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51. Problem-based learning
The essence of problem-based learning is that the teacher does not impart knowledge in a ready-made form, but sets problematic tasks for students, encouraging them to look for ways and means to solve them.
The main psychological and pedagogical goals of problem-based learning:
– development of students’ thinking and abilities, development of creative skills;
– students’ assimilation of knowledge and skills acquired through active search and independent problem solving, as a result of which this knowledge and skills are stronger than in traditional learning;
– nurturing an active creative personality of a student who can see, pose and solve non-standard problems.
An important stage of problem-based learning is the creation of a problem situation, which is a feeling of mental difficulty. The educational problem, which is introduced at the moment a problem situation arises, should be quite difficult, but feasible for students. Its introduction and awareness completes the first stage.
At the second stage of problem solving (“closed”), the student sorts through, analyzes the knowledge at his disposal on this issue, finds out that it is not enough to answer, and is actively involved in obtaining the missing information.
The third stage (“open”) is aimed at acquiring the knowledge necessary to solve the problem in various ways. This stage ends with an understanding of how the problem can be solved.
Conditions for successful problem-based learning:
– providing sufficient motivation that can arouse interest in the content of the problem;
– ensuring the feasibility of working with problems that arise at each stage (rational relationship between the known and the unknown);
– the significance of the information obtained when solving the problem;
– the need for dialogical, friendly communication between teacher and student, when all thoughts and hypotheses expressed by students are treated with attention and encouragement.
Forms of problem-based learning: problem-based presentation of educational material in a monologue lecture mode or a dialogical seminar mode; problematic presentation of educational material at a lecture, when the teacher poses problematic questions, constructs problematic tasks and solves them himself, and students only mentally become involved in the process of finding a solution; partial search activity when performing an experiment in laboratory work; during problem seminars, heuristic conversations. The teacher's questions should provoke students' intellectual challenges and focused thought flow; independent research activity, when students independently formulate a problem and solve it, with subsequent supervision of the teacher.
The principle of problematic learning content can be implemented in the form of educational business games.
Advantages of problem-based learning: independent acquisition of knowledge through one’s own creative activity; high interest in learning; development of productive thinking; lasting and impactful learning outcomes.
Disadvantages of problem-based learning: poor controllability of students’ cognitive activity; a lot of time is spent on achieving the planned goals.
Depending on the goal, the mission of the school, learning can be problematic or non-problematic. If the school is faced with the task of developing students’ thinking and their creative abilities, then pedagogically correctly organized education cannot be unproblematic.
Understanding the essence of problematicity as a pattern of cognition, defining its role in teaching and introducing the concept of “problematicity principle” into didactics has opened up new opportunities for a theoretical explanation of the way to intensify educational and cognitive activity of students.
The principle of problematic nature reflects in logic the construction of the educational process, in the content of the material being studied, in the methods of organizing and managing students’ educational and cognitive activities, in the structure of the lesson and forms of teacher control over the process and result of students’ activities. If the teacher thoroughly understands the content and essence of the theory of organizing the process of problem-based learning, masters the forms, methods and technical means of teaching and systematically creatively applies what he has learned in practice, then success will come by itself. Good didactic preparation of a teacher today is especially important, because without knowledge of general theory it is impossible to create, and the teaching process itself is an art, the art of captivating children with their subject, surprising them with the beauty of thought and knowledge, and inducing them to independent mental actions.
2. Fundamentals of problem-based learning.
2.1 Theoretical foundations of problem-based learning.
The task of our schools is to form a harmoniously developed personality.
The most important indicator of a comprehensively and harmoniously developed personality is the presence of a high level of thinking abilities. If training leads to the development of creative abilities, then it can be considered developmental training, that is, training in which the teacher, based on knowledge of the laws of development of thinking, uses special pedagogical means to conduct targeted work on the formation of the thinking abilities and cognitive needs of his students in the process of studying the goal fundamentals of sciences. This kind of learning is problematic.
Most modern publications on learning theory are associated with the idea of activating the educational process and learning activities of students. By activation we mean the effective use of those teaching techniques and methods that are known from traditional didactics. The authors talk about activation through problem-based learning, while understanding the creation of problematic situations and the setting of cognitive tasks.
Teaching students ready-made methods of mental activity is the way to achieve ordinary activity, not creative activity.
The purpose of activation through problem-based learning is to understand the level of mastery of concepts and to teach not individual mental operations in a random, spontaneously developing order, but a system of mental actions for solving non-stereotypical problems. This activity lies in the fact that the student, analyzing, comparing, synthesizing, generalizing, concretizing the factual material, himself received new information from it. In other words, it is an expansion and deepening of knowledge using previously acquired knowledge or a new application of previous knowledge.
