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UD helps bring PBL techniques to South America
On Oct. 1, George Watson, associate dean of the College of Arts and Science, flew to the Ecuador to coordinate the second UD workshop in South America instructing university professors in PBL techniques for math and science. Faculty in three other South American countries also are consulting with UD’s PBL experts. Peru’s program has been active for almost three years, Chile is next in line, and Colombia has requested information about the program. Watson, Unidel Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UD, said the popularity of the program is due to word of mouth reinforced by the accessibility of information about the program through UD’s Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education (ITUE) web site [www.udel.edu/inst/]. Over the past decade, college and university faculty around the world have begun to move away from traditional didactic instruction to a more student-centered approach to teaching, which helps students learn how to learn. PBL encourages innovative teaching, using real world problems that students work on solving while interacting cooperatively in groups, thinking critically and finding and using learning resources. This collaboration between UD and South American educators began in Peru in the fall of 2000, when Luis Bretel, Comisión de Modernización Pedagógica Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú was surfing the web looking for a university to help introduce problem-based learning in science and math to their faculty. He found ITUE. It wasn’t long before a collaboration grew and UD professors Deborah Allen and George Watson were flying to Lima to coordinate a workshop instructing university professors in problem-based learning (PBL) techniques for math and science with the intention that, eventually, these professors could pass PBL on to their students—the future math and science teachers of Peru. But, word spread and now ITUE is bringing problem-based learning to the rest of South America. Allen, associate professor of biological sciences; Watson, associate dean of the College of Arts & Science; and Barbara Duch, associate director of UD’s Math/Science Education Resource Center are UD’s project leaders for “Problem-Based Learning in Perúvian Higher Education: Quality Science and Math Education for Future Public School Teachers.” Their counterpart at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) is Ana Pastor de Abram, chair of the science department, who coordinates activities there, selects faculty participants and oversees the dissemination of information. The three-year project began in the spring of 2002 when UD/ITUE and PUCP successfully applied for an Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development and United States Agency for International Development (ALO/USAID) grant. The grant application says the purpose of the collaboration is to “reform the preparation of future public school teachers and thereby affect future generations of students, providing quality science and math education that will be accessible to diverse populations of Perúvian citizens. The strategic objective of this project for Perú is to build its human capacity through education and training.” The grant funded a problem-based learning program for PUCP science and math faculty that would be taught here and in Peru and included workshops to assist PUCP leaders in developing custom-designed PBL training for its faculty and students. ITUE is to develop the materials and assist with on-site training. Once trained PUCP faculty will teach PBL science and math courses and strategies to students who want to be public school teachers. PUCP faculty also will provide training in PBL throughout the Peruvian system of higher education. Program outcomes will be evaluated, systematized, and published in peer-reviewed educational literature. In October 2002, six PUCP science professors—two math, two chemistry and two physics professors—came to campus to be trained by the ITUE/UD team. The aim was for these professors to go back to Lima with ideas for the math and science education faculty how to incorporate PBL into their curricula. “The idea is for the PUCP to become the ITUE of Peru,” Allen said. In February, the six, with the help and on-line supervision of the ITUE/UD professors, designed a workshop for basic science professors at the PUCP campus. Watson and Allen flew to Lima to help lead the workshop using much of the material developed at UD. Following this workshop, trained PUCP professors started tp supervise the implementation of the newly designed PBL courses. In August 2003, there was a weeklong workshop to evaluate and adjust the new PBL-based basic science courses. The workshop was facilitated by Watson, Allen and the UD trained PUCP professors. The second year is for the dissemination and public outreach portion of the project. PUCP leaders will design a teacher-training workshop for public universities and educational institutions in Peru. Then, the PUCP and ITUE/UD teams will hold a weeklong workshop in Lima for basic science professors at other public Peruvian institutions then supervise the implementation of the PBL courses that result from the workshop. Once the courses have been completed, the results will be evaluated, readjusted and used to form the structure for the systematization of PBL-based math and science curriculum in Peru. The results of the three-year program will be published and broadly disseminated, Watson said. Article by Barbara Garrison To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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