1. Problem-Based Learning
Problem-based learning is a method of educating adult learners that combines theoretical knowledge with
practical application. This process engage student in considering complex issue and encourage them to
work collaboratively towards finding an appropriate solution. Nowadays many high schools and colleges
converted from the traditional way of learning into PBL. Although problem-based learning has distinct
advantages, such as it makes student learn the priority and developing lifelong learning skills, there are
also disadvantages associated with this learning method. (Ahmad Magdy)
The most distinguish advantage for the PBL is that makes student learn priority. The traditional system is
an open approach to learn, which consequently makes the interruptions more and causes less
concentration on the main priority, student learning. While on the other hand, PBL approach allows the
students to be more concentrated by reducing the number of unrelated topics, which eventually gives the
priority to the students to learn and share related information with each other. (Abdurrahman Farahat)
Secondly, The PBL system is full of challenges and difficulties students have to face. The enjoyable part
of this system is centered on how the students are defeating those problems, and then tasting the taste of
success and victory. To clarify, if a student of any given tutorial class had a hard subject that he must
study it independently by himself, he would finish it just by persistence and hard work. Consequently, the
effort and the time that he had exerted would make him feel satisfy and happy about what he had done.
As a result, it is obvious that the taste of success after lots of difficulties is absorbing and that can be
found in the PBL system. (Abdullah Hezam)
Also encouraging greater understanding is an advantage of PBL. Many aspects in our life, we might not
understand until we interact with them sufficiently, and this what PBL system is based on. This method
helps its students to comprehend effectively, because they get in touch with problems and this will inspire
kind of a successful critical thinking. In addition, the pupils of this system help each other to solve the
problems, so you will have more than one mind to deliberate, and as all of us know, many hands make
light works. In other words, this system motivates the students to think carefully and cooperate to deduce
the best explanations of their courses' difficulties.
(Abdurrahman Al-Zain)
PBL Increase the class attendance, which is one
of its benefits. Researchers have found that
students generally favor problem based learning
classes cause they think problem based learning
is a more interesting, stimulating, and enjoyable
learning method, and that it offers a more flexible
and nurturing way to learn so that PBL class
demonstrate increase attendance than traditional
classes. In addition, the student sometimes should
attend to have the objectives to make presentation
in the discussion with his group. Also marks effect
on that. We can freely distingush this benifits
from the nerbay bar graph. (Ahmad Mustafa)
Another advantage is that PBL increases
motivation. This system raises your ability to produce and create new ideas in the form of suggestions or
giving questions. Additionally, students tend to participate more than the traditional system due to the
difference in the number of students in each group. Which is much lesser than the traditional classes. In
addition, when a student notices that everyone is doing his best he will try to do better than before.
Moreover, using goal-setting technique in determining the objectives to solve a problem by brain storming
will helps you, in future, to deal with the academic, social and daily life problems. (Ahmad AL-Sahar)
2. In addition, this learning method develops lifelong learning skills. PBL uses professional problems of
practice as a starting point, stimulus, and focus for student activity. One of PBL’s stated educational
outcomes is students’ use of lifelong learning skills. According to Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock and
The Third Wave “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those
who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”. Lifelong learners are able to learn and adapt because they
reflect on the quality of their understanding and seek to go beyond what they know. This requires a love
of learning and willingness to engage in learning. In other words, a disposition toward lifelong learning.
This disposition includes characteristics such as risk taking and persistence. Problem-Based Learning
helps prepare students for lifelong learning by developing students’ capacity for self-directed learning and
their metacognitive awareness. (Ahmad Hmam)
PBL is student-centered approach and this gives rise to another advantage. Student-centered teaching
methods shift the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners. We believe in a student-centered
classroom and utilize as many collaborative and interactive lessons as possible. We love the comparison
of a teacher to a designer. While a student centered classroom puts much of the responsibility for
learning on the students' shoulders, it is not possible for learning to take place without a carefully
constructed path. The power of a student-centered environment is that many of their connections and
their learning seems surprising, amazing, and startling. (Abdullah Kankan)
Let us move to the drawbacks and the disadvantage of the Problem-Based Learning. One of the
most drawbacks of PBL is time wasting especially if this is the first time to a student ,who is used
to the traditional curriculum ,but how can PBL waste your time ?