Neither a teacher nor a book can give a new application of previous knowledge. This information is sought and found by the student placed in the appropriate situation. This is the search method of teaching.
Mental search is a complex process; it, as a rule, begins with a problematic situation, a problem. But not every search is associated with a problem? If a teacher gives a task to students, indicating how to complete it, then even independent search will not be a solution to the problem.
Genuine activation of students is characterized by independent search not in general, but by searching through problem solving. If the search is aimed at solving a theoretical, technical, practical educational problem or forms and methods of artistic display, it turns into a problematic teaching.
We see the main difference between problem-based and traditional learning in two points: they differ in the purpose and principles of organizing the pedagogical process.
The goal of the problem-based type of learning is not only to assimilate the results of scientific knowledge, a system of knowledge, but also the very process of obtaining these results, the formation of the student’s cognitive initiative and the development of his creative abilities.
The goal of the traditional type of education is to assimilate the results of scientific knowledge, equip students with knowledge of the fundamentals of science, and instill in them the appropriate skills and abilities.
The teacher’s organization of explanatory and illustrative teaching is based on the principle of transferring ready-made scientific conclusions to students. The organization of the goal of the problem-based learning process is based on the principle of the student’s search educational and cognitive activity, that is, the principle of his discovering the conclusions of science, methods of action, inventing new objects or ways of applying knowledge to practice.
In problem-based learning, the teacher’s activity consists in providing, if necessary, an explanation of the content of the most complex
concepts, systematically creates problem situations, informs students of factors and organizes (problem situations) their educational and cognitive activity, so that, based on the analysis of facts, students independently draw conclusions and generalizations, form certain concepts and laws with the help of the teacher.
As a result, students develop skills of mental operations and actions, skills of transferring knowledge, develop attention, will, and creative imagination.
Problem-based teaching is the teacher’s activity in creating a system of problem situations, presenting educational material with its explanation and managing students’ activities aimed at acquiring new knowledge, both in the traditional way and by independently posing educational problems and solving them.
Problem-based learning is an educational and cognitive activity of students to assimilate knowledge and methods of action by perceiving the teacher’s explanation in a problem situation, independently analyzing problem situations, formulating problems and solving them by means of putting forward proposals, hypotheses, their justification and evidence, as well as by checking the correctness solutions.
A problem situation is a person’s intellectual difficulty that arises when he does not know how to explain an emerging phenomenon, fact, process of reality cannot achieve the goal in a way known to him, this action prompts the person to look for a new way of explanation or method of action. A problem situation is a pattern of productive, creative cognitive activity. It determines the beginning of thinking in the process of posing and solving problems.
Psychological science has established a certain sequence of stages of productive cognitive activity of a person in a problem situation:
Problem situation → problem → search for ways to solve it → solution to the problem.
The full cycle of mental actions from the emergence of a problem situation to the solution of the problem has several stages
— the emergence of a problematic situation;
- awareness of the essence of the difficulty and formulation of the problem;
- finding a solution by guessing or making assumptions and justifying the hypothesis;
— proof of the hypothesis;
— checking the correctness of problem solving.
General functions of problem-based learning:
— students’ assimilation of a system of knowledge and methods of mental practical activity;
— development of cognitive independence and creative abilities of students;
— formation of dialectical-materialistic thinking of schoolchildren (as a basis).
In addition, problem-based learning has special functions:
— developing skills for creative knowledge acquisition (the use of certain logical techniques and methods of creative activity);
— developing skills in creative application of knowledge (application of acquired knowledge in a new situation) and the ability to solve educational problems;
— formation and accumulation of experience in creative activity (mastery of scientific research methods, solving practical problems and artistic reflection of reality).
Students' mental activity is stimulated by asking questions. The teacher’s question should be so complex as to cause difficulty for students, and at the same time feasible for them to find the answer on their own.
A problematic task, unlike ordinary educational tasks, is not simply a description of a certain situation, including a description of the data that makes up the conditions of the problem and an indication of the unknown, which should be revealed on the basis of these conditions.
As research has shown, it is possible to identify the most typical types of problem situations for teaching practice, common to all subjects.
The first type: a problematic situation arises when students do not know how to solve a given problem, cannot answer a problematic question, or give an explanation for a new fact in a learning or life situation.
The second type: problematic situations arise when students are faced with the need to use previously acquired knowledge in new practical conditions.
Third type: a problem situation easily arises if there is a contradiction between a theoretically possible way to solve a problem and the practical impracticability of the chosen method.
