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A Problem, Place, or Project? Using the PBL Trifecta (PBL3) in the Classroom
The compost bin was finally finished and it was time to take it out to the community garden to stain and install the lids. We picked it up and started for the door. BAM! In our excitement, we never checked to see if it would fit through the door! "What shall we do, now?" I asked. My students had ideas ranging from taking it apart to cutting it into sections. Finally, a student asked if we could set it on its side and push it through. Sure enough, it fit with an inch to spare.
From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school comes from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while, on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school. -John Dewey (1907)
John Dewey's quote exemplifies how I felt in elementary school. Skip forward 40 years and I am now in my 15th year as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in a public elementary school much like my childhood one. As my students' needs vary drastically and it is a challenge to meet those needs, I look for instructional strategies that produce the greatest benefit for my students, so my choice of how to teach is as important as what I teach.
The PBL trifecta
Merriam-Webster (2016) describes the origin of trifecta as the combining of the words tri, meaning three, and perfecta, meaning perfect. PBL3 is a term we have developed to describe the combination of problem-based learning, place-based learning, and projectbased learning. Figure 1 demonstrates the overlapping similarities and subtle differences among these three types of learning strategies.
PBL definitions
Problem-based learning is an instructional approach based on constructivist philosophy. It encourages learners to apply critical thinking, use problem-solving skills, conduct research, and apply content knowledge to real-world problems and issues while collaborating with peers (Savery 2006; Hmelo-Silver 2004). Problembased learning was developed in the early 1970s for educating medical students (Barrows and Tamblyn 1980; Savery and Duffy 2001) and was further refined by H.S. Barrows in the 1980s...