1. PBL Curriculum Structure: What Does PBL Look Like?
Dr. Cindy Hmelo-Silver
Andi Gomoll
School of Education
Indiana University, Bloomington

2. Lessons, Guidance, Collaboration, and Resources
Cohesion and Continuity: Focus on a driving Question Linked to an Assessment
Culminating
Activity
(Assessment)
Driving
Question
(Cindy)
- Always returning to this structure as a reminder – but this is hard and needs scaffolding and resources.
Lessons, Guidance, Collaboration, and Resources

3. PBL ACTIVITY: TELEPRESENCE ROBOTS
-This image depicts the iterative process of PBL that we will be taking on in our robotics curriculum. It is constantly driven by what we need to do and what we need to know.
1) Understand the challenge (top left corner- in our iteration this includes tinkering and “messing about”- gaining understanding about the materials they are working with)
2) Generate ideas and questions that need to be answered
3) Investigate (clarifying question that is being answered, deciding what we already know, designing a solution, testing it, refining)
4) Design/redesign (during this process, students participate in pin up sessions and gallery walks– presenting solutons in process, how they have revised their understanding of something, and what they plan to do next)
5) Poster session/presentation of solutions (with check points and “pin up” sessions along the way- a way to formatively measure student understanding and progress)
Figure 1: Learning by Design's Cycles. From 'Promoting Transfer through Case-Based Reasoning: Rituals and Practices in Learning by Design Classrooms," by J.L. Kolodner, J. Gray, and B.B. Fasse, 2003, Cognitive Science Quarterly, 3(2),

4. Scaffolded Instruction
Assumption: ALL students can perform at a higher level with appropriate structure and support
(And this is really important!)
“[I don’t prefer PBL]. This is mainly due to the extreme lack of direction that seemed to always be present with this approach [problem-based learning]. Of the information I did learn in this fashion [problem-based learning], I feel much less confident that I got everything I needed to get out of the subjects taught in this manner [problem-based learning].” (EE student)
(Cindy)
How do we prevent this students’ reaction to and experience with PBL?
Yadav, A., Subedi, D., & Lundeberg, M. (2011). Problem-based Learning: Influence on Students’ Learning in an Electrical Engineering Course. Journal of Engineering, 100(2),

5. What is scaffolding? (Cindy)
Open response? Have teachers respond with their first thoughts?

6. Scaffolded Instruction
Hard Scaffolding
Support planned in advance based on typical difficulties
Built into structure of learning environment or into available tools or resources
Soft Scaffolding
Timely support provided by the teacher based upon learner responses
Adaptive and contingent
(Andi)
Ask the teacher’s what that means

7. Hard Scaffolds Constructed in advance
(Andi) This screenshot, though rather small, highlights a hard scaffold that is built into a student reading –popping up in anticipation of difficulties students might have with the text.

8. soft scaffolding Example of Soft Scaffolding
(Andi) * Soft scaffolding = spontaneous support, offering just in time information or guiding a student where to find it

9. Types of Hard Scaffolds*
Communicating process
Design diaries model design process
Fixed in advance
Eliciting articulation
Criteria or rubrics for gallery walk provide structure for students to reflect on what they see
KWL chart elicits students ideas (but also communicates process)
Conceptual- asking students to reflect on how particular ideas helped them in their designs?
What kinds of scaffolds can we help provide to support the design process?
(Andi)
Review 4 types of hard scaffolds
Much of what you do as teachers to outline expectations, model your thought processes and problem solving strategies, and anticipate help students will need based on your experiences as a teacher falls into the realm of hard scaffolding.

10. Outlining the Content and Support
What do students NEED to know to address question and complete culminating activity?
Don’t release them to the world!
What resources do students need?
Don’t overwhelm them!
What supports and hard scaffolds do they need?
In what sequence do they need the information and resources?
(Andi)

11. Questions and Discussion