Fourth type: a problematic situation arises when there are contradictions between the practically achieved result of completing an educational task and the students’ lack of knowledge for theoretical justification.
2.2 Methods of problem-based learning.
The first way is to encourage students to provide a theoretical explanation of phenomena, facts, and external inconsistencies between them. This provokes the search activity of students and leads to the active assimilation of new knowledge.
The second method is the use of educational and life situations that arise when students perform practical tasks at school, at home or at work, while observing nature, and the like. A problematic situation arises when students try to independently achieve the practical goal set for them.
The third method is to arrange educational problem tasks to explain phenomena or search for practical solutions. An example would be any research work done by students at a training and experimental site, in a workshop, and so on.
The fourth way is to encourage students to analyze facts and phenomena of reality, striking the contradictions between life ideas and scientific concepts about these facts.
The fifth method is to put forward assumptions (hypotheses), formulate conclusions and test them experimentally.
The sixth method is to encourage students to compare, contrast and contrast facts, phenomena, rules, as a result of which a problematic situation arises.
The seventh method is to encourage students to preliminary generalize new facts. Students are given the task to consider some facts and phenomena contained in material that is new to them, compare them with known ones and make an independent generalization.
The eighth method is to familiarize students with facts that seem to be of an inexplicable nature and which in the history of science lead to the formulation of a scientific problem.
The ninth method is the organization of interdisciplinary connections. Often the material of an academic subject does not provide the creation of a problem situation (when processing skills, repeating what has been learned, etc.). In this case, you should use facts and scientific data that are related to the material being studied.
The tenth method is varied tasks, reformulation of the question.
3. Rules for posing an educational problem.
The process of posing educational problems requires knowledge of not only logical-psychological and linguistic, but also didactic rules for posing problems.
The teacher, knowing the level of preparedness of his students and based on the specifics of training, can pose before them problems that have already been encountered before. In doing so, he takes into account the following:
a) the algorithm for solving previously solved problems can be used to solve new difficult problem problems;
b) solving problems that were previously encountered, but not solved due to the lack of sufficient knowledge, strengthens students’ interest in the subject, convinces them that non-learning problems can be practically overcome - for this they need to have more knowledge;
c) posing a problem previously solved by the class in a different formulation provides the opportunity for creative work when repeating the material covered;
d) problems previously solved by the team can be used for secondary posing to weak students for independent solution.
4. System of problem-based learning methods.
System of general methods (the most famous nomenclature of methods proposed by M.N. Skatkin and I.Ya. Lerner):
Explanatory illustrative;
Reproductive;
Problem presentation;
Partially search;
Research method.
The system of binary methods is information-reproductive, information-heuristic and other teaching methods and teaching methods such as listening to a textbook, exercises, and so on.
A system of problem-based learning methods, which is an organic combination of general and binary methods.
In general, we can talk about six didactic ways of organizing the process of problem-based learning (that is, general methods), which represent three types of presentation of educational material by the teacher and three types of organization of independent learning activities for students:
monologue;
reasoning;
dialogical;
heuristic;
research;
method of programmed tasks.
4.1 Method of monologue presentation.
With the monologue method, the teacher himself explains the essence of new concepts, facts, and gives students ready-made conclusions of science, but this is done in the conditions of a problem situation; the form of presentation is a story, a lecture.
4.2 Methods of reasoning presentation.
The first option is to create a problem situation, the teacher analyzes the factual material, draws conclusions and generalizations.
The second option is that when presenting a topic, the teacher tries by searching and discovering a scientist, that is, he, as it were, creates an artificial logic of scientific research by constructing judgments and conclusions based on the logic of the cognitive process. Form – conversation lecture.
4.3 Method of dialogic presentation.
Represents a dialogue between a teacher and a group of students. The teacher, in a problem situation created by him, poses the problem himself and solves it, but with the help of students, that is, they actively participate in posing the problem, making assumptions, and proving hypotheses. The activities of students are characterized by a combination of reproductive and partially search methods of teaching. The basics of the teaching form are exploratory conversation, story.
4.4 Method of heuristic tasks.
The essence of the heuristic method is that the discovery of a new law, rule, etc. is not carried out by the teacher, with the participation of students, but by the students themselves, under the guidance and help of the teacher. The form of implementation of this method is a combination of heuristic conversation and solving problematic problems and assignments.
4.5 Method of research tasks.
Organized by the teacher by assigning theoretical and practical research tasks to students that have a high level of problem-solving.
The student performs logical operations independently, revealing the essence of a new concept and a new method of action.
The form of organization of research work can be varied: student experiment, excursion and collection of facts, conversations with the population, preparation of a report, design and modulation.
