Problem-Based Learning Workshop

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Problem-Based Learning

Engaging Students in Wrestling with Authentic Issues
and Challenges from the Community

Measuring Up to the Challenge

Module Six - Learning by Doing
What do we need to know?

**Stages of Problem-Solving**
Define Problem	Gather Data & Explore Possibilities	Invent Options	Evaluate Options	Create a Plan	Act

Most folks do not know what they do not know when they start to investigate a problem. For this reason, their first list of questions and the design of data collection is usually incomplete.

The Research Cycle

One way of thinking about this process of exploring and uncovering problems is to picture a cycle of questioning and exploring.

The researcher poses questions, starts to explore, begins to see surprising new issues and returns to revise the original list of questions, expanding and elaborating on the first effort.

The researcher mucks around until clarity emerges. It is somewhat like peeling the layers of an onion.

If you were concerned about one of the streams running through your town, what kinds of data should you collect?

Make a list of the questions you might ask and the data you would need to collect.

Next module. Please do not proceed until asked to do so by the workshop leader.