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One of the distinguishing features of Republic Polytechnic’s education system is its unique adaptation of Problem Based Learning. The following sections address questions related to RP’s objective, its position on conventional approaches to education and its claim to originality for its specially designed learning environment.
Republic Polytechnic’s key objective is to add value to each student’s intellectual make-up in terms of problem-solving process skills, life-long learning attitude and ready-to-use knowledge, as the student progresses to become a diploma holder. Graduates will be knowledgeable team players who have acquired skills necessary to handle situations, tackle problems and complete tasks in a knowledge-driven environment.
The conventional approach to education is to provide information detailing certain descriptions and procedures that are found in identified subjects such as Mathematics, Physics and Biology. Each of those subjects contains a sequence of content topics to be covered in class, one after the other.
Often the focus of learning in conventional approaches is giving students a lecture or an article to read and then set standardised questions based upon the information given. The expected solutions to the questions are usually limited to the information given to students. Typically then, solutions are pre-determined by the teacher and are linked to narrowly set context-specific learning objectives.
Republic Polytechnic’s pedagogical approach is based on the ideal of “learning by doing” which in recent decades is considered by many to be the way forward for a progressive education system. To a varying extent, PBL as a way of “learning by doing” is adopted by a growing number of institutions of higher learning.
Faculty at RP agree that PBL is a viable and credible alternative to more conventional approaches to education. Ideas behind PBL are well-supported by findings in scientific domains of human cognition and learning. There are many teachers and major higher learning institutes in the world that have adopted PBL as their mode of providing education. Educators have been showing increasing interest in PBL over the recent decades.
A central tenet of PBL is knowledge integration, facilitating long-term retention and easy association of knowledge components with applications. Students learn to integrate knowledge through struggling with problems. The basic skills set of problem solving process skills and teamwork, developed through the daily practice of small-group collaboration during self-directed PBL sessions, will be of immense value at the workplace of a knowledge-based economy.
In PBL, teachers recognise that students may already know some facets of any subject at any point in time and encourage students to take advantage of such knowledge. PBL also allows students to capitalise on whatever capabilities they have as individuals. Accordingly, a PBL system gives students the opportunity to develop intellectually in ways that suit them best personally.
PBL motivates students to learn because they get to know the impact of their inquiry, work and learning. PBL addresses the question, “Why do we need to learn this?’. Students discern both the context and relevance of what and how they learn. Students develop and practice higher-order thinking when engaged in PBL activities because they are required to formulate their own answers and not try to guess, “What’s the right answer the teacher wants me to find?”. Most important of all, students will learn how to learn through regular practice of developing strategies for information gathering, data analysis, drawing conclusions and evaluating the quality of their solutions to problems.
RP’s implementation of “learning by doing” has no known counterpart in the world. This may raise the question of why RP persists in using the term ‘PBL’ in its official communication on pedagogy. This is due to the widespread currency which the term ‘PBL’ enjoys. Saying that RP has adapted PBL does not in fact do full justice to the sophisticated system of education that it has implemented. RP continues to use the term ‘PBL’ for want of a more exact term that facilitates academic discourse among its supporters and critics as well as provides a convenient term of reference for the general public.
A salient feature of RP’s pedagogy is learning on a daily basis and in groups of no more than 25. This daily activity is driven by a problem-trigger which can be an issue that needs to be resolved, a challenge that has to be met, a happening that deserves an explanation or a deeper consideration.
In RP’s learning environment, students focus on issues related to the given problem-trigger to identify relevant content, gather information and study the associated orgnanised knowledge. Students are not expected to find a pre-determined “right answer” to the problem-trigger. Instead, they grapple with the complexity of the issue and decide for themselves what information they need to handle and thus direct their own learning.
The curriculum incorporates a sequence of learning objectives which are essentially issue-based, not method-based or procedure-driven as in the conventional curriculum. As students advance in their diploma programme, they choose increasingly specialised modules that will allow them to explore selected subjects in greater depth.
In short, by adapting PBL, RP offers students a different way of intellectual advancement and skill development. By doing so, RP adds diversity to the local education scene. Through its bold adaptation of PBL, RP is steadily gaining international recognition for its contribution to education.
Through its bold adaptation of PBL, RP is steadily gaining international recognition for its contribution to education.
To find out more about the PBL experience at RP,
please visit the CED
website. You can also email
us at pbl@rp.edu.sg. |