4.6 Method of programmed tasks.
This is a method in which students, with the help of specially prepared didactic means, can acquire new knowledge and new actions.
Binary teaching methods.
Teaching methods
a) reporting
b) explanatory
c) instructive
d) explanatory-motivating
d) motivating
Teaching methods
a) executive
b) reproductive
c) practical
d) partially search
e) search
The informative teaching method represents a system of techniques that ensure that the teacher communicates facts or conclusions without sufficient explanation, generalization and systematization.
The executive method of teaching is a combination of techniques that characterize the student’s educational activity mainly according to a model, using previously acquired skills. This method involves: listening to the teacher’s story, memorizing the facts and conclusions presented by the teacher without critical analysis and comprehension.
The explanatory method consists of a system of techniques, including messages and generalizations by the teacher of the facts of a given science, their description and explanations.
The reproductive method of teaching is a system of techniques such as listening and comprehension, perception, observation, systematization of facts, solving standard problems, analysis, and the like. It is used to comprehend the assimilation of theoretical knowledge, to process skills, and to memorize educational material.
Instructive teaching method. The teacher instructs students what to do and shows how to do it. Used to organize practical activities for students.
The practical teaching method involves practical and physical students as the main activity. This method is a combination of techniques:
a) processing the skills of practical actions for the manufacture of objects or their processing for the purpose of improvement, modification.
b) activities related to technical modeling and design, rationalization and invention.
The explanatory and stimulating teaching method is a combination of methods of explanation and encouraging the student to take independent actions of a searching nature. The educational material is partly explained by the teacher, and partly given by the student in the form of problematic tasks, questions, assignments for independent assimilation by discovering new knowledge.
The partial search method of teaching is a combination of the student’s perception of the teacher’s explanations with his own search activity to perform work that requires independent passage of all stages of the cognitive process. The predominant teaching methods here are most often listening and comprehension, analysis of facts, systematization, and search for solutions to problems.
The stimulating method of teaching is the activity of the teacher, which encourages active mental activity of the student. Use of puzzles, crosswords, problems in poetry.
The search method of teaching represents mental actions to formulate a problem and find a way to solve it.
5. Structure of a problem lesson.
The structure of the lesson underlies the thematic and lesson plans and predetermines the logic of lesson analysis. The structure is understood as various options for interaction between the elements of the composition that arise during the functioning of the object.
Structural elements of a problem lesson:
updating students’ previous knowledge;
assimilation of new knowledge and methods of action;
formation of skills and abilities.
This structure reflects the main stages of teaching and stages of organizing a modern lesson.
Since an indicator of the problematic nature of a lesson is the presence of search activity stages in its structure, it is natural that they represent the internal part of the structure of a problematic lesson:
the emergence of problematic situations and problem formulation;
making assumptions and substantiating the hypothesis;
proof of hypothesis;
checking the correctness of the problem solution.
The structure of a problem lesson, which is a combination of external and internal elements of the learning process, creates the opportunity to manage the student’s independent learning activities.
Problem-based study is simply necessary, as it forms a harmoniously developed creative personality, capable of thinking logically, finding solutions in various problem situations, systematizing and accumulating knowledge, able to do self-analysis, striving for self-development and self-correction.
Constantly presenting a child with problematic situations leads to the fact that he does not “give in” to problems, but strives to resolve them, thus we are dealing with a creative person who is always capable of searching. Thus, when entering life, the child will be more protected from stress.
Lecture: “Problem-based learning”
The essence and main categories of problem-based learning
Problem-based learning is based on the theoretical principles of the American philosopher, psychologist and teacher J. Dewey (1859-1952), who founded an experimental school in Chicago in 1894, in which the curriculum was replaced by play and work activities. Classes in reading, counting, and writing were carried out only in connection with needs - instincts that arose spontaneously in children, as they matured physiologically. Dewey identified four instincts for learning: social, constructive, artistic expression, and investigative. To satisfy these instincts, the child was provided with the following sources of knowledge: the word, works of art, technical devices, children were involved in play and practical activity-work.
In 1923, our country had "complex projects" based on Dewey. (knowledge was acquired during the implementation of projects). The class-lesson system was declared an obsolete form and was replaced by the laboratory-brigade method. However, in 1932, by decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, these methods were declared methodological projectism and canceled.
Today under problem-based learning is understood as such an organization of educational activities that involves the creation, under the guidance of a teacher, of problem situations and the active independent activity of students to resolve them, as a result of which the creative mastery of professional knowledge, skills, abilities and the development of thinking abilities occurs.
So, problem-based learning is one of the types of learning based on organizing the search activity of students, on developing their skills for productive, creative study of educational material.
