The Flexibility of PBL Margaret A. Waterman, Ph.D. Southeast Missouri State University PBL 2006, PUCP, Lima Peru July 20, 2006

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE "I read on the Internet that you can get Mad Cow Disease from breath mints.” The Rumor Breath Mints

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE "Well, they are made in Great Britain and they do have gelatin in them.”

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE What do you think this mini case is about? What do you already know that relates to this case? What do you need to know to understand the case? How do think this PBL problem could be used?

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Features of PBL Problems are real and meaningful to learners. PBL provides meaningful context Teacher is a knowledgeable guide. Learners work together and use resources. Learners direct their own learning within the problem. Problems are complex and multidisciplinary. Problems require decision making, use of concepts and skills.

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Variations in PBL Length of problem Amount of direction with the problem Where discussion occurs Where collaboration occurs When the problem is introduced How the problem is introduced Activities integrated with the problem

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL Formats Narrative Case (may be single or multiple pages) Mini Case Bullet Case Fixed Choice Case

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Narrative Case

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Mini Case

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Bullet Case History A 50-year-old man presents with enlargement of left anterior neck. He has noted increased appetite over past month with no weight gain, and more frequent bowel movements over the same period. Physical Exam He is 5'8" tall and weighs 150 lb. The heart rate is 82 and the blood pressure is 110/76. There is an ocular stare with a slight lid lag. The thyroid gland is asymmetric to palpation, weighing an estimated 40g (normal = 15-20g). There is a 3 x 2.5 cm firm nodule in left lobe of the thyroid. Questions What do you think the patient’s primary problem is? What laboratory tests would you order to evaluate this patient?

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Fixed Choice Case A hospital committee of administrators and professional staff has met to consider patient visitor parking concerns at the hospital. No patient representatives are present, although they have been invited. Which one of the following actions seems most sound? 1. No meeting should be held without a patient representative. 2. Decisions on action to be taken should be made by hospital administrators, there is no need for a meeting. 3. The meeting should be held, decisions made, and patients informed of new policies.

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Variations in PBL Length of problem Amount of direction with the problem Where discussion occurs Where collaboration occurs When the problem is introduced How the problem is introduced Activities integrated with the problem

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE More than 20,000 rural Native residents in Alaska live in communities without running water and where homes, local government offices, commercial buildings, and even medical clinics use plastic buckets for toilets -euphemistically called "honey buckets."... spillages have led to the outbreak of epidemic diseases such as Hepatitis A. (An Alaskan Challenge: Native Village Sanitation, US Congress, 1994) Using PBL Flexibly: Goodbye Honeybuckets! Lana McNeil Northwest Campus College of Rural Alaska John Kepaaq is a member of the Tribal Council of his Alaskan village. John wants to be sure that the sewage system proposed for the village is appropriate for the cold temperatures and safe for the tundra environment.

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL enables instructors to meet diverse objectives: To assess knowledge and skills To initiate investigations To introduce new technologies To initiate writing assignments To develop global and multicultural perspectives To see value of interdisciplinarity

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Pre Assessment PBL can be used as a starting place for assessing what the learner already knows. Example: The breath mints case used in a lecture on proteins

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Assessment Resources for each student: prepared slide of suspect plant material list of back yard plants by gardener The following take home exam was based on a mini case in which a 14 week-old puppy that “chews on everything” was found ill in the back yard.

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Assessment Submit a memo reporting your findings as a forensics specialist: Provide an identification of the plant material with evidence to support choices: root, stem, or leaf dicot or monocot herbaceous or woody

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Assessment : Write a short letter to the pet owner advising the family to remove the poisonous plant from their back yard: Provide a description of the plant as it would look during flowering and be sure to include: common and scientific name habitat preference danger to humans

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL enables instructors to meet diverse objectives: To assess knowledge and skills To initiate investigations To introduce new technologies To initiate writing assignments To develop global and multicultural perspectives To see value of interdisciplinarity

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE New York 99 Ben called his old friend Lynn after hearing the latest count of people sick with West Nile Virus. "Hey Lynn, you work in environmental health,. What can you tell me about this West Nile Virus? We have a real epidemic going on here in Texas and everyone is saying it came from your state." Lynn groaned "I am so sick of New York being blamed! West Nile Virus has been around a lot longer, and it is called West Nile for a reason,” she huffed. “It is true that the first U.S. virus was detected in 1999 in a dead flamingo and a sick horse in New York City. But now it's all over the US. " "It sure is - but, wait - a bird and a horse? I don't get it." Using PBL: Investigations and Technologies

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Approximate global distribution of West Nile virus Solomon, T., Brit. Med. J. 326, (2003)

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE “It’s called West Nile for a reason...”

