The Power of PBL: Bringing Problem-Based Learning into Your
Classroom
Session 1 - Notes
April 22, 2004 notes
Facilitator: Professor G. Watson
University of Delaware
E-mail: ghw@udel.edu
PBL Clearinghouse website: www.udel.edu/PBLC
George Watson’s website: http://www.physics.udel.edu/~watson/
Introduction to Problem-Based Learning
(George) My name is George Watson and I’m a physics professor and Associate Dean at the University of Delaware. I want to convince you that the things we have done at Delaware can be relevant to your teaching. Delaware is a public institution with about 17,000 students and part of our charter is to educate the students of Delaware.
I also want to mention that we usually conduct PBL training in three day seminars at the University of Delaware. Here we have only 4 hours—so it’s quite a condensed session. Let’s start with Problem Based Learning (PBL). What is it?
(Slides) What is Problem-Based Learning (PBL)?
Ø PBL is a learning approach that challenges students to “learn to learn,” working cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems.
Ø PBL prepares students to think critically and analytically, and to find and use appropriate learning resources.
“The principle idea behind PBL is that the starting point for learning should be a problem, a query, or a puzzle that the learner wishes to solve.”
PBL: Experience It Yourself
(George) I need two volunteers to read a dialogue that’s already prepared – one person will be Kim and one person will be Pat.
(Slides) Stage 1: Not again already!
v Kim: I can’t believe you are leaving again next week! Weren’t you just on a trip three weeks back?
v Pat: We talked about this months ago. I committed to this trip almost a year ago.
v Kim: Weren’t you there just last October?
v Pat: I was. What’s that have to do with anything?
v Kim: Haven’t you been following the news? Things are different now. Lots of things!
v Pat: Like what?
v Kim: You’re impossible! You need to get your head out of your science journals and read the paper occasionally.
v Pat: OK. OK. Just tell me what’s bothering you? I travel all the time. What’s upsetting you about this trip?
Questions for Stage 1:
1. What is the problem?
2. What things might be troubling Kim?
3. What should Pat do next?
(Board) Things bothering Kim—Question 2:
- Conflict about travel
- Lack of communication
- Pat’s not oriented to reality
-
Pat’s absence
- Physical
- Absent-minded
- Pat’s not keeping up with the news
- Pat’s safety (personal)
- Pat doesn’t consult with Kim
- Jealousy issues
- Safety issues concerning destination
- Frequency of travel
- Frustration and solitude
(Slides) Stage 2: Some more details…
Pat Nostaw is traveling to Paris for an international education conference. Following several days at the conference, he is traveling to Beirut to visit a university there. After that he is heading home to New York City.
- What things might be troubling Kim? Refine the list of things identified in Stage One.
- What does Pat need to know to assure Kim about his travel plans?
- What should we ask Kim about Pat to determine if her concerns are legitimate?
(George) Now looking again at our list, do we need to add anything or is there anything we should take out? Well—it seems that we have decided to keep everything on the list.
(Attendee) We don’t know the relationship between Pat and Kim.
(George) I kept it vague intentionally so you could project on them whatever assumptions you want for their roles. What are the learning issues? What can Pat find out about these destinations?
(Attendee) If it’s safety, leave the names and addresses of the hotels and universities that Pat will be staying at.
(Attendee) Read a history of these destinations.
(George) Just as an aside, this problem was based on my going to Singapore just after the SARS epidemic broke out, and I also was going to be visiting the National Islamic University in Southeast Asia.
(Attendee) I would add to the suggestions for what Pat can do: call the state department, and if you are really aware—call someone who lives in the destination to find out what the situation is really like.
(Slide) Stage 3: A twist at the end.
Pat’s friends Amal and Saouma are planning a first-time trip from Beirut to New York City in December to complete the final project report.
- How does the list of ‘troubling things’ change for this different destination?
- What are the top three worries your spouse or loved one would have about this trip?
What are the top three worries you would have about this new trip?
(Attendees)
· Humiliation by arrogant immigration officers in NY
· Getting a visa
· Financial impact
· Safety issues with airline travel
· Safety issues – dangerous city
· Arrangements
· Cold weather in December
(George) This problem was meant to familiarize you with the way PBL is used in the classroom.
