Problem-Based Learning to Foster Deep Learning in Preservice Geography Teacher Education

Abstract

In South Africa, geography education students' approach to deep learning has received little attention. Therefore the purpose of this one-shot experimental case study was to evaluate the extent to which first-year geography education students used deep or surface learning in an embedded problem-based learning (PBL) format. The researchers measured students' approach to learning in this PBL format in two groups of first-year students (2012 and 2013), using the standardized revised study process questionnaire adapted to the PBL context. The study provided evidence to suggest that the implementation of PBL could help to foster deep learning among first-year geography education students.

The impact of direct instruction in a problem-based learning setting. Effects of a video-based training program to foster preservice teachers’ professional vision of critical incidents in the classroom

“…Since PBL has been shown to be a useful approach in higher education and, more specifically, teacher preparation (e.g., Choi & Yang, 2011;Edwards & Hammer, 2006;Golightly & Raath, 2015;Hushman & Napper-Owen, 2011;Yoon, Woo, Treagust, & Chandrasegaran, 2014;Zhang, Lundeberg, Koehler, & Eberhardt, 2011), we developed the described PBL environment using video cases in a secondary teacher preparation course on the topic of classroom disruptions. PBL also has elements of direct instruction, so although we were convinced of its usefulness in preparing teachers for the classroom, we assumed that it should not be implemented without specific adaptations in this phase of teacher training.…”

Students’ academic reading preferences: An exploratory study

“…This interest is based on previous work by Säljö (1976a, 1976b), who used qualitative analysis to examine differences in students' approaches to written texts. The literature differentiates between a deep and a surface strategy to learning (Biggs, 1987;Golightly and Raath, 2015;Yongjun and Reese, 2014;Vanthournout et al, 2014). A deep learning strategy is characterized by the learner's search for the meaning of the information, and by intrinsic motivation.…”

The demise of active learning even before its implementation? Instructors’ understandings and application of this approach within Japanese higher education

“…This cognitive process of AL is associated with deep learning that arguably takes place in the cognitive engagement stage (Ito, 2017), as opposed to surface learning (Revell & Wainwight, 2009;Tangney, 2014). Whereas surface learning is acquired through extrinsically motivated processes, entailing the accumulation of information, deep learning occurs through an intrinsically motivated process of meaning construction (Golightly & Raath, 2015). Diamond et al (2008, p. 118) observed that "[a] key outcome of deep learning is the ability to apply concepts acquired in one context to a variety of new situations."…”