Interactional Research Into Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been deployed as a student-centered instructional approach and curriculum design in a wide range of academic fields across the world. The majority of educational research to date has focused on knowledge-based outcomes addressing why PBL is useful. Researchers of PBL are developing a growing interest in qualitative research with a process-driven orientation to examining learning interactions. It is essential to broaden this research base so as to support PBL designs and approaches to leading students into higher-order thinking and a deeper approach to learning.

Interactional Research Into Problem-Based Learning explores how students learn in an inquiry-led approach such as PBL. Included are studies that focus on learning in situ and go beyond measuring the outcomes of PBL. The goal is to further expand the PBL research base of qualitative investigations examining the social dimension and lived experience of teaching and learning within the PBL process. A second aim of this volume is to shed light on the methodological aspects of researching PBL, adding new perspectives to the current trends in qualitative studies on PBL. Chapters cover ethnographic approaches to video analysis, introspective protocols such as stimulated recall, and longitudinal qualitative studies using discourse-based analytic approaches. Specifically, this book will further contribute to the current educational research both theoretically and empirically in the following key areas: students’ learning processes in PBL over time and across contexts; the nature of quality interactions in PBL tutorials; the (inter)cultural aspects of learning in PBL; facilitation processes and group dynamics in synchronous and asynchronous face-to-face and blended PBL; and the developing nature of PBL learner identity.

Susan M. Bridges is an associate professor and assistant dean of learning and teaching with the Faculty of Education and the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) at the University of Hong Kong. She also is an adjunct professor at the Australian Catholic University. Her locally and internationally funded research explores the “how” of effective pedagogy in professional education (health professions/teacher education) through interactional and ethnographic approaches.

Rintaro Imafuku is an assistant professor at the Medical Education Development Center at Gifu University, Japan. He received his MA from Monash University and his PhD from the University of Hong Kong. His research centers on learners’ social interactions and group dynamics in inquiry-led education settings such as PBL, interprofessional education, undergraduate research, and professional identity formation.