(Slide) “…careful inspection of methods which are permanently successful in formal education…will reveal that they depend for their efficiency upon the fact that they go back to the type of situation which causes reflection out of school in ordinary life. They give pupils something to do, not something to learn; and if the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking, or the intentional noting of connections; learning naturally results.” John Dewey (1916)
(George) The main premise of PBL is that you start with a problem to get students actively engaged in the subject. I could have just talked about travel issues, but as you’ve just seen, it’s more effective for you to think of the issues yourselves rather than to just listen to me tell you about them.
Case studies also use real world problems, but what makes this approach different is:
(Slide) What are the Common Features of PBL?
Ø Learning is initiated by a problem.
Ø Problems are based on complex, real-world situations.
Ø All information needed to solve problem is not initially given.
Ø Students identify, find, and use appropriate resources.
Ø Students work in permanent groups.
(George) We take a problem that relates to the world of students, not the world of parents or teachers.
(Attendee) How do you set the rules for working together?
(George) We will be working on group dynamics in the second half of the seminar, so let’s wait until then to cover it in more detail.
(Attendee) What about time concerns? And also, students come unprepared to class. What if you pose a question and there is no discussion?
(George) That’s an issue. But I look at it as: Where are the students learning? The traditional expectation of students is: If it hasn’t been talked about in class, they are not responsible for the material. We are trying to move coverage of concepts back to the students on their own time. And if they are motivated by the question, there is more of a chance that they will do the learning on their own.
(Attendee) Can you characterize the word “problem”? What is meant by this?
(George) Students need to make a decision or a value judgment about the problem, query, or puzzle. You can use a video clip, art, a conversation…any real life situation that will start the engagement of the subject.
(Attendee) It seems like a challenge to come up with a problem that students can all relate to without needing prior knowledge.
(George) That’s right. The problem is used to motivate the students to do the readings and come to class prepared to work on other stages of the question, so at some point they will be coming to class more prepared than they might in the traditional setting.
(Attendee) How long would you carry on the problem: one session, one month, all year?
(George) In my classes for students of physics for non-science majors, I use maybe two classes per problem. Some people use problems for the whole semester staged in sections. But I use more than just the PBL approach in my classes.
(Attendee) I was wondering—you provided very little information in the problem--is that part of the way you are supposed to structure the problem?
(George) Often extra information is provided later by the professor. In the beginning, I usually do very open-ended questions to stimulate the group work. Later, I make more specific questions for discussion.
(Attendee) In architecture, we have vagueness as part of the profession—in real life.
(Attendee) How do you control whether people outside help on the problem, and are giving out answers?
(George) If it’s other professors or other students who are providing information, that’s fine, as long as the students learn the material. If someone else is actually doing the work or being paid to do the work, that’s an issue you might have in any assignment done outside of class, such as papers. I walk around and notice who is or isn’t contributing to the group discussion, so I can tell who isn’t doing the work.
(Attendee) How do you do assessment?
(George) I do traditional assessment – exams. I want to know that students individually learned the information.
(Attendee) What’s the optimal size class for PBL?
(George) There is no right answer to this, but I’ll tell you that someone tried it in a class of 240 students. They had extra help—graduate students and others to help facilitate—but it worked.
(Attendee) PBL seems to address both social intelligence and individual intelligence, but is there a way to assess the social intelligence aspect?
(George) I can’t address that—my own background has focused only on the traditional mode of assessment.
(Slide) PBL: The Process
Ø Students are presented with a problem. They organize ideas and previous knowledge.
Ø Students pose questions, defining what they know and do not know.
Ø Assign responsibility for questions, discuss resources.
Ø Reconvene, explore newly learned information, refine questions.
(George) Typically there is a lot of peer instruction in this method.
(Attendee) That is a double edged sword. What if they teach each other something that is incorrect?
(George) I walk around and listen to the groups. This is easier to do in a smaller class. You may want to have a whole group discussion if you think that there is an issue or concept which needs to be gone over. I am also looking at products: papers or presentations that show when something is wrong. Then you might need to go back over the particular information again.
(Attendee) PBL seems good at the outset of the course, by doing things that might be done individually instead being done through discussion. But written synthesis is a major part of the courses I teach, and I don’t see how I can do PBL in my classes.
(George) You might have a lot of discussion happen in groups, and assign specific parts of the problem to be answered through individual papers.
