EXAMPLE OF PROBLEM-BASED PROBLEM

Tamara is 25, a single mother of a 6 year old son. She works 15 hours a week in a department store, and has decided that she wants to become a nurse. Presently she does not know much about college. She does not know what steps to take first, what she will have to do in order to get an associates degree in nursing, or how she can make it over the next two years if she decides to go after a degree. She has decided to draw up a two year plan of everything she will need to do in order to get a nursing degree. Step 1: Problem-Solving- Tamara Wants to Become a Nurse 1.Determine what your group knows that Tamara will need to know in order to create a plan for going to college and get an associates degree in nursing. 2.Identify what your group needs to know that they do not presently know. 3. Where can you get the information Tamara would need?

Step 2: Tamara Wants to Become a Nurse Once your group has worked with the problem as far as possible and identified what they need to learn, and have identified where to begin searching for the information, your group will need to begin researching the information needed.

Step 2: Tamara Wants to Become a Nurse Continued The group will be using the BIG 6 Strategy for researching information: see next slide of Big 6 steps.

Step 3: Tamara Wants to Become a Nurse Your group will then return to the problem and apply what they learned to their work with the problem in order to more fully understand and resolve the problem. The group will complete a two year plan for getting an associates degree in nursing.

Step 4: Tamara Wants to Become a Nurse After your group has finished their problem, the group assess themselves and each other to develop skills in self-assessment and the constructive assessment of peers. Self-assessment is a skill essential to effective independent learning.