Okay, it can, easily, doing this by overspreading your efforts
For example, when you are searching about specific information and you find it but it is associated
With other extra information, in such a situation either you expand more than required, then you are
wasting your time, or you reduce the information more than enough thereby you are wasting your
grades. Someone would wonder :more information will be valuable for your knowledge and,
absolutely, that's true but you have to remember you have to finish what is required as a duty with
full intelligence ,specifically , better than when you cover a huge an amount of information ,rapidly,
for exam without full comprehension . (Abdurrahman Al-Basha)
One of the disadvantages is that the PBL can create some anxiety, because learning is messier in
other word untidiness. Some students feel nervous and unease because of this way of studying, it’s
because everyone should participate with something ,and there are many students like to listen as
their main skill , in my view I see that this way is better for whom who like to share his opinion with
others and for whom speaking is there main skill. Other example for anxiety problem, that there are
some students do not like to speak in front of many people, if that happen they cannot complete a
sentence in proper way. Therefore, it is good to have some practice to solve this problem.
(Abdulhaleem Husam)
Despite PBL is designed to widen the range of knowledge, it lacks directional information that
students are seeking. A very apparent reason is that students do not find a guaranteed source of
knowledge, the tutor. Similarly, some tutors do not fulfill their job well, in that they teach lessons out
of the topic. For instance, suppose that a heart lecture was given last week, and a physiology one
today. Those mentors may conduct a different aspect of the matter because a deficiency in
specialty. In addition, Books also play a crucial role, which is they contain facts that may not relate
clear ideas to the learning objectives, so the material learnt is intensive but not functional. Truly, PBL
program may be short of a contextual knowledge, and this goes back to central problems like the
tutors themselves and the way students use their suggested references. (Abdullah Monir)
3. Creating suitable problem scenarios is difficult and this gives rise to another disadvantage. International
students with different backgrounds, skills and knowledge may not be able creating appropriate scenarios
for some problems that need discussed at fixed time. Moreover, it requires effort and time to done it with
distinction, thus might affect students’ progress negatively. Unless cases and problems come completed
with their examples such in most traditional education methods, so the students could read them then
chose the suitable scenarios to discuss. (Abdulmajeed Al-Wabel)
One of PBL disadvantages that it is need good tutorial skills. For example, you might need a projector
device and a computer. These things are not always available in anytime and anywhere. Therefore, this
might be a barrier for learning process. Another thing, it is also need a good student and tutor for being an
excellent process. Not any student can deal with PBL studying method, because it is need students who
have good searching skills. In addition, he need to know from where he should get his information. From
what references? Therefore, this thing not any student can deal with it. In addition, the tutor need to be
good to deal with student and to gives them what grades they deserve. (Ahmad Ramadan)
The institution should spend a lot of money to provide sufficient number of tutors and classrooms with
complete materials to run PBL system, which effect this method negatively. PBL system should create a
safe group environment in which group members feel comfortable. For instance, students should get
possibility to asking questions, getting information, listening actively and giving feedbacks to learn
effectively. As a result, PBL system must have limited number of students; it requires group members
between ten-twelve, to work efficiently. Therefore, the institution should spend a lot of money to provide
sufficient number of tutors and classrooms with complete materials to run this system. On the other hand,
the traditional way of education, lectures for example, safes money’s of the institution. One tutor and a
great number of students in one lecture hall operate it. (Abdullah Khoja)
In addition to all these disadvantages PBL style of learning generally needs more instructors and doctors.
As we know in every session of PBL there must be one instructor or what we call him " tutor " , so imagine
that we only have 400 student studying in the first year and those students are divided into 40 groups
( every group consist of 10 students ) so we will need to 40 tutors for establishing only one session
simultaneously!! . While in the traditional style, we can teach all those 400 students only by one doctor in
one lecture!
As a conclusion, problem based learning has many advantages such as, making students learning
priority, increasing the satisfying, encourage great understanding, developing life-long learning skills and
increase the motivation. In the other hand, problem based learning has lots of disadvantages such as:
creating some anxiety because learning is messier, less content of knowledge may be learned, creating
suitable problems is difficult and needing good tutorial skills .So, it is safe to say that the problem based
learning is much more different from the traditional ways of learning. In addition, it can be either good or
bad.
