Tuesday started like any other day. But, it soon became apparent that the Problem-Based Learning Gods had aligned themselves in the stratosphere. I promised to blog a bit about teaching, so we'll start with this...
Tuesday morning was the 'newcomer parents' coffee at Windhoek International School. After mingling, the elementary principal spoke to us about the School's inquiry based education program. As a proponent of Problem-Based Learning at the college level, I was struck by the interesting parallels of K-12 and college teaching (which are usually viewed as distinct and managed distinctly--like the fact that K-12 teachers are required to get education courses and college teachers usually are not...). Mr. Manly quoted the exact same statistics that I had heard 2 weeks ago at a pre-semester teaching workshop at Polytechnic--regarding the need for a new approach to education.
Namely:
1. The top 10 careers, currently, were not in existence 10 years ago. Think biofuels, information management, nanotechnology, etc.
2. The Honors-level college graduates from China or India (pick one) outnumber the total population of Great Britain and definitely Namibia. So, they have more smart people than 'we' have people. Think that will affect global competition?
3. There are so many 'facts' generated each year, it is impossible to teach students all the 'facts' they need. Thus, the age of content-based education is over. Not possible, anymore. What is important is to teach problem-solving and critical thinking. If one has a problem, how do you make decisions and find the information you need to make that decision. Now--problem is--how to you test that learning with a multiple choice test? Answer: you don't.
After the coffee, I headed to school, where I had prepared to lead the first day's introduction to a new problem case in the Natural Resource Management course I'm helping with. The faculty at Polytechnic had been encouraged to add case studies to their curriculum by an outside consultant. I arrived in time to suggest implementing a technique I used in Nebraska: problem-based learning. It fit perfectly with their needs and it was a great opportunity for me to see if I could pull of a problem case discussion with students in a different culture than I was used to teaching.
The problem case is supposed to be 'ill-structured'--that is, it is a story or description of a problem that uses jargon and talks about issues that quickly make students realize they need to learn several things to solve the problem. If you're really interested in problem-based learning, you can go here to learn more details. But, the bottom line is that I created a letter from a landowner who was writing to a Ministry of the Environment and Tourism biologist, and the landowner needed some help creating a management plan for a game farm. If you want to read the entire letter, you can click here.
I started by describing 'why' we were going to be doing something different. These were 3rd-year students (juniors in the states' jargon) who had mostly been lectured to during their educational careers. Their looks told me they were a little suspect. Hmmm...not su
re this would work at that point. I handed out the letter and let them read it. Faces starting to concentrate. Smiles appearing. Some major scribbling of notes going on. Maybe this will work. I should add that the amount of concentration was higher than students in Nebraska, mostly because English was not their first language. Most of them read it twice.
I split them into groups of 3-4 students and had them list things that they would need to learn. After about 15 minutes, I had to break off discussions--they were very knowledgeable and had very good thoughts. No one was talking about what they were doing that night for dinner, or what happened to the local cricket team. They were into the problem. It worked (sorry for the poor quality cell phone photo).
We came back together as a group to make the 'master list' of learning issues on the board (see photo up top). There were even constructive disagreements and discussions as we added items to the board that would need to be flushed out during the next few weeks of the course. Most of the students had spent the past year doing an internship somewhere in the country--that's what they do during their sophomore year, or 'second year'. So, they had experiences to draw on--one young man knew that plains zebras shouldn't be kept on this game farm because of habitat needs. A young lady was adamant that the water supply issue needed to be investigated. Another young lady was very interested in learning about the home ranges of all the game species, because the farm only had so much forage capacity. Indeed!
I went back to my office feeling very confident that (1) the semester was going to be a good one, (2) that problem-based learning can be used anywhere in most any situation, and (3) that Namibia's environment is soon to be in the hands of some very competent professionals. The passion was palpable. And, that's always the goal.
Tuesday morning was the 'newcomer parents' coffee at Windhoek International School. After mingling, the elementary principal spoke to us about the School's inquiry based education program. As a proponent of Problem-Based Learning at the college level, I was struck by the interesting parallels of K-12 and college teaching (which are usually viewed as distinct and managed distinctly--like the fact that K-12 teachers are required to get education courses and college teachers usually are not...). Mr. Manly quoted the exact same statistics that I had heard 2 weeks ago at a pre-semester teaching workshop at Polytechnic--regarding the need for a new approach to education.
Namely:
1. The top 10 careers, currently, were not in existence 10 years ago. Think biofuels, information management, nanotechnology, etc.
2. The Honors-level college graduates from China or India (pick one) outnumber the total population of Great Britain and definitely Namibia. So, they have more smart people than 'we' have people. Think that will affect global competition?
