Learning about safety, prevention and quality of life through PBL: implications for teacher education

Abstract

In Problem-Based Learning (PBL) students learn ‘new’ knowledge by solving problems. Studies focusing on the efficacy of PBL for the learning science content knowledge are rare and their results are not fully consistent. This study aims at: comparing the effectiveness of a transdisciplinary PBL and traditional teaching with regard to students’ learning of science knowledge within the scope of the theme Safety, Prevention and Quality of Life; finding out students’ opinions on transdisciplinary PBL approach. The sample is made of two 9th grade classes of a school located in the north of Portugal. The experimental class (24 students) approached the theme through PBL in an integrated way that is, Natural Sciences and Physical Sciences teachers pooled together the concepts that they were supposed to teach and organized PBL oriented teaching as if those concepts belonged to a single school subject. The control class (25 students) studied the same theme through traditional teaching, with the concepts of each school subject addressed separately by each one of the teachers. Data relative to content learning were collected by means of a pre- and a post-test and data relative to PBL students’ opinions on the new teaching approach were collected through an opinion questionnaire. Results indicate that transdisciplinary PBL led to a bit better results than traditional teaching and that students valued PBL.