Engaging Staff and Students
through Problem-Based Learning
Derek Raine
Director, CETL (Leicester)
CETL (Physics Innovations)
 Open University
 Reading
Interactive Screen experiment
Remote telescope
e-marking
e-learning
Image banks
 Leicester
Problem-based learning
Physics
Interdisciplinary Science
Annual Summer Workshop (12-14 July)
http://physics.le.ac.uk/PBLSummerSchool/
Problem-Based Learning - What is PBL?
 Chocolate factory example
Grenada Chocolate Company
“Real” Problems -- Groups –– Authentic Assessment
Example: Traditional Approach
 (a) A coil of length 10 cm, radius 1.5 cm has 1000 windings. What is
its inductance?
 (b) Calculate the capacitances for two tuned LC circuits, frequencies
160 kHz and 500 kHz using the inductor in part (a).
 (c) A parallel plate capacitor has plate area 10 cm2 . What plate
separations are required to obtain the capacitances in part (b)?
 (d) What is the Q-value of a circuit with L = 10mH, C = 1 F and R =
k.
 (e) What resistance placed in series will be required to ensure the
two signals are separated in the tuned circuits of part (b)?
PBL Approach
The control of the size of sugar particles is important in chocolate
manufacture. The Granada Chocolate Company is a small company in the
Caribbean which might benefit from semi-automating the grinding
process. To do this is it would be necessary to check the granularity of the
sugar being introduced to the mix. It has been suggested by your research
department that a simple way to check the granule size is to measure the
bulk dielectric constant of the granulated sugar.
Your task is to investigate if the
granularity of sugar can be
checked by determining its
dielectric constant using an LCR
circuit.
“Real” Problems -- Groups –– Authentic Assessment
Integrated Physics: from standard laboratories to
Group Research Projects
UltraKleene
White Knuckle Ride
Otherton Airport
Chocolate factory
Insurance scam?
Telescopes
NanoAerosols
Planetary Cratering
Air quality
Spacecraft Imaging
Water in the desert
Traffic Lights
Stellar types
Remote Stereovision
Imaging Craters
Spectroscopy
Nanoparticles
Speed of Sound
Space Environment
Elastomers
Time travel
Searching for Black Holes
Lasers
Clusters of Galaxies
Magnetospheres
Robotics
Scanning Probe Microscopy
SemiConductor Nanostructures
Shortwave radio
Mars Sample Return
Staff Engagement
 Development (Essential CETL)
 Summer development programme (graduates)
 Implementation
“The best thing I do”
“You’ve changed my life”
“Better than baby-sitting a lab class”
Student Engagement
‘A good way into lab work … working from a practical base’
‘Closer to real life … especially in the practical field’
‘It was stressful …. I was never clear what we were supposed to be doing …
or how much was ‘enough’’
‘More satisfying, more fun, more hands-on’
‘It’s a modern way of teaching Physics, applying what you have learned, and
relevant to future research’
External Impact:
Gradual interest in PBL in Physics e.g. Liverpool, Bath, Salford, Birmingham
I-Science
 A new model for Science UG teaching (Essential CETL)
“Entirely” PBL
09:00
Interdisciplinary Problem (5 week module)
~ 4 hours per week Facilitator Contact
~ 2 lectures per week
~8 hours labs per week
~2 Maths classes per week
~Weekly Computing class
Weekly individual worksheets
Group deliverable
Impact - close to zero in UK
- 6 Canadian Universities
Monday
Support
Session
: Skills
Tuesday
Support
Session
: Maths
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
Expert
Session
Facilitation
Session
Extracurricular Activities
Support
Session
: Maths
“Entirely” Paperless
16:00
Facilitation
Session
Laboratory Session
Laboratory Session
15:00
Expert
Session
Facilitation
Session
Facilitation
Session
Electives
PBL for 1 (Distance Learning)
 How to revise subject knowledge for mature returners to
PGCE?
 Advantages of PBL: focus; repetition; basic material from
a new stance
Impact: ~ 40 student
physics teachers per year
~ live in hope!
CETL PBL Environment
Flexible IT
Environment
Projects
Laboratory
First Year Groupwork
Room
Open Groupwork
Room
IT Teaching &
Conferencing
Media Suite
Physics
Laboratory
Learning Communities
 Learning spaces promote interaction
between groups; within groups; with
staff
 Joint modules (e.g. Sustainability) promotes interaction
amongst students (Iscience, Physics, Chemistry...) and
amongst staff (ESD module: Education, Bioscience,
Physics, Student Support)
 Impact: growing
- I hope!