A Systematic Review of Problem Based Learning in Education*

Abstract

The implementation of problem-based learning method in education within various disciplines of knowledge cannot be denied. The method is able to improve the traditional learning paradigm accommodating to the 21st century learning. The main aim of this review is to investigate the findings of studies related to the disciplines involving Problem Based Learning and its effects on education. The study uses a systematic approach analysis and synthesizes 43 articles from the year 2015 until 2018 including peer review articles and full text articles from ERIC and Google Scholar. It shows that the quantitative approach is the most used research method in investigating the disciplines applying PBL and the effects of such method towards education. This review involves various levels of education that use PBL as a method of teaching and learning. Overall, the results of this study show that Mathematics education is the discipline that uses PBL the most in teaching and learning. By and large, 95% of its users believe that PBL has positive impacts towards education and can be used as an alternative method at any level of education.