From: Student Pugwash USA <uspugwash@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.org.pugwash
Date: 23 Dec 92 13:50 PST
Subject: Re: *Tough Questions-Winter 93 News
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1758700047:cdp:1758700048:000:15087
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!uspugwash    Dec 23 13:50:00 1992


TOUGH QUESTIONS - WINTER 1993

****************************************************************

EDUCATING FOR LEADERSHIP : OUR HOPE
BY RICHARD B. BRYANT, Jr.

     I sat on my sofa recently and watched `A   Place Called 
Hope` on Charles Kuralt`s Sunday Morning.  We had just elected a 
new president from Hope, Arkansas.  Speaking to the hearts of 
Americans, our new standard bearer campaigned for change and 
spoke of understanding the pains that many have felt and the 
gravity of the need to `turn this nation around.`  We can turn 
this nation around, but it will take more than just the adept 
efforts of policy-makers in Washington and state capitals.  It 
will take the willingness of each and every citizen of this 
country to consider different models by which we educate our 
young people - models that foster and stimulate new thinking.  
At visionary educational institutions throughout the land this 
important question is being addressed: How do we prepare our fu-
ture leaders  to think in new ways?

     In 1988 the first high school chapter of Student Pugwash 
USA was established at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy 
(IMSA) to foster the intellectual and ethical developments of 
students.  The young people assembled in this dynamic educa-
tional community have embraced Student Pugwash as a forum for 
dialectic, for intellectual challenge and discussions centering 
on change essential for our survival and advancement within an 
interdependent world.  Albert Einstein`s charge to `learn to 
think in a new way` is, in many respects, being actualized at 
IMSA.  The Academy is developing decidedly different learners - 
students who think critically, conduct research, identify and 
solve problems, and see and understand the context of the whole 
picture rather than just part of a situation.

     This new way of thinking spells great hope for the futures 
of IMSA students as leaders. But how about change within educa-
tional systems throughout the United States?  Are there develop-
ments at IMSA which hold potential for influencing educational 
systems across America?  Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall, Executive 
Director of IMSA and President of the Association for 
Supervision and Curriculum Development, stated the following at 
the Wingspread Conference on Problem-Based Learning which was 
co-sponsored by IMSA, the Hitachi Foundation and the Johnson 
Foundation in May 1992:

`While we know there is no `magic bullet,` a growing number of 
educators believe that applying the concepts of problem-based 
learning (PBL) may indeed hold the key to real change in the way 
we enable students to learn.  Problem-based learning may well be 
the secret to enhancing our students` capacity for meaning, un-
der-standing, creativity, self-reflection, analysis and evalua-
tion.  It holds the promise of allowing all students to find 
relevance and excitement in learning, ultimately enabling them 
to confront complex, real-world problems in a thoughtful, re-
flective and ethical manner.` 

     This article examines how problem-based learning, one model 
currently being used at IMSA and at several other pilot loca-
tions throughout the United States, can contribute broadly to 
educational systems throughout the country.

Characteristics of Problem-Based Learning
     Problem-based learning, where exposure to a problem comes 
before anything else, is based on the use of ill-structured 
problems.  Ill-structured problems, because they are real-world 
problems, are characterized by the following:
* More information will be needed than is initially  available 
to understand what is occurring, and to decide what, if any, ac-
tions are required for resolution.
* Since every problem and problem solver is unique, there is no 
absolutely right way or fixed formula for conducting an investi-
gation.
* As new information is obtained, the problem changes.
* You can never be 100% sure you have made the `right` decision 
because important information may be lacking, data or values may 
be in conflict; but decisions have to be made.

     Initially, students receive very little information.  They 
are put in the role of professional problem solvers; instead of 
tidy case studies, students are confronted with undefined prob-
lems, incomplete information and unasked questions.  The situa-
tions demand problem solving: defining and detailing, creating 
hypotheses, searching for and scanning data, refining hypotheses 
with the help of the collected data, conducting empirical exper-
iments when appropriate, creating solutions that fit the condi-
tions of the problem, and then evaluating and/or justifying 
their solutions so there is reason to expect conditions will im-
prove.

