Useful Web Sites on Problem–Based Learning

This appendix lists some of the most useful Internet resources on PBL. The list is by no means exhaustive, but these are the sites of institutions where major PBL initiatives and projects have taken place and are ongoing. The purpose of this selection is to give the reader an idea of how PBL has been used at different levels worldwide. These sites also provide examples of how PBL is used in different disciplines and levels of education.

www.udel.edu/pbl

This Web site of the University of Delaware is particularly useful for PBL in higher education. It features a PBL Clearinghouse that offers access to a range of PBL problems in various disciplines. The site provides many useful articles for new PBL practitioners as well as PBL researchers, together with useful links to other major PBL Web sites. It also offers ideas for problems in the sciences, humanities and cross-disciplinary learning at advanced and higher education levels.

www.samford.edu/pbl/pbl_main.html

This Web site of the University of Samford provides a glossary of information about PBL. It has an excellent PBL Peer Review Online portfolio, which features PBL practitioners' reflections pertaining to the design of PBL courses, student learning and overall evaluation.

www.imsa.edu/team/cpbl/cpbl.html

This Web site of the Center for Problem-based Learning of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy provides a good introduction to PBL. It also has good examples of problems for K–12 curriculum levels. It is particularly relevant for secondary school teachers interested in using science-related issues for their PBL curricula.

http://pbli.org

This is the Web site of the Problem-based Learning Initiative group of teachers and researchers engaged in PBL and staff development. Hosted by the Department of Medical Education of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, it provides an introduction to using PBL across various disciplines and educational levels.

www.d261.k12.id.us/Technology/Goals%202000/PBL/problem_based_learning.htm

This Web site of the Jerome School District in Idaho provides many examples of PBL projects in elementary, junior high and high schools. Each project comprises directions for teachers and students together with clear examples of guides and templates for problem statements, lists of problems, identification of resources, management process and assessment rubrics. Primary and secondary school teachers will find this site helpful for getting ideas on infusing PBL in science and social science subjects.

www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/pbl/info.html

The PBL material developed by the Maricopa Community Colleges offers useful examples of using PBL to develop problem-solving skills in many day-to-day challenges and decision making. There is a good project on PBL in mathematics (e.g. a problem on buying a car). The PBL manuals provide teachers with useful tips on how to organize and start PBL curricula.

http://meds-ss10.meds.queensu.ca/medicine/pbl/pblhome.htm

This PBL homepage of the School of Medicine of Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, provides a good example of how PBL is used in health sciences and how one can set up PBL support, student's guides, tutor's guides, PBL links and resources.

www.tp.edu.sg/pblconference/advcomm.html

This is the homepage of the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on Problem-based Learning. The 2000 conference theme was PBL: Education Innovation across Disciplines. The post-conference proceedings are posted here and comprise a range of papers on PBL in disciplines such as medicine, health sciences, nursing, engineering, law, business, literature and education.