%0 Journal Article
%T Student Perceptions of Problem-Based Learning: A Case Study of Undergraduate Applied Agrometeorology
%A Linda De Wet
%A Sue Walker
%J ISRN Education
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/982942
%X Many students do not seem to transfer their learning during formal education into applications in the real world. The objective of this ongoing study was to investigate the opinion of third-year students concerning their program through problem-based learning and to improve the module where necessary. Students attending theory classes had to apply their newly gained knowledge coupled with real-life weather data to solve a problem during practicums. Students attending practicums were given the same questionnaire thrice; thus, the answers were based on different sets of exercises. Responses by attendees for the three questionnaires were 73%, 100%, and 61%, respectively. Students preferred problem-based practicums (78%, 54%, and 72%, resp.) to other non-problem-based practicums. Most students thought that their knowledge had improved and it had prepared them better for the workplace (85%, 77%, and 92%, resp.). Generally students preferred working in groups (74%, 62%, and 56%, resp.), in contrast to those preferring to work individually. Students benefited from problem-based learning in that they thought they had improved their knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities and felt that they had learnt things that they could carry into their future lives out in the world at large and the workplace. 1. Introduction Traditional methods of teaching and learning have been used for centuries in almost all countries of the world and are therefore a universal phenomenon [1]. According to Kelly and Finlayson [2], teaching the traditional way is a teacher-centred approach where students follow a strict set of instructions, with perhaps little understanding of the purpose thereof, and in the case of practicums, many students are not able to produce satisfactory interpretation of the observations or results. According to Kendal-Wright and Kusuya [3], this ˇ°one-way communicationˇ± method of teaching has often been challenged and is not popular because students are passive learners. Using the problem-based approach, however, the emphasis is on students learning something they can apply outside the classroom and not on the teacher merely giving information [4] that the student does not even remember. Problem-based learning was originally developed medical staff at McMaster University in Canada in the 1970s, and since then many others in different fields have based their own curriculum development on this model [5]. According to Dochy et al. [6], problem-based learning was developed in order to help students in the development of professional skills such as
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.education/2013/982942/