Spot PBLPBL Essential Feature #1: The Authentic Problem
"The principle idea behind problem-based learning is that the starting point for learning should be a problem, a query or a puzzle that the learner wishes to solve" (Boud, 1985, p. 13).
The Authentic Problem
An "authentic problem" is a problem that one might have to solve in real life. It has these characteristics:
Open-ended
Absence of straightforward answer
Explored from multiple perspectives
Relevant to the learners
Embedded in realistic contexts
Represents different disciplines and topics
Example
If you can pick out these characteristics, you may be on your way to SPOTTING PBL. Check out the differences between an example of an authentic problem and an non-example in the table below.
Authentic Problem Characteristics
Spot PBLExample:Should university students in Texas be allowed to keep firearms in their vehicles?
Non-Example: Is it illegal to carry a concealed handgun in Texas?
Open-ended
Spot PBLIt can not be answered in a matter of minutes or hours.
NO: It can be looked up in a matter of minutes by a Google search.
Absence of straightforward answer
Spot PBLIt is open to multiple interpretations and there really is no "right" answer.
NO: It can be answered by a yes or a no.
Explored from multiple perspectives
Spot PBLIt can be explored from the perspective of a school administrator, a parent of a student who does not carry guns, a student who carries the gun, the city government official, the community, and/or alumni. Each brings their unique perspective to the answers.
NO: It's right or it's wrong no matter what perspective you take.
Relevant to the learners
Spot PBLIt will have relevance to university students and high school students who will be college bound given the recent increase in campus shootings.
Maybe: It could be relevant to Texas residence.
Embedded in realistic contexts
Spot PBLThis question is realistic given the recent college campus shootings. The fact that students are taking guns to campus is now the world in which we live.
Possible: It could be brought forth in a realistic context, but doesn't meet the other criteria. Just because you can set the question in a realistic context doesn't make it an authentic problem for PBL.
Represents different disciplines and topics
Spot PBLIt could bring in Communications, Law, English 101, Government, Current Events, Media and Technology, and History.
One: Law
Designers, however, have some flexibility in how they balance relevancy and realism of the problem. For example, the "firearms in vehicles" problem might be relevant to an older audience who are in college or going to college, but not to a younger audience. Thus, a designer can think of realism as a continuum between actual and analogous.
For example, consider this problem: Should light sabres be legal on Dagobah? It meets most of the characteristics of an authentic problem, but the last time I checked, Dagobah isn't a real place and light sabres don't exist. But to elementary students, this might be a relevant problem Control +Click for PC; Command+Click for Mac (check it out), which can exercise the same type of thinking as the "firearms in vehicles" problem would evoke. So, you have to think of your learners and what would be relevant to them.
The Authentic Problem Continuum
This graphic illustrates the continuum from an actual problem that is directly relevant to the learners to the other side of the spectrum where the young learners are presented an analogous problem.
