Summary and conclusions

Abstract

Till date, there have been different opinions about how resources or The chapters presented in this book focused on a unique one-day, one-problem adaptation of problem-based learning (PBL) pioneered at Republic Polytechnic, Singapore. In this approach, students are challenged each day with a problem from their domain and attain the necessary learning outcomes in the process of responding to the problem. Throughout the day students would engage in small group discussions, self-directed learning and conversations with their teacher who plays the role of a facilitator. One of the reasons for adapting PBL to the one-day, one-problem approach is to meet the needs of our educational context. In this context, students are likely to require more structure and scaffolding. It is also necessary to have an approach with a structure that can be implemented across different educational levels and disciplines, as well as for larger numbers of students as compared to the conventional PBL approach. This approach to learning and instruction represents a new brand of constructivist learning in a more structured learning environment compared to conventional PBL. A question one might then have is: How generalizable are the findings in this book to other PBL contexts? In this chapter we address the question, as well as summarize the key points of the book and discuss the research agenda moving forward.