1 ‘ Greening the Olympics’ A problem-based learning exercise Jennifer Blumhof Senior Advisor Environmental Sciences- GEES Learning for Sustainable Futures: Skills for social and environmental responsibility Liverpool 23/24 March 2006 Collaborative Project HLST,C-SAP & GEES

2 INTERDISCIPLINARITY –"... the problems of the world do not come in simple disciplinary containers. There are interconnections between ecology and economics, for example, and between them and politics. In the end, all knowledge is connected " –Barnett, R The Idea of Higher Education. The Society for Research into Higher Education/Open University Press. p176

3 The skill of Interdisciplinarity seeks to create a broader and more integrated understanding of what and why “environmental studies are essentially concerned with examining environmental issues from a variety of perspectives,continually striving for a more structured,integrated and holistic understanding, that is an interdisciplinary understanding” (Blumhof,J. and Honeybone,A Getting Going in Action Research) but we are forced to “slosh about in that primordial ooze known as interdisciplinary studies”.(Passmore,J.1974 Man’s responsibility for Nature.Duckworth)

4 Workshop Aims  to consider an interdisciplinary issue that investigates the sustainable use of resources and that includes human capital  to explore the use of problem-based learning (pbl) as a tool for exploring sustainability  to explore the use of pbl as a means of developing skills for social and environmental responsibility

5 Workshop outline introducing the problem groups work on the problem groups feed back initial findings tea reflections on exercise and some information on pbl

6 Problem-Based Scenario- ‘trigger’ You are a group of academic consultants invited by the Mayor of London to advise on ‘greening’ the 2012 Olympics so that they produce sustainable benefits for Londoners. You have six weeks to submit a report and this morning your group will begin to address the task. At the end of 40 minutes, and with the aid of a flip chart, your group has two minutes to give a presentation on your preliminary ideas.

What is pbl? The principal idea behind problem-based learning (pbl)…..is that the starting point for learning should be a problem, a query or a puzzle that the learner wishes to solve. (Boud,David.1985.Cited in Boud,David and Feletti,Grahame(eds)1991.The Challenge of Problem-Based Learning.London.Kogan Page Ltd.p13 ‘Triggers’ for pbl can be given as text/story/critical incident, cartoon, oral report, video clips,newspaper article, etc.etc….anything that ‘triggers’ the learning process! PBL IS A PHILOSOPHY THAT PUTS STUDENTS AT THE CENTRE PBL IS A PROCESS- SPIRAL AND REFLECTIVE

8 The pbl process brainstorming decide what the problem/s is/are the problem learning needs- what you need to find out self study apply what you have found out reflect refine ideas &critique resources Based on Charlotte Silen’s model, University of Linkoping Offer ‘solutions’/do assignment

Some of the benefits of pbl student centred (understanding the needs of the learner eg motivation) integrative (develops skills and content) problem-based (eg real world real time problems) self-directed (eg pursue own learning enquiry and often manage complex timetabling) collaborative(often for staff and students) reflective (can’t do it without thinking what has gone well, not so well, what else do I need to do/find out etc.)

Some skills developed through pal & skills for social and environmental responsibility? INTELLECTUAL critical reasoning,creative thinking,problem-working INTELLECTUAL Subject knowledge and understanding-eg interdisciplinarity PRACTICAL/APPLIED formulating hypotheses,designing investigative strategies,information gathering,information handling,evaluating information COMMUNICATION -presenting (oral/written/graphic) INTERPERSONAL-teamwork SELF-MANAGEMENT - time-management OTHER?????

11 GRADUATE SKILLS- UNIVERSITY OF HERFORDSHIRE Communication  Listening  Reading  Writing  Application of number  Graphic  Communication and Information Technology Presenting (oral / written / graphic)  Viewing  Non-verbal  Performing  Giving feedback  Receiving feedback  Foreign language  International and intercultural communication Intellectual Critical reasoning  Creative thinking  Analysing  Synthesising  Evaluating  Memorising and recalling  Questioning  Summarising  Creating  Problem working  Subject knowledge and understanding Interpersonal Teamwork  Leadership  Assertiveness  Negotiating  Empathising  Networking  Managing people and resources Self & Career Management S  Self appraisal  Self-reflection  Self-confidence and promotion  Self discipline  Adaptability  Responsibility  Time- management  Action planning  Opportunity awareness Practical Formulating hypotheses / problems / arguments Designing investigative strategies Information gathering Information handling Interpreting information  Evaluating information  Evaluating method  Decision-making  Reporting findings  Referencing  Psychomotor coordination

Socio-constructivism- peers enrich the process Actively experiment Reflect Experience Generalise Tell me about your other similar experiences Discuss with me, and leave me to refine Offer me suitable methods Ask me questions I have overlooked

Problem-Based Learning – questions for lecturers 1.how might you develop the use of PBL further? 2.If you don’t use PBL at present, do you now think it would be appropriate for your courses/modules? 3. what triggers have/or could you use?

14 Problem-Based Learning – questions for students 1. What do you think worked well? 2. What do you think did not work so well? 3. Any proposals for improvement?