergraduate courses, towards a 'research
group' approach [i.e. a senior group leader with individual group members
concentrating on their own aspect of the 'problem']. Another aspect of
this 'hybrid' approach is that the rigid group rules with penalities for
'violations' often used in PBL are avoided. This results in tolerant groups
who work well together with little friction.
The afore-mentioned move to a year-long module has allowed
more time to develop the practical work approach and provides opportunities
for students to refine their experimental design on the basis of experience.
The consequence has been much-improved coursework and an increase in student
interest in undertaking Honours year environmental biology projects that
use biochemical techniques.
One question that Les could not answer was whether students
who have undertaken such PBL-taught courses could be viewed as 'better'
or 'worse' than those taking more conventional courses. Indeed, in terms
of the above Biochemistry module, it is hard to determine whether these
former students are better informed in respect to biochemistry than previously,
given the difficulty of matching groups of students.
In conclusion,
Les has found this 'hybrid' method of PBL to be a successful approach
to dealing with students who had previously been poorly motivated to study
biochemistry. If you have used any variant of PBL, successfully or otherwise,
Les would very much like to hear of your experiences- please contact LTSN
Bioscience if this is the case, email: heabioscience@.leeds.ac.uk
Les has co-authored [with
Dr Loretta Jervis] an article on his experiences with this module for
the LTSN Bulletin 5, which is available hard copy or can be downloaded
as a pdf file.
A word document containing
a list of relevant PBL references [books, web resources, discussion lists]
can be downloaded
here.