(Attendee) The starting point can be the collaborative process leading to individual projects, which is the opposite of doing individual work and then coming together for a group project. Do you have any information on using the PBL method specifically in the arts and sciences?
(George) Stamford University has a site on PBL where the professors reflect on how they use PBL in the arts and sciences. There is also a PBL conference every two years in the Asia Pacific, and there are a lot of books on the topic that can help you form PBL questions in all disciplines. I will also show you some additional resources later today.
(Attendee) Doesn’t working in a group make people become too reliant on finding answers in groups?
(George) I personally never talked to undergraduate students about academic material in my undergraduate experience, and I think facilitating discussion and adding group work to the mix of methods we use in class enriches the students. Remember, not all of the learning occurs in the groups, there is usually outside work that is done by the individual students.
(Attendee) Are we trying to remove the lecture mode from classes?
(George) I’m not here to bash the lecture format; very few instructors have banished lectures from their classes. We are trying to move away from it so that we are lecturing less and when students are more motivated to hear the lectures. I still lecture a lot, and I use PBL when I can.
(Attendee) The premise of PBL is teaching by problems instead of by lecture. Can’t this be used by individual students? Does it have to be done in groups?
(George) What I like about the group work is that you will get different perspectives and richer answers to the problems—less superficial answers. A good PBL problem that we develop will be too complex for an individual to answer.
(Attendee) I had a student who wouldn’t work in a group. What would you do in that situation?
(George) I would ask the student to do the problem alone. Some of the ones that just want to scrape by—the C or D student—might not want to participate. But after they see the problem, they usually want to participate because the problem is so daunting. We also empower groups to expel members that aren’t contributing.
(Attendee) It seems that in the hard sciences PBL can be done in a shorter time than if it’s used in the social sciences.
(George) Our political science department has really picked up on PBL. I haven’t heard this comment at Delaware.
(Attendee) I do this in a public administration setting and it’s very doable, and clearly possible. It depends on how you structure the case. I like the idea of empowering the group to expel free riders.
(George) I’ll talk more about that concept later today.
(Slide) Problem Based Learning Cycle:
Ø Problem, Project or Assignment
Ø Group Discussion
Ø Research
(George) Internet, readings, lectures, research investigations
Ø Group Discussion
(George) After research, students come back and meet, and might find that they need to do more research, and progressively get more information.
Ø Preparation of Group Product
Ø Whole Class Discussion
(George) You can do this at any point that it seems needed.
Ø Mini-Lecture (only if needed)
(George) This is your safety net if the product shows that they didn’t learn the information. You can do a lecture at any time.
Ø Overview/Assessment
(George) I want you to reflect on this afternoon’s experience: What do instructor’s do to guide the students working on PBL?
What if students say at the end of the semester that the professor didn’t do anything—I had to do all the work on my own? What’s our role?
(Board) Role of Instructor
· Facilitation of groups
· Preparing the structure of the course
· Preparing the problem
· Guidance
· Assessment
· Challenging students
· Preparation of the process: time and space
· Supervise classroom
· Resource person
· Identify dysfunctional groups
· Promote good group dynamics
· Evaluation of students
· Authority figure
· Feedback
· Redirection
· Initiate discussion
(George) The biggest mistake you can make is to give the problem and then leave the classroom. We have to be there to facilitate. It’s not correct when students say that you do less; it’s not true. It takes a lot of time to organize a PBL course. It’s usually a one-time investment, but it takes a long time to set up.
(Attendee) How do you set up the groups? Do they have to have a consensus among the group at the end of the problem?
(George) If the group doesn’t have a conclusion agreement, that’s ok.
(Attendee) Do they have to practice negotiation?
(George) If they have a lot of stakeholders in the group, I might assign perspectives to the students. For example, on a particular problem I might have one person take the perspective of an environmentalist, another one the government, and one a business person. I have each of them understand the issue from a different perspective.
So why are we doing PBL? When we asked business and employers what they wanted from college graduates, this is what they told us:
(Slide) Characteristics Needed in College Graduates
Ø High level communication skills
Ø Ability to define problems, gather and evaluate information, develop solutions
Ø Team skills—ability to work with others
Ø Ability to use all of the above to address problems in a complex, real-world setting
(George) All of these skills are increased with the PBL method. We asked employers what skills they wanted from physics graduates. Interestingly enough, you’ll see that actual knowledge of physics is ranked low, while problem solving skills are ranked the highest.