3. There are so many 'facts' generated each year, it is impossible to teach students all the 'facts' they need. Thus, the age of content-based education is over. Not possible, anymore. What is important is to teach problem-solving and critical thinking. If one has a problem, how do you make decisions and find the information you need to make that decision. Now--problem is--how to you test that learning with a multiple choice test? Answer: you don't.
After the coffee, I headed to school, where I had prepared to lead the first day's introduction to a new problem case in the Natural Resource Management course I'm helping with. The faculty at Polytechnic had been encouraged to add case studies to their curriculum by an outside consultant. I arrived in time to suggest implementing a technique I used in Nebraska: problem-based learning. It fit perfectly with their needs and it was a great opportunity for me to see if I could pull of a problem case discussion with students in a different culture than I was used to teaching.
The problem case is supposed to be 'ill-structured'--that is, it is a story or description of a problem that uses jargon and talks about issues that quickly make students realize they need to learn several things to solve the problem. If you're really interested in problem-based learning, you can go here to learn more details. But, the bottom line is that I created a letter from a landowner who was writing to a Ministry of the Environment and Tourism biologist, and the landowner needed some help creating a management plan for a game farm. If you want to read the entire letter, you can click here.
I started by describing 'why' we were going to be doing something different. These were 3rd-year students (juniors in the states' jargon) who had mostly been lectured to during their educational careers. Their looks told me they were a little suspect. Hmmm...not su
re this would work at that point. I handed out the letter and let them read it. Faces starting to concentrate. Smiles appearing. Some major scribbling of notes going on. Maybe this will work. I should add that the amount of concentration was higher than students in Nebraska, mostly because English was not their first language. Most of them read it twice.I split them into groups of 3-4 students and had them list things that they would need to learn. After about 15 minutes, I had to break off discussions--they were very knowledgeable and had very good thoughts. No one was talking about what they were doing that night for dinner, or what happened to the local cricket team. They were into the problem. It worked (sorry for the poor quality cell phone photo).
We came back together as a group to make the 'master list' of learning issues on the board (see photo up top). There were even constructive disagreements and discussions as we added items to the board that would need to be flushed out during the next few weeks of the course. Most of the students had spent the past year doing an internship somewhere in the country--that's what they do during their sophomore year, or 'second year'. So, they had experiences to draw on--one young man knew that plains zebras shouldn't be kept on this game farm because of habitat needs. A young lady was adamant that the water supply issue needed to be investigated. Another young lady was very interested in learning about the home ranges of all the game species, because the farm only had so much forage capacity. Indeed!
I went back to my office feeling very confident that (1) the semester was going to be a good one, (2) that problem-based learning can be used anywhere in most any situation, and (3) that Namibia's environment is soon to be in the hands of some very competent professionals. The passion was palpable. And, that's always the goal.
5 comments:
From what I understand there has not been problem-based learning in Namibia prior to this semester. As you said it is extremely uplifting that they were able to jump on the concept immediately. Hearing that makes me think they have had some education and experience with critical thinking, just not in a resource management perspective. Sounds like your introduction of this educational method into their system will prove to be useful!
For the most part, you are probably right about this specific type of teaching method, Ryan. But, as you suggest, they do have some very practical actitivies. One interesting thing is that every first-year student in Nature Conservation has the EXACT same schedule. So, the department can decide to hold an 'excursion'--a 1-2 week field course--at any time. Because all students are in the same set of classes. They just take a break in all of them.
So, they are quick to enjoy practical, hands-on activities. Doing them INSIDE the classroom may be the new thing. I hope it is beneficial to their in-class learning experiences.
That "everyone has the same schedule" approach is used also in England and Australia, but not in Canada. Certainly gives the faculty alot of flexibility, as you say.
It's interesting that you were struck by parallels between Tristan's education and your own work. I had a similar experience yesterday talking about teamwork with Sasha - except in that case I felt it might be a good idea to introduce his teachers to some of the ideas we've just been soaked in!
Good stuff, Larkin. I couldn't agree more. I memorized so much info in my B.S. degree program, but had no clue how to do research or even communicate effectively when I started grad school. Seems like a major shift in undergrad education is in progress, and it's about time!
Larkin,
I am loving your blog! Your experience with problem-based learning is incredible. My newest goal in life is to pursue a MDIV in practical theology, mainly because this form of instruction is greatly lacking in the preparation of ministers. Give them lots of great theological instruction but little application to real life situation. It never works well. I would love to hear more about how this approach works in Nambia. I think it is a great way to bridge the cultural gap and may even give you an opportunity to learn from your students! Awesome!
Peace,
Keri Shelton
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