Problem-Based Learning in Medical Education 
     Much of IMSA`s work in problem-based learning has been 
based on the work of Dr. Howard Barrows, Associate Dean of 
Educational Affairs and professor and Chair of the Department of 
Medical Education at Southern Illinois University.  His interest 
stems from earlier experiences in which he observed residents 
who could not apply what they supposedly learned in their 
coursework to real-world medicine.  Barrows went on to develop 
problem-based medical education programs, in which students 
could `practice and perfect their reasoning skills.`  Despite 
potential difficulties, Barrows supports experiments with prob-
lem-based learning for younger students stating, `if there is an 
expectation that knowledge acquired in schools should be useful 
and applied to life and career, and if there is an expectation 
that students should assume responsibility for self-education, 
then I really do feel that at the high school level problem-
based learning is probably an appropriate thing to use.`

An Ill-Structured Problem: Jane`s Baby
     One of the ill-structured problems investigated by students 
in IMSA`s award-winning Science, Society and the Future (SSF) 
course was the following:
     You are the head of pediatrics at a large city hospital.  
Jane Barton first came to you for help two weeks ago after she 
and her husband received the results of tests ordered by her 
family doctor.  The tests indicate that Jane and Ralph`s baby is 
anencephalic.  The couple is concerned about the fetus and won-
ders what to do if Jane cannot deliver a normal, healthy infant.  
Doctor, what will you do about Jane`s baby?

     Such a `problem` is complex to say the least.  Anencephaly 
is a congenital absence of all or a major part of the brain.  In 
investigating this problem, students had to research issues re-
lated to the accuracy of medical testing, nature of the disease, 
short- and long-term prognoses, abortion, laws regarding organ 
donations and fetal tissue research, legal issues for the hospi-
tal, religious views of the couple, etc.  Four questions drive 
the students` work: What`s going on?  What do we know?  What do 
we need to know?  What should we do?

     William Stepien, social science teacher and director of the 
Center for Problem-Based Learning at IMSA, said the goal of the 
SSF course is not to change a student`s opinion on a controver-
sial issue.  `We were concerned that the course stay away from 
indoctrination into a particular ethical stance,` he said.  `We 
do, however, want students to develop a broader set of reasons 
for why they believe what they do and to gain a broader perspec-
tive on the impact of their individual decisions.`

Problem-Based Science Units
     Stepien acknowledges that there are those who question if 
problem-based learning can work in traditional schools, with 
elementary and junior high students, and with high school stu-
dents of lower academic abilities.  Virginia teachers  Bill 
Orton, Becky Crossett, Kathy Morrison and Ira Rosenkrantz, at 
Rawls-Byrd, EXTEND Center, Chickahominy and DeWitt Clinton re-
spectively, hope their experiences with problem-based learning 
will help silence the critics.  All have seen firsthand its 
power in their classrooms.

     Orton, who teaches second grade at Rawls-Byrd, said prob-
lem-based learning was especially effective in teaching his stu-
dents about `systems.`  In trying to save their planet`s dying 
ecosystems, students learned about planetary systems, ecosys-
tems, political systems, and their classroom group as a system, 
Orton said.  `In the course of their research, they examined im-
portant concepts such as elements, boundaries and interdepen-
dence, all of which are key to understanding any system,` he 
said.

Leukemia, Nuclear Energy and HIV
     The EXTEND Center serves gifted and talented students in 
grades 3-8 from the York County, Virginia, public schools.  
Crossett, chairperson of the Center, teaches seventh and eighth 
graders.  Her students started with the `problem` of whether to 
tell a young leukemia patient that one of her friends with a 
similar condition had died.  The actual unit was not leukemia, 
but nuclear energy; initially students were not told this. 

     Their research, which began with examination of hospital 
records, eventually led to questions about the safety of a nu-
clear weapons station.  Students investigated reports of a leak-
age of radioactive waste into the water system.  `Through their 
research, students learned about the good and bad, pros and cons 
of nuclear energy,` Crossett said.  Their final task was to pre-
pare and present testimony to a panel of experts on whether to 
expand the weapons station.  The panel included real-life nu-
clear physicists, physicians and public health officials.  `The 
problem was relevant to the real world; students took responsi-
bility for their research,` Crossett said.  `They went more in-
depth and learned from each other.  Problem-based learning al-
lows you to take the students` thinking, come in from the back 
door, and help them get turned on,` she added.