(Slide) Skills Used Frequently by Physics Bachelors in Selected Employment Sectors, 1994
(George) Before we take our break, I’d like you to discuss the following question in groups:
The principal idea behind PBL is?
- PBL challenges students to learn to learn.
- Learning is initiated by a problem.
- Student-centered work in permanent groups.
(Break)
“The principal idea behind PBL is that the starting point for learning should be a problem, a query, or a puzzle that the learner wishes to solve.” Boud (1985)
(George) The correct answer is B. Now I want to spend some time talking about groups and group formation.
(Slide) Suggestions for Using Groups
Ø Set the stage early.
(George) Let them know you’ll be doing group work so they can change from your class to another section if it’s a problem for them.
Ø Form heterogeneous groups.
Ø Use permanent groups.
(George) Use the same groups for the duration of the semester.
Ø Rotate roles of responsibility.
Ø Rely on group-selected ground rules.
Ø Conduct peer evaluations.
(Attendee) What’s wrong with having students form groups on their own, even if like minds tend to gather together?
(George) I think selecting the groups for them provides for deeper interactions and they might not get all the perspectives they could have if they pick their own groups. But it also depends on your objectives and what you want the students to be learning in the problem. There are also some other problems with letting the students select their own groups—if there are outsiders that are leftover and have to be put into a group, they might not get integrated. And what about couples that begin the semester together and then break up?! So we set up groups with the goal of having a good integration of the quality of the groups.
(Attendee) But what if they get romantically involved within the group you picked for them anyway?!
(Slide) What aspects of heterogeneity are important for you?
Ø Skills
Ø Age
Ø Major
Ø Personality type
Ø Gender
Ø Learning style
Ø Factors to Consider
Ø Ethnicity
Ø Academic record
(George) You need to think about these factors if you are designing groups. Some of the things I’ve learned is that if you have just a few women in the class, it’s not as effective to put just one in each group, as this can isolate them. Also, I don’t put one strong student with one weak student as the strong one might take over and the weaker one doesn’t contribute. Also you might look at ages; we have continuing education students that might be an older student, do you want to put them with 17 year-olds?
(Attendee) Do you have to do a study before you put them into groups?
(George)
Yes—that’s true and sometimes I do. Also, you can assign groups randomly. I
think the bottom line is to have the professor assign the group and not have the
students assign themselves.
(Attendee) Aren’t you imposing a lot at the university level? A lot of students resist something like that. You can let them form groups and then make some changes as needed.
(Slide) Factors to consider when forming groups:
Ø Is the size of the group appropriate for the task?
(George) I like groups with 5-6 people.
Ø For this task, is it better to select the students for the groups or allow students to select their group?
Ø For this task, is it better to form heterogeneous or homogeneous groups?
Ø Will you need to keep the group together or break it up throughout the semester or problem?
Ø Are students with different ability levels placed in the same group?
Ø Are the personalities of students in the group compatible?
Ø Are some members likely to be dominated by others? (by virtue of gender, cultural differences)
Ø Does the physical arrangement of the room affect how you need to select groups?
(George) The physical arrangement is important. Our PBL classrooms have coasters on the tables and chairs.
(Slide) Roles of Responsibility
* Discussion Leader Keeps group on track; maintains full participation
/ Recorder Records assignments, strategies, unresolved issues, data; convenes group outside of class
K Reporter Reports out during whole class discussion; writes up final draft of assignments
& Accuracy Coach Checks group understanding; finds resources
(George) There is a website page on working in groups in the University of Delaware site.
(Slide) Sample Ground Rules
Ø Come to class on time every day
Ø Come to class having done the assignment and prepared to discuss it
Ø Must notify members of the group ahead of time if must miss class for any reason
Ø Be willing to share information
Ø Respect the views, values, and ideas of other members of the group
If members of the group violate these ground rules, other members of the group may impose the following consequences:
(George) We invest some time in the beginning of the semester for students to assemble their own ground rules—we don’t impose them. Often there will be a consequence such as: after breaking two ground rules, the group can expel the member. It’s very seldom used, but it’s good to have.
