Lifelong Learning in Applied Fields (LLAF Tempus Funded Project): Problem-Based Learning in a Multicultural Environment.
Author(s):
Dorit Alt (submitting) Nirit Raichel (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2016
Format:
Paper

Session Information

10 SES 10 D, Teacher Professional Development and Lifelong Learning

Paper Session

Time:
2016-08-25
15:30-17:00
Room:
NM-Theatre P
Chair:
Marita Cronqvist

Contribution

The LLAF consortium is collaborating to create a curricular reform for lifelong learning (LLL) in teachers' education, health care and other applied fields (Carneiro, & Draxler, 2008). This project aims to achieve its objectives by developing, and piloting models for training students in LLL and promoting meaningful learning activities that could integrate knowledge with personal transferable skills. LLAF has created a practical guide for teachers containing updated pedagogical strategies based on the constructivist approach for learning, arranged along Delors’ (1996, 2013) four theoretical ‘pillars’ of education: Learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together. This presentation will be limited to two pillars: "learning to do" and "learning to live together". According to the "learning to do" pillar, professionals must develop the ability to continue to learn in order to cope with the changing and overgrowing complexity of the context they are working within. They should become "adaptive experts", which involves not simply knowing the existing best practices, but also having the skills and will to search for new practices when needed. One of the suggested practical and active teaching technique regarding the learning to do" pillar is the Problem-Based Learning (PBL). PBL is focused on the research and solving of real problems. It fits within the constructivist theory of learning, which envisages learning as an active process by which students build new ideas and concepts based on their own knowledge. Students select and transform information, produce hypothesis and make decisions, while also organizing their individual knowledge in cognitive structures. In educational terms, this theory implies that learning and skills development is an autonomous task of students, i.e., students are encouraged to discover basic principles for themselves (Savery & Duffy, 1995). Problem-based approach to learning is an instructional method in which students learn through facilitated problem solving. In PBL student centers on a complex problem that does not have a single correct answer. They work in collaborative groups to identify what they need to learn in order to solve a problem. They engage in self-directed learning (SDL) and then apply their new knowledge to the problem and reflect on what they learned and the effectiveness of the strategies employed. In this way they learn both content and thinking strategies. This type of learning leads not only to the acquisition of technical skills, specific to the subject or field, but also allows, by its own nature, the development of skills like problem analysis and solving, critical thinking, cooperation and team work, decision making and self-regulation that can be transferred to other contexts The "learning to live together" pillar is focused on solving an authentic problemrelated to students' lives in the area of multiculturalism within the institution will create opportunities for students to focus on areas that need their attention (Delors, 2013).

Method

These educational strategies will be exemplified by a case-study that will be conducted in the piloting stage of the project. The case will describe an educational process to be implemented in a course entitled: Introduction to informal education. In this course learning is based on reading academic articles and finding literature describing case studies and field experiences about the characteristics of informal education, its components, dimensions and its spheres of activity. Multicultural groups of students, enrolled in the Education and Community BA program., will collect materials regarding the nature of informal education.

Expected Outcomes

The students will categorize the materials found into three areas that are covered by the informal education in Israel: a. youth advancement; b. leisure time; c. social education. Then the students will search for authentic questions that concerned them with relation to an overarching question: How to motivate youth to get involved in the community and society? To answer the questions raised, students will collect materials, interview youth movements guides, student council members, guides in boarding schools, community center directors, instructors of youth at risk, community youth activity managers, etc. The students will synthesize theory and findings from the field, followed by group and class discussions in light of the academic articles read by the group members. The presentation will include: a description of the learning process and its evaluation. Implications of these findings for the LLAF project will be discussed.

References

Carneiro, R., & Draxler, A. (2008). Education for the 21st Century: Lessons and Challenges. European Journal of Education, 43 (2), 140-160. Delors, J. (2013). The Treasure Within: Learning to Know, Learning to do, Learning to live together and Learning to be. What is the Value of the Treasure 15 Years after its Publication? Internet Review Education, 59, 319-330. Doi: 10.1007/s111159-013-9350-8 Dickson, C. A. W. (2010). Evaluating The Student Experience of Inquiry-Based Learning: An Educational Initiative. Practice and Evidence of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 5(1), 33-45. Savery, J.R., & Duffy, T.M. (1995). Problem-based learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. In B. Wilson (Ed.), Constructivist learning environments: Case studies in instructional design (pp. 135-148). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Author Information

Dorit Alt (submitting)
Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel
Nirit Raichel (presenting)
Kinneret College
Kfar-Tavor

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