Designing a PBL Environment Using the 3C3R Method

Abstract

With the growing emphasis being placed upon situated learning theory, designs increasingly implement problem-based learning (PBL) in various educational contexts. However, some of the difficulties instructional designers face include interweaving elements such as breadth, depth, and situated knowledge in a contextualized learning task. This design case details how the 3C3R method was systematically employed to design a PBL learning environment that highlights the effects of environmental toxins on human fertility. We also discuss how a case library learning environment (CLLE) was implemented and designed to support the decision-making process. This design case examines the challenges involved, such as misunderstandings between the SMEs and instructional designer as we contextualized complex issues related to human biology. A discussion of how we designed for multiple solution paths is also included. Lastly, we discuss the challenges of interweaving the ill-structured problem with multiple narratives found in a case library.Andrew A. Tawfik is an assistant professor of Instructional Design and Technology at Concordia University Chicago where he serves as an instructor of educational technology. He earned his PhD in Learning Technologies from the University of Missouri. Tawfik's research interests include problembased learning, case-based reasoning, case library instructional design, and computersupported collaborative learning. Rebecca J. Trueman is an Assistant Professor of Biology atConcordia University Chicago where she teaches Biology for both non-science and science majors. Rebecca holds a PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Biology. Recently, she has been developing educational technology to enhance the understanding of science. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation.Matthew M. Lorz is the Chief Technology Officer of Sustainable Environments LLC. Matt has spent many years involved with research that attempts to detangle anthropogenic effects on ecosystems. His background in the arts has assisted in the development of creative, interesting and accessible cases for case-based reasoning studies. ConteXtThis case details an instructional design project that aimed to redesign an undergraduate Biology module into a problem-based learning activity. The instructor (SME-instructor) wanted to enhance the application of critical thinking skills to the student's examination of the biological world around them. The SME-instructor commented that because her students were non-science majors, they might never have exposure to scientific concepts in an academically rigorous setting outside of her class. Furthermore, the SME-instructor found that students were unable to assimilate all of the varied scientific concepts and research that connected environmental pollutants with infertility in humans. The SME-instructor told the instructional designer that students would often fail to recognize how to apply their textbook readings during problem-solving activities in previous iterations of the ...

Aprendizagem baseada em problemas e construção de problemáticas potencialmente eficazes no ensino de Química

“…A pesquisa bibliográfica realizada neste artigo identificou que a escrita das problemáticas usadas na ABP já foram muito bem discutidas por pesquisadores da educação como Dolmans et al (1997), Wood (2003), Weiss (2003), Hung (2006Hung ( e 2016, Tawfik et al (2013), Ribeiro et al (2020), os quais sistematizaram ou identificaram os pontos mais importantes durante a escolha e definição de um problema. Essa preocupação é relevante pois quando uma situação é mal descrita ela pode ocasionar uma leitura pobre do problema, trazendo resultados insatisfatórios e gerando uma desmotivação no aluno.…”

“…Diante do protocolo de perguntas escrito por Tawfik et al (2013), pode-se ainda relatar que para desenvolver um problema efetivo para a aprendizagem do aluno, o texto construído deve possuir recursos que forneçam informações importantes para que o processo de pesquisa e raciocínio seja iniciado corretamente.…”

All PBL Starts Here: The Problem

“…The amount and types of information included in the problem are positively (guiding) or negatively (misleading) correlated with the level of problem difficulty (Jonassen & Hung, 2008 adjusting the amount of information given or left out of the problem, we can calibrate the problem to properly guide students to the intended learning objectives, and to better afford the students' learning according to their cognitive abilities or stages of learning. The effectiveness and usefulness of the 3C3R model and the 9-step design process has been tested by a number of studies (e.g., Goodnough & Hung, 2008, 2009Tawfik, Trueman, & Lorz, 2013;Xue, et al, 2013). For example, Hung (2008, 2009) obtained positive results from helping elementary school science teachers design effective PBL problems using the model and the design process.…”

“…For example, Hung (2008, 2009) obtained positive results from helping elementary school science teachers design effective PBL problems using the model and the design process. Also, Tawfik, Trueman, and Lorz (2013) reported an implementation of the model and process in their case study of designing PBL problems for a human biology course. One specific example was that using the model and the design process helped them realize a missing piece of information whose absence could reduce the possibility for the students to identify ethinyl estriadol as a variable for the patient's symptoms in the problem.…”

The App Farm: Engaging Design Process as a Means for French Learning

“…To prepare for the interview, Craig reviewed an article he wrote five years ago about the concerns reviewers had regarding design cases in IJDL (Howard, 2011), and two other significant articles related to the presentation of instructional design cases (Boling 2010;Smith 2010). He reasoned that these articles would provide the foundational questions he could use for the semi-structured interview that he was intending to lead, and had advantages over other protocols that were more general in nature or geared towards preparing to create a design rather than documenting it (Tawfik, Trueman, & Lorz, 2013). Craig crafted 10 questions from these texts, and limited the protocol to one page, anticipating that more questions might prevent the designers from expressing key areas of precedent they discovered through their designing.…”