(Slide) Resolving Conflicts
Level 1 - Preventing escalation
– Monitor groups for early signs of conflict
– Intervene on the spot
– Group evaluations - individuals plus process
– Encourage spontaneous verbal feedback
Level 2 - Empowering students
– Listen to student concerns (all viewpoints)
– Encourage students to resolve the conflict
– Coach students on possible resolution strategies
Level 3 - Serve as mediator
– Establish ground rules
– Ask each student to present point of view while others listen
– Ask each student to define ideal outcome
– Review group ground rules
– Facilitate discussion of possible outcomes
Level 4 - Instructor intervention
– “I reserve the right to….” statements in the syllabus
(George) Groundrules and consequences—students need to try to work out their problems before coming to my office. Groundrules properly constructed will work.
(Attendee) If we allow students to choose their own groups, they will be more committed to them because they have chosen it. My suggestion is to give some criteria for forming groups, then let them choose.
(George) That might work, but I remind students that in the workplace, you don’t get to choose who you work with. I think it’s acceptable to have students chose their own groups—if it works for you, don’t change it. These are suggestions for those that have problems.
(Attendee) What about constraints of scheduling, when groups can’t find time to meet?
(George) In that case, you might want to structure it so that groups do most of their work during class time. Or you might have students choose groups based on schedules, especially when your students don’t live on campus.
(Attendee) It depends on my motivation—I like to mix up the groups.
(Attendee) What about giving the students the choice?
(George) I find that when I give students a choice, I always get a 50-50% response, so I just decide for them.
(Attendee) How much time doing teamwork vs. individual work do you allocate?
(George) It depends on how much research they need to do on their own outside of class. How much group discussion happens in class or out of class depends on your class and your PBL. I might devote half of my class time to discussion.
(Attendee) How many problems for a course would you have? And would you have one problem per semester?
(George) Many of us are using shorter problems for introductory classes and some instructors break up large scale problems in to sections. You can do it either way.
(Attendee) Can students come up with problems on their own?
(George) We have a medical ethics class where the students pick the topic and another class where students generate their own PBL. Once students know the method, they can come up with good problems.
(Attendee) When are students exposed to the problems, at lecture or when the problem is introduced?
(George) The idea is not to lecture first. The role of the lecture in my courses are for when I don’t have a PBL, or when I have a few concepts that need to be reviewed or taught in that way.
(Attendee) Do you feel you need a closing lecture?
(George) If they missed the concept, I’ll give a lecture, or I might go over my objectives for what they should have learned in a discussion format.
(Attendee) PBL is time consuming and you still have to cover the same concepts.
(George) PBL should cover the same amount of concepts, but you have presented them differently. Traditionally, if it’s not covered in lecture, it’s not taught. With PBL, as much content is covered, but there’s no lecture on it. We’re trying to offload from explaining concepts to students to having them do the work on their own. We think students do better when discovering information on their own. I have some great lectures, but the students weren’t getting it as I found out from their exams, so I tried something new.
(Attendee) There are basic disciplines and applied disciplines—does PBL work better with one type? (IE: physics vs. engineering)
(George) There are two different camps on PBL. In “authentic” PBL, you want to prepare students to solve real life problems when they graduate--for example, medical school use of PBL, or when teaching a profession in the professional schools. It’s difficult to use PBL in an authentic way in, for example, an introductory physics class. It’s not quite the same approach. The applied use works a bit better in the professional schools, but we use modified versions in other classes. And for classes where individual learning is the emphasis, like studio art, it’s not necessarily the best approach.
(Attendee) What
about small group discussions—is PBL better than that?
(George) I changed my format to switch the discussion section of the class to PBL. Discussion or lab sections can turn into PBL, and you can still keep the lecture portion. We changed the format of discussion from someone telling the answer to the students working the problems out for themselves. Students should be doing the work, they shouldn’t be just watching the graduate assistant work out the problem for them or having the professor tell them the answers.
(Attendee) When you saw that the lecture format didn’t work and changed to PBL, how do you know that this was more successful? Didn’t you still have good students and poor students?
(George) There were fewer D’s—fewer of the students that never did the work before the exam. With PBL, students learn gradually through the semester so they don’t cram before the exam. Most D students became C students.
(Attendee) How do you cater for the exceptional student who really can only work to full potential when working individually?
(George) When you have a high achiever, sometimes they take over the group, so one solution is to put all high achievers in one group and see what happens and what they come up with.
