Problem-Based Learning in Early Childhood and Primary Pre-Service Teacher Education: Identifying the Issues and Examining the Benefits.

Abstract: Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been used with increased frequency in Higher Education settings since first introduced by Barrows and Tamblyn during the 1980’s. Since this time PBL has been used in medical, engineering and education faculties to support pre-service students in the acquisition of skills and content knowledge relevant to their disciplines. This paper explores the perceptions early childhood and primary pre-service teachers held regarding their participation in a unit of study structured around the use of a PBL scenario. The paper examines the frustrations pre-service teachers experienced within the PBL scenario as well as the perceived benefits regarding their participation in the unit of study . Introduction Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been used with increased frequency in the Higher Education sector since first developed by Barrows and Tamblyn at McMaster University during the 1980’s (Major & Palmer, 2001). Initially used as a means of ensuring that medical students were able to apply knowledge and respond to ‘real-life’ situations rather than simply acquire course content, PBL has evolved over the intervening years into a popular learning approach (Edens, 2000, p. 55). PBL draws on constructivist and social constructivist principles of learning, advocating student centered engagement with course content and peer-to-peer interactions as central to the learning process. PBL is not discovery learning, case-based learning, inquiry learning or project-based learning. Rather PBL is learning that occurs through immersion in a specific problem that requires students to apply reasoning and research skills to its solution (Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980). A particular emphasis in PBL is on allowing learners to explore the theory-practice relationship so that they are able to apply theoretical knowledge to their particular professional contexts (Savin-Baden, 2000, pp. 5 – 6). In the past, PBL has been viewed as an appropriate pedagogical tool for preparing graduates across a range of professions including, nursing, medicine, engineering, and law. More recently, PBL has attracted attention in the teacher education literature. The approach has been considered an important means of exposing pre-service teachers to situations they are likely to face as professional educators whilst simultaneously employing a teaching and learning approach that encapsulates the central tenets of constructivist and social constructivist learning theory (Ahlfeldt, Mehta & Sellnow, 2005; Dean, 1999). Previous research into the use of PBL in teacher education programs has shown that the approach supports pre-service teachers to acquire theoretical concepts related to practice, as well as supporting the development of