Engaging Students through the Use of Problems

Dr. Stefanie Chye & Mr. Stanley Goh
Centre for Educational Development
Republic Polytechnic , Singapore

Why use problems?

Problems bring with them an authenticity that learning through textbooks and discussions may not. Problems often come from real-world situations that would bring with them issues that would resonate with learners as they seek to solve problems that have plagued people before. The contextual nature of problems also allow learners to situate their learning within the domains from which they came from.

Learning through problems also has the benefit of allowing learners to dictate their own knowledge-ends through their engagement with the problems. They would be able to construct their paths towards what they want to learn and are not constrained by particular routes (unless they want to). The multiplicity of solutions to problems also present learners with the same number of routes to a solution, creating the need for them to build strong justificationary frameworks to show why their solution is effective. The constant need to justify their responses would tend to make them more thorough in their examination of the problems. Problems can rarely be taken in abstraction and more authentic problems would force learners to have to apply knowledge from a variety of disciplines. The cross-disciplinary nature of problems would also go far in helping learners make links between knowledge that is gained from different sources and situations.