designing assignments to wrap-up pbl problems workshop at marymount university may 9, 2003 courtesy...
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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.