Blog 2: Learning Theory Exploration

Before I get going on my learning theories, I want to note that I only have three resources. One resource covers both theories and the other two cover enough information for each theory that I ended up not needing the other sources I found. Another point is the other resources I found were not exactly helpful to the requirements of the blog, so I left them out in writing the blog. One final note, at the end of the blog, after the references, I included some additional resources that you could use in the classroom or for yourself to get the ball rolling for these two theories!

I chose Problems Based Learning Theory and Inquiry Based Learning Theory. These two theories have many similar ideas and overlapping areas of research and classroom application, however differ greatly in the roles of the instructor and the students. At first glance, they both encourage and require students to be active thinkers and apply a combination of new and previous information, mixed with their personal logic. They also both fall into the category of active learning, meaning the students have to be actively thinking in order to learn, which I already stated, and that the students must be engaging in activity, which is proven to increase the learning of new information, as well as categorize the information to be able to be recalled at a later time. A simple difference between the two is in the definition of each. Felder and Prince define Problem Based Learning as “when students are confronted with an open-ended, ill-structured, authentic (real-world) problem and work in teams to identify learning needs and develop a viable solution, with instructors acting as facilitators rather than primary sources of information.” (Felder and Prince, 2006, p.128). They also define Inquiry Based Learning as “when students are presented with questions to be answered, problems to be solved, or a set of observations to be explained” (Felder and Prince, 2006, p. 127). Each learning theory has its strengths and weaknesses, research applications, and applications in the classroom, which I will discuss in detail.

Problem Based Learning in the classroom is well defined by Kolodner as a “cognitive apprenticeship approach that focuses on learning from problem-solving experience and promotes learning of content and practices at the same time” (Kolodner, et. al., 2003, p. 497). This base in solving a problem is a practical approach to active learning, requiring the students to involve themselves in the activity or task at hand and participate in their part in solving the problem presented. This is great for ensuring participation in class and potentially in partners or groups. Problem Based Learning also encourages students to think for themselves and analyze the situation. Depending on the problem, students may need to compartmentalize or organize the tasks to complete in order to solve the problem. This encourages students to organize their thoughts and determine which possible solutions are most important to try first and which to rule out based on current information.

One key component in Problem Based Learning is the act of reflection after the question is answered or the problem is solved (Kolodner, et. al., 2003, p. 506). This is a very important step because the students have just learned new information through the process of problem solving and now they need to step back and analyze the information they just learned. This can be a potential problem in the application of Problem Based Learning because some of the problems presented to a class, depending on their depth, can take an entire class to solve. In this case, the bell rings and there was no discussion on the information just learned. However, it is important to know that the reflection process can take the shape of a discussion in class, but there are other ways students can reflect. The teacher can assign a reflective paper or paragraph (typed or hand written). The reflection can possibly be a simple statement or group of thoughts written down in a notebook. The teacher can think of a creative way to reflect and should plan this ahead if the problem will likely take up most or all of class time to solve.

The application of Problem Based Learning in the agriculture education classroom can take many forms. For example, in a veterinary science unit, a lesson on viruses and vaccines, students are given a problem of a sick bull with visual and physical symptoms that must be treated. Students must use information learned about common diseases to diagnose the virus and then, once identified, determine what vaccine to administer to the bull.

Inquiry Based Learning is centered around inquiry. Inquiry in the classroom is student-driven questions, guided by the instructor, with the purpose of exploring and developing higher order thinking (Justice et. al., 2009, p. 843). The classroom has an open feel where students are welcome to pose questions and help answer those posed. A question is to be posed by the student, but guided by the instructor, which can be a drawback to this theory.

Not all students are able to cognitively form a question based on little information given. Some students will require more prompting from the instructor, which, without a somewhat trained or experienced instructor, aiding information or questions are difficult to form without prompting the students to ask the certain desired question. On another note, this theory is good at ensuring the student is the focus of the classroom and that he is engaging in active learning. Another positive to this theory is that once the students “master the process” they are able to understand the skills required to develop the right questions to ask and they are able to participate freely and without much labored thought. This also prepares the student to be a lifelong learner (Justice et. al., 2009, p. 843).

As far as applying Inquiry Based Learning Theory in a classroom in a practical sense, there should be a great deal of prep on the teacher’s side, prior to the lesson/ instruction. The teacher would also need to explain the process to the students and possibly even walk through an example using information learned in a past unit or lesson, where the question and answer would be simpler to come by for the students. Many, if not all areas in agriculture education are possible for application of Inquiry Based Learning. For example, in a food science unit, a lesson on packaging and labeling, the question posed to students is: Are double stuffed Oreos really double stuffed? To answer the question, students must create an experiment to test their chosen hypothesis of either the Oreos are or aren’t really double stuffed. Upon conclusion of the experiment, the students will have their answer and usually a class discussion will or should take place.    

Inquiry based learning was evaluated for effectiveness in 81 experiments and it was found that this approach to learning was effective for academic achievement, student perceptions, process skills, and analytic abilities (Felder and Prince, 2006, p. 128). Problem based learning was evaluated for effectiveness and actually proved a negative impact on learning, however this was due to random variables. However, when there is time between the initial gain of information and the evaluation of what was learning, the learning outcome is positive every time (Felder and Prince, 2006, p. 129). This is because the information learned from problem based learning is often remembered long term and is better measured after some time has passed. Both methods of teaching and learning are effective in the classroom when used correctly and there is ample planning on the teacher side, explanation of expectations and outcomes from the teacher to the student, full participation and cooperation from the students during the activity, and reflection guided by the instructor for the students is completed following the learning.

References

Justice, C., Rice, J., Roy, D., Hudspith, B., & Jenkins, H. (2009). Inquiry-Based Learning in Higher Education: Administrators' Perspectives on Integrating Inquiry Pedagogy into the Curriculum. Higher Education, 58(6), 841-855. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25622157

Kolodner, J. L., Camp, P. J., Crismond, D., Fasse, B., Gray, J., Holbrook, J., ... & Ryan, M. (2003). Problem-based learning meets case-based reasoning in the middle-school science classroom: Putting learning by design (tm) into practice. The journal of the learning sciences, 12(4), 495-547.

Prince, M. J., & Felder, R. M. (2006). Inductive teaching and learning methods: Definitions, comparisons, and research bases. Journal of engineering education, 95(2), 123-138.

Additional Resources for Further Information

This first link is to a YouTube video that does an amazing job at explaining what inquiry based learning looks like in classrooms. The examples seen are in elementary and middle school classrooms, but the information in the video is easily applicable in a high school or higher education classroom. The video was made by edutopia. I think it is a very persuading video and after watching, I am encouraged to work at applying it in my future classroom! You could show this video to your students in preparation to introducing inquiry based learning, you could watch it yourself to brainstorm ideas for your classroom, or you could show it to fellow teachers to encourage them to get on the inquiry based learning bandwagon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdYev6MXTOA

The second is a video explaining problem based learning. It isn't as high tech as the first and doesn't include real people who have and are using PBL in their classroom, but it is still a good video to explain PBL. This video may not be one you would show your students, but it is a good video to show to teachers to encourage them to use PBL in their classroom and also does a good job at explaining what PBL is and gives good ways to use it in a general classroom. Basically, this video is an advocate for PBL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ8C1b2OmIk