     Morrison, who teaches life science to a group of mixed 
ability seventh graders, reports problem-based learning enabled 
her students to develop and show high level thinking skills that 
were not apparent when they began the problem.  In researching 
HIV, students learned a great deal about cell biology, microor-
ganisms and transmission of disease.  `By the end, they could do 
it, and they were turned on to science,` Morrison said.

PBL for Disenfranchised Students
     Rosenkrantz, Assistant Principal for Science and Health 
Careers at DeWitt Clinton High School, tried problem-based 
learning in his tenth grade human biology class.  His students 
were not known for their academic prowess.  In fact, they were 
considered the `slowest class`  because all had failed the 
state`s Regents Competency Test science exam.  Rosenkrantz, who 
himself once was skeptical about the use of problem-based learn-
ing for so-called `slow learners,` is no longer a doubter.  In 
researching one of their problemsQhow to prevent pneumonia, tu-
berculosis and diphtheriaQRosenkrantz`s students learned the 
difference between helpful and harmful bacteria, how to kill 
harmful bacteria and how helpful bacteria benefit the world.  `I 
tried it and I was shocked,` he said.  `I got great participa-
tion instead of listening to...silence.`

     It is in this potential to serve `disenfranchised students`  
that Felicia Lynch sees the greatest promise for problem-based 
learning.  Lynch, former Senior Vice President of the Hitachi 
Foundation which funded IMSA`s Science, Society and the Future 
course, offered a broad definition of `disenfranchised` which 
includes minority, economically disadvantaged, children of chil-
dren, and children with no parents.  For them, `the problem-
based learning model provides legitimacy to the learning.  It 
breaks down artificial barriers between what goes on in the 
classroom and what goes on in their communities.  It also en-
ables students to become bi-cultural, to deal with and live in 
two cultures,` she said.  And, Lynch added, problem-based learn-
ing enables teachers to communicate a powerful message to stu-
dents:  I respect you to solve this.
  
IMSA Research on Problem-Based Learning
     IMSA has conducted several studies on problem-based learn-
ing, with promising results.  The research shows that students 
in Science, Society and the Future become better problem-solvers 
than their peers who do not take the course.  Studies have shown 
that SSF students were significantly more likely than other IMSA 
students to include careful problem definition as a part of 
their problem-solving and to expand the number of ethical ap-
peals they consider when confronted with a moral dilemma.

     An important question is whether students will be penalized 
on standardized tests if teachers sacrifice volume of fact-based 
information in favor of in-depth discovery-based exploration of 
a limited number of topics.  For two years IMSA has conducted 
studies comparing its problem-based and content-based American 
History classes.  Students` performance on a standard American 
history test was examined, comparing those who took problem-
based American history with those who took a more traditional 
content-based class.  The results were encouraging: students in 
the problem-based class performed better on average than the 
other IMSA students on the standardized test.  Students appar-
ently learned the information on their own during individual and 
group research related to the problem being studied.  `One pos-
sible interpretation of our finding is that because they learned 
facts on their own instead of getting them from the teacher, the 
information had more meaning,` Stepien explained.  And, he 
added, the more meaningful information is, the more likely it 
will be remembered and used at a later time.

     In considering learners within a life-long continuum of 
learning, it is imperative that we consider alternative curric-
ula and instructional methodologies which will promote the de-
velopment of students as leaders.  Problem-based learning is one 
alternative which holds great promise for the education of de-
cidedly different learners. As we welcome a new president, a 
president who envisions change as a constant rather than an ex-
ception, let`s consider the hope represented by changes within 
educational processes and systems, changes which are essential 
for `thinking in new ways.`


     Richard B. Bryant, Jr. serves as the Coordinator of College 
Counseling and Career Development at the Illinois Mathematics 
and Science Academy (IMSA).  Prior to coming to IMSA, Mr. Bryant 
worked with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics 
and the North Carolina Mathematics and Science Education 
Network.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the 
National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of 
Mathematics, Science and Technology.  With a particular interest 
in the intellectual and moral development of young people, he 
established the first high school chapter of Student Pugwash USA 
at IMSA in 1988 and has served as the chapter`s sponsor since 
that time.