NEW TRICKS: Area science teachers learned how to let students take more control over their learning experiences at a workshop earlier this month. -- Photos Courtesy Of Uthsc

Students taking control of their own education might not sound like the wisest decision to some parents. But in a sense, it's a common practice in a number of the nation's leading medical universities.

The teaching method of problem-based learning helps students learn in a way that is representative of the work they will do in their careers as medical professionals.

Dr. Ann Lambros, director of the Center for Excellence in Research, Teaching and Learning at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., who recently visited Memphis, first began working with problem-based learning in 1987 when Wake Forest adopted a problem-based learning curriculum for its medical students.

"(With problem-based learning) we are creating students who can find new information to integrate with what they already know to solve a problem," she said. "Problem-based learning provides a lot of resolution to the issues of creating critical thinkers with self-directed learning skills."

Students take control

In problem-based learning, students are given a problem that might not have an obvious answer, or students might not be given all of the information needed to solve it.

By working together, as professionals in health and science careers do on a daily basis, the students do research and work to identify facts and collect research and begin solving the problem. The teacher acts as a facilitator, answering questions and helping the students as needed - which is a completely different role than that of the teacher in a traditional classroom, said Dr. Larry Tague, research associate in physiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC).

"(The teachers) are there to assist the student and facilitate the student in the process of the student's own learning, rather than trying to push info into the student," he said. "The student is fully capable on their own if you give them the tools to learn."

Lambros led three days of a week-long workshop in early June at the Memphis Academy of Health Sciences (MAHS) on Chelsea Avenue Extended. The workshop was geared toward introducing elementary and high school science teachers to a new method of teaching.

Lambros first introduced the concept to teachers, and then allowed them to observe the teaching method in action at MAHS, which is a charter school that opened in 2003 and serves students in grades six through eight.

Problem-based learning was started with the intention it would be used in medical education to foster critical thinking, problem-solving and self-directed learning, said Lambros, who also is the assistant dean for medical education at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

More than lectures

Tague said his goal with the workshop was to help teachers incorporate hands-on learning in their classrooms and work as facilitators for students, rather than relying on lectures.

"One thing that I think is important is that we teach the essentials of science and we're essentially talking heads for the most part when we stand up in front of a classroom," he said. "But we don't teach the process of science. What we are doing this summer is we are starting to teach teachers to understand the process of authentic problem-based learning."

Tague is the co-investigator on a Science Education Partnership Award grant. He was one of three recipients at UTHSC of the $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to stimulate the public's interest in science through education. UTHSC was one of seven universities to receive the grant, which was announced in January.

Working together

During the workshop, teachers were put into groups to demonstrate how problem-based learning encourages students to work in teams of four or five students each. One member of the group is designated as the presenter, because the group must present its findings to the class once the problem has been solved.

"Team players are needed in today's work force," Lambros said. "In problem-based learning, all of the learning occurs in a small group where the members are working within a team."

The team-centered focus of problem-based learning emphasizes non-cognitive skills such as negotiation, mediation and respect for diversity that Lambros said do not show up in a traditional learning environment.

"We are developing teachers to become more proficient with the methodology and develop a comfort zone to get them back to their classrooms and implement what they have learned," she said.

On the first day of the workshop, the 13 teachers from some of Memphis' city and charter schools were put into groups of three or four to solve a problem.

Some of the teachers teach high school science courses, while others, such as Vivian Garrett, are elementary school teachers who teach many subjects, including science. Garrett, who teaches fifth grade at Georgia Avenue Elementary School on Mississippi Boulevard, participated in a similar workshop last year and was working as a facilitator this summer and helping other teachers learn the teaching method.

Garrett has implemented problem-based learning techniques such as group activities in her classes and said she has gotten a great response from her students.

"It's good because the children enjoy it," she said. "It really is oriented for them."