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE The Biology WorkBench is a web-based resource for analyzing and visualizing molecular data developed at NCSA (the National Center for Supercomputing Applications). Database searching is integrated with access to a wide variety of analysis and modeling tools

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Aligned Sequences of WNV E Gene

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Yellow areas are 1900 ft canker zones. If your citrus tree is located in one of the yellow map areas it will likely be cut down by the state citrus-canker fighters. Ref: Miami Herald, July 26, 2001 Family Trees Carlos Silva sipped his morning coffee in the shade of the orange and grapefruit trees in the yard. He had planted one at the birth of each of his children. As he began to read the paper, Carlos was startled by the article accompanying the full-color map on the front page. His eyes moved quickly to the center of the map where he found his own home to be outside a yellow zone north of US 41 and east of NW 87th Ave. Using PBL: Investigations & Technologies

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL to Introduce New Technology Visualization software to transform the data grid to a three dimensional image. ucts/dvs.html

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL to Introduce New Technology

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL enables instructors to meet diverse objectives: To assess knowledge and skills To initiate investigations To introduce new technologies To initiate writing assignments To develop global and multicultural perspectives To see value of interdisciplinarity

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL – Initiate Writing

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Initiate Writing “ As she was handing her sister-in-law a mug of coffee on a warm morning in July, Tisha realized she couldn't move her left arm very far in front of her.” The Case of the Older Shoulder

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE PBL enables instructors to meet diverse objectives: To assess knowledge and skills To initiate investigations To introduce new technologies To initiate writing assignments To develop global and multicultural perspectives To value interdisciplinarity

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Kujira Teruko sat with her friend Sean at lunch and enthusiastically described her brother’s wedding and reception in Japan. “The family hired special chefs who prepared some amazing dishes. My favorite was the kujira.” “What’s kujira?” Sean asked. “It’s whale meat,” Teruko replied. When Sean made a face, she continued, “It’s delicious really. Better than this pepperoni pizza.” Using PBL: Multicultural & Interdisciplinary

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Now it was Teruko who made a face. “How do they know it’s not whale meat?” she asked. Some biotech test,” Sean replied with a shrug. Isn’t whale meat illegal? I read there’s a huge black market and people pay up to $400 a pound for what they think is whale meat,” Sean said.

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Multicultural & Interdisciplinary Role play of Japanese wedding Propose new law on harvesting whales or labeling whale meat Pamphlet for whale meat consumer Dimensional analysis of whale bodies, perhaps of different ages (mathematics, surface to volume ratios) Analysis of force required to harpoon a whale with and without modern propellants Debate on the pros and cons of deciding who should be allowed to harvest whales Panel of "experts" to report during IWC meeting on economics and population of sea mammals

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE In the 1840’s, Late Blight devastated the potato crop which resulted in mass starvation and forced migration of the human population. Using PBL: Multicultural & Interdisciplinary

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Using PBL: Simulating Late Blight

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Sporangia from cull pile Infections from volunteers Crop defoliated and entirely lost well before harvest Simulation Results: IRELAND 1840’s Cool, wet conditions, no pest management % blight sporangia infections

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Modern Management: Blight Cast Using 1840 conditions. Result of spraying every 5 days = $278 profit, no tuber loss, 3% foliage loss. sprays sporangia

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE The Flexibility of PBL PBL problems come in many formats, and may be introduced to learners in a variety of ways. PBL can be used in many settings. PBL allows instructors to meet diverse objectives

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE Collaboration and Funding Ethel Stanley, BioQUEST, Beloit College Southeast Missouri State University Beloit College BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium National Science Foundation Howard Hughes Medical Institute Engaging People In Cyberinfrastructure