UD program goes to Peru
Greg Slater
Issue date: 9/27/05 Section: News
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Professors Deborah Allen and George Watson, the university's problem based learning representatives, said the Peruvians were interested in adopting problem based learning in the sciences. The Peruvians conducted an Internet search and found that the university had what they were looking for, Allen said.
The university has been a leader in problem based learning, since it was introduced into the Medical Scholars Program in 1992, Allen stated in an e-mail message. PBL is a teaching style used to encourage students to work in research groups and think independently to solve real-world problems, according to the university's PBL Web site.
The Peruvians traveled to the university in 2001 to learn PBL methods and how to conduct workshops of their own. Allen said she offers eight to 10 workshops each year and is asked to do more, but cannot due to time constraints.
Allen has worked with George Watson, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to spread PBL in Peru, Iceland, Bolivia, Ecuador and Lebanon.
Biochemistry professor Hal White said the university has become a mentor to the Universidad Catolica. The Peruvian university is now seen as a pioneer of problem based learning in South America and is working to spread the method throughout the region.
The history of Problem Based Learning
White said the university has been a leader in PBL since it became one of the first undergraduate programs to embrace the teaching method.
Most teachers who try PBL continue to use it, and they may end up phasing out lecturing all together, White said. There is no one way to use problem based learning. The philosophy is constant, but the use depends on the teacher.
Any kind of active learning is better than just sitting in on a lecture, he said.
"Attendance for PBL classes is around 95 percent and about 50 percent for large lectures," he said. "It addresses issues that lectures can't."
Stephen Bernhardt, chairman of the English department, said PBL has become prevalent in many of the sciences at the university since it was first used in the Medical Scholars Program. It is not, however, restricted to the sciences.
"In a text centered class, it's hard to envision using problem based learning," he said. "If you have to write a story, that can be problem solving."
