As part of a Perkins grant, in the fall 2006 semester, CTE started working with a dozen faculty in vocational courses to implement problem-based learning in their classes in the spring 2007 semester. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student center, constructivist approach to teaching that has been successfully used at colleges throughout the country. It entails presenting students with real-world, open-ended problems for students to work in small groups to solve.  Students must review what areas they know, determine the areas requiring more research, divide the work among themselves, reconvene and form a consensus, and present their findings.  Rather than being passive learners, PBL fosters active learning and student engagement.

The primary objective for this program is to improve student retention in basic science and math courses that are critical for success in several vocational programs on campus. Without passing these gateway courses, students cannot progress in their respective programs.  To address this issue, problem-based learning was utilized to aid in student retention, comprehension, and higher order thinking skills. In addition to these benefits, students were exposed to technology and had the opportunity to work in groups, thereby honing their interpersonal and communication skills.

Participating faculty prepared 3-6 PBL’s for their classes which were presented during the spring 2007 semester. Dr. George Watson, an expert in PBL and technology, gave 2 full-day workshops to our PBL faculty. During the fall 2006 term, we had numerous sessions where faculty were taught the basics of PBL and had time to prepare their problems for the subsequent semester. Overwhelmingly, faculty reported enjoying the new approach to teaching and students reported being more interested in discussions and the course content. Instructors also report that students seem to gain a better understanding of the concepts and methods in their disciplines.

A new group of faculty will be starting this September, 2007.  From the experiences of these faculty, we hope to make their experience even more rewarding.  This year, we have a new focus, namely quantitative reasoning. CUNY has been promoting the need for all students within the university to have better math skills that can be used in various disciplines. With the help of Professor Don Reed who has been advocating this approach, we hope to have professors incorporate quantitative reasoning into their PBL’s. In this manner, we will develop a more multi-disciplinary approach to problem-based learning.