The Flexibility of PBL

Margaret A. Waterman, Ph.D.Southeast Missouri State University

PBL 2006, PUCP, Lima Peru

July 20, 2006

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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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

"Well, they are made in Great Britain and they do have gelatin in them.”

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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?

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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.

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

PBL Formats

• Narrative Case (may be single or multiple pages)

• Mini Case• Bullet Case• Fixed Choice Case

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Narrative Casehttp://www.culturediversity.org/mig.htm

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Mini Case• http://ethics.sandiego.edu/resources/cases/Detail.asp?ID=3

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Bullet Case

• HistoryA 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 ExamHe 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?

http://www.mcl.tulane.edu/classware/pathology/medical_pathology/endocrine_cases/case1H&P.html

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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.

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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.

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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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

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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.

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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

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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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Approximate global distribution of West Nile virus

Solomon, T., Brit. Med. J. 326, 865-869 (2003)

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

“It’s called West Nile for a reason. . .”

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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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Aligned Sequences of WNV E Gene

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

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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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

PBL to Introduce New Technology

Visualization software to transform the data grid to a three dimensional image.

http://education.ncsa.uiuc.edu/products/dvs.html

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

PBL to Introduce New Technologyhttp://bioquest.org/summer2006/projectfiles/cceasyvisposter.ppt

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Using PBL – Initiate Writing http://bioquest.org/lifelines/fract.html

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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

http://carbon.hampshire.edu/~mbruno/ns121/index.html

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

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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.

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Using PBL: Simulating Late Blight

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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

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Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Modern Management: Blight CastUsing 1840 conditions. Result of spraying every 5 days = $278 profit, no tuber loss, 3% foliage loss.

sprays sporangia

http://bioquest.org/icbl

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

http://bioquest.org/icbl

Margaret A. Waterman, PBL 2006, Lima PE

Collaboration and Funding

Ethel Stanley, BioQUEST, Beloit College

Southeast Missouri State UniversityBeloit College BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium

National Science FoundationHoward Hughes Medical InstituteEngaging People In Cyberinfrastructure