(Attendee) We may be creating too homogenous a society with all the emphasis on group work.
(George) We have a much broader pool of students going through the university system in the US. It’s no longer just the high achiever that is your average student. We are trying to build an inclusive system that works better for the less competitive students.
(Attendee) If I decide to switch from lectures, how problematic is it to find textbooks for PBL?
(George) I’m going to use that question to segue to the next part of our session.
(Slides) Good PBL Problems…
Ø Relate to real world, motivate students
(George) Relates to the students.
Ø Require decision-making or judgments
(George) There is not just one right answer.
Ø Are multi-page, multi-stage
(George) Especially for younger students.
Ø Are designed for group-solving
(George) If an individual can solve it, it’s probably not the right problem.
Ø Pose open-ended initial questions that encourage discussion
Ø Incorporate course content objectives, higher order thinking.
What Factors Influence Decisions About Problems
Who is the problem writer?
Ø discipline
Ø control issues
Ø level of investment
What is the course?
Ø students (number and level)
Ø sequencing of course/problems
Ø time/structure of class
(George) Remember also that you don’t need to switch textbooks if the students can find the information they need in it.
(Slide) Sources and Strategies for Writing Problems
Ø Newspaper articles, news events
Ø Popular press in the discipline
Ø Make up a story – based on content objectives
Ø Adapt a case [study] to a problem
Ø Research papers
Ø Other?
(George) Let’s look at an example of a PBL. There is a website that the University of Delaware has put together that is a clearinghouse of PBL problems. It’s similar to an online journal—the PBL problems are peer-reviewed and there is an editorial board. The site has over 70 problems and is a resource for PBL. Here is one of the problems that a colleague of mine created to teach her physics class about momentum.
(Slides) Part One: A day in the life of traffic cop John Henry.
Part Two: Field Sketch of Accident
(George) We would traditionally teach these concepts about momentum in a lecture format, and then give a problem at the end. This PBL example engages the students right away, then they are more open to learning the concepts.
(Attendee) Is the PBL Clearinghouse a collaborative effort?
(George) Yes, it’s like an electronic journal. We have content review and an editorial board. It’s a database of PBL problems, and most of the cases on there are on the sciences. We are always getting and looking for more problems. We want problems that have actually been used in the classroom. Each problem has to have a set of resources available. Also, there is a geographic aspect to our problems, so they might not translate everywhere in the world. The problems are there to stimulate you; it may have to be modified for your classroom.
(Attendee) In humanities, sometimes problems don’t have solutions. They just have different alternatives, not one solution.
(George) Right, and in science there is an over-emphasis on the one right answer.
(Attendee) It’s so relative-- can students accept that there is no correct answer?
(George) There are real life instances where this is true as well. Think of the legal dimension where a judge or jury has to decide even when there is no clear cut right or wrong.
(Attendee) You raise an interesting point that in the humanities and social sciences there can be more than one right answer. Would these types of problems be precluded from PBL?
(George) We are providing teaching strategies with PBL, not just an answer, so I think it’s still applicable to these fields.
(Attendee) In faculty evaluations at Delaware, does the PBL get included as research?
(George) I include my PBL as part of my educational portfolio.
(Attendee) On the subject of alternative solutions, not just one—some things have multiple solutions. But I would also be looking at supporting materials to make sure that their conclusions are supported when students are working on PBL problems.
(George) I’d like you to imagine that you are in my class on the first day of the semester of Physics for Poets (George now reads his course introduction) I’d like you to think about some of the things that I’ve done wrong in this introduction.
(Attendees)
· Uncertain
· Predetermined grades
· Unmotivated as a teacher
· Not convinced of what he was doing
· Was intimidating
· Didn’t think the class was worth it for himself
· Negative
· Unprepared
· Didn’t motive the students
· Threatening students
· Not decided about what strategy to use
· On a positive note—he was very honest!
(George) One of the things that you don’t want to do is tell the students that it’s an experiment. It’s important to have a conversation about the teaching approach that you’ll use, but don’t tell them it’s your first time. (They’ll eat you alive.) Tell them it’s a proven strategy and that they’ll need to learn how to learn on their own, but this approach works. As we are out of time, remember that you can use the website at University of Delaware as a resource for PBL.
(End of Session 1)