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Suitability Across Disciplines
Are problems suitable for all subject matter? How are they used
in different contexts?
Although problems possess a great deal of inherent potential, skeptics have raised several questions as to its suitability for all subject matter. For instance, a typical argument has been that the potential of problems can only be harnessed in subjects that allow for ill-structured problems – that is, those that are complex, multi-faceted, and open-ended with no fixed solutions. However, not all subject matter contain or emphasise problems of that type. This is particularly the case with highly-technical subjects such as Mathematics where the majority of typical problems will have a single correct solution (Beasley & Ford, 2004).
On the other hand, Margetson (2001) in a paper aptly entitled, Can all education be problem-based; can it afford not to be? argued that if one can shed the blinkers of this impoverished conception of the potential of problems, then problems become the focus of serious attention lying at the heart of all subject matter. Margetson points out that although problems can range from being constitutive where the solution requires a change in the conceptualization of a mode of thought to regulative whereby solutions are derived through applying existing modes of thought, problems can deal with a vast variety of subject matter. They can be about understanding as well as about doing and can arise anywhere and in all aspects of human life. But regardless of the type of problem and the discipline, problems are necessary, for “without a problem there is [but] blind groping in the dark” (Margetson, 2001, p. 7).
PBL has been employed successfully in different subject areas and this provides some support for Margetson's view. Here are some links (although non-exhaustive) to how PBL has been used in different contexts:
- Engineering and Science
- Mathematics and Science
- Sociology
- Literature
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