Teaching real-world skills? Use problem-based learning (PBL) approaches 🎯

What’s the real purpose of teaching and learning?

It goes beyond just passing exams. True learning means retaining knowledge and applying it in real-world situations.

Students should be able to think critically, solve problems, and be ready for life beyond the classroom. That’s why choosing the right teaching approach is important.

There are many teaching approaches, but problem-based learning (PBL) is unique. It's learner-centered and uses real-world, open-ended problems as the driver of learning, rather than starting with facts and lectures.

In PBL, students don’t just memorize. They:

• Ask questions

• Research

• Test ideas

• Create solutions

This makes learning active, practical, and long-lasting.

Example: Instead of teaching coding syntax, ask learners to build a simple website. As they face challenges, they learn syntax naturally in context. 💡

Unlike traditional teaching, where content is delivered first and applied later, PBL flips the process by starting with a problem.

Here’s how the journey typically unfolds:

• Examine & define the problem

  Ex: “Your school wants a student website — where do we begin?”

• Explore what they already know (prior knowledge)

  Ex: “Have you ever used a website builder or blog platform?”

• Identify learning gaps and find needed resources

  Ex: Learn how basic HTML tags create structure.

• Evaluate possible ways to solve the problem

  Ex: Students design the homepage.

• Solve the problem

  Ex: Apply coding skills to build a personal portfolio.

• Report findings

  Ex: Students present their finished website to the class, explain their design choices, and reflect on what they learned during the process.

Beyond collaboration, problem-based learning is highly flexible. It adapts to different learner needs and goals, making learning practical, engaging, and relevant in various contexts:

• Classrooms (teenagers/high school): Great for science projects, debates, or group-based design challenges. It builds confidence and teamwork.

• Adult learning: Perfect for workplace training, e.g., “How do we improve customer satisfaction?” Adults bring real-life experience, making PBL highly engaging.

• Virtual & eLearning: Case studies, role-playing, or simulations work well online. Learners can collaborate in breakout rooms or forums.