Using Cases and Problem Based Learning
The case method of teaching, developed
originally for use in business and professional schools, has become an
increasingly popular teaching strategy in courses from all
disciplines. Creating case-based courses or units involves
identifying situations or creating realistic scenarios in which
students will have to use the relevant intellectual skills and the
appropriate facts from the discipline to analyze successfully the
scenario and recommend some course of action. Problem-based
learning (PBL) emerged primarily in medical schools to confront a
disturbing reality: Students could memorize extensively without any
sufficient change in their ability to use the information to diagnose
diseases. The basic approach is to use authentic problems to
engage students in the subject matter, and to help develop effective
critical thinking, communication, and social skills. The
skills and information that form the learning objectives are embedded
in authentic and intrinsically interesting problems that will arouse
curiosity and challenge students to rethink their assumptions and
examine their mental models of reality. In the best of cases or
problem based courses, students face challenging problems but in a safe
environment in which they can grapple with those problems
collaboratively, come up short, receive feedback, and try again.
Students learn to analyze complex problems and how to perform the
necessary research to confront the problems or test their proposed
solutions.
Other examples of Natural Critical Learning Environments