Goal orientations of problem-based learning.
Acquisition of ZUN.
Mastering methods of independent cognitive activity.
Development of cognitive and creative abilities.
Conceptual provisions (according to D. Dewey)
In ontogenesis, a child repeats the path of humanity in knowledge.
The assimilation of knowledge is a spontaneous, uncontrolled process.
A child learns material not just by listening or perceiving with his senses, but as a result of satisfying his need for knowledge, being an active subject of his learning.
The conditions for successful learning are: problematization of educational material (knowledge – children of surprise and curiosity);
child’s activity (knowledge must be absorbed with appetite); connection between learning and life, play, and work.
The modernity of problem-based learning is also determined by its role in solving issues of managing the cognitive activity of students. The activity of the teacher consists in organizing the active cognition of students and in managing their cognitive activity. Problem situation –
intellectual difficulty that arises in a person when he does not know how to explain this or that phenomenon, fact, process, cannot achieve the goal by the method of action known to him, which prompts him to look for a new way of explanation or action. A problem situation serves as the basis for problem-based learning.
So, the central link in the structure of the educational process in problem-based learning is the problem situation. The problem situation is of an objective-subjective nature; it is a logical and psychological situation. It follows from the logic of studying the academic subject and reflects objective contradictions in its content. But outside the subject of thinking - the student, the emergence of a problem situation is impossible. It constitutes the relationship between acquired and new knowledge and methods for the student, and involves the inclusion of the subject in the relationship between the known and the sought-after, which occurs on the basis of his knowledge, skills and motives. The mechanism of inclusion in a problem situation is the emergence of a cognitive need in the student, on the basis of which cognitive activity appears as a means of satisfying it and cognitive interest as the motive for this activity. Creating conditions (the presence of the known and the unknown, between which a certain relationship can be established that is significant for the student) for the emergence of a cognitive need is a necessary link in managing the process of assimilation in problem-based learning.
The psychological structure of a problem situation includes three components: a cognitive need that encourages a person to engage in intellectual activity; unknown attainable knowledge or course of action; a person's intellectual capabilities, including his creative abilities and past experiences.
Classification of problem situations
By level of problem:
Occurring regardless of techniques (level 1)
Called and permitted by the teacher (level 2)
Called by the teacher, allowed by the student (level 3)
Independent formation of problems and solutions (level 4)
By type of information mismatch
Surprises
conflict
Assumptions
Refutations
Inconsistencies
Uncertainties
According to methodological features
Problem Statement
Heuristic conversation
Problem demos
Research laboratory work
Problematic frontal experiment
Thought problem experiment
Problem solving
Problem tasks
Gaming problem situations
Unintentional
Educational problem. An educational problem is a form of manifestation of the logical-psychological contradiction of the assimilation process, determining the direction of mental search, awakening interest in the study (explanation) of the essence of the unknown and leading to the assimilation of a new concept or a new method of action. This concept of an educational problem emphasizes the internal aspects of cognition during training, its objective-subjective essence. An objective problem can be posed by a teacher, but it can become subjective for the student and encourage him to cognitive activity only as a result of creating a problem situation that makes the objective problem personally significant for the student.
Forms of presenting educational problems. The forms of presenting an educational problem to a student can be: a problematic (search) cognitive task, a problematic question, a problematic task (theoretical or practical), which contains potential opportunities for the emergence of problematic situations in the process of their implementation.
Problematic cognitive task. Any problem (practical, mathematical, theoretical, constructive, etc.) is cognitive in nature, but in some problems the solution path is known to the student, in others it is unknown. Tasks of the second type are called problem or search or simply cognitive tasks.
Problematic question. The question that appears to students when solving this problem is problematic; its essence is the visible or implied contradiction contained in it. This question may arise among students as a result of searching for a solution to a cognitive task proposed by the teacher.
So, creating problem situations, posing problems, solving them step by step, guiding the formulation of hypotheses, their proof and testing, providing assistance in the process of solving problems - all these are elements of cognitive management inherent in problem-based learning.
Introduction
The goal of modern education is to train and educate a comprehensively developed personality capable of creativity. There are many programs to achieve this goal. However, personality development can occur in any program. It all depends on what methods the teacher uses. For a long time, the school used reproductive methods, according to which the teacher himself told everything, and the students only memorized and reproduced the material.
The traditional lesson formed a passive, inert personality. Such a lesson does not meet modern requirements, and therefore the teacher has to look for other ways to educate and develop an active, courageous, decisive personality in the child. A person who knows how to obtain knowledge himself and apply it in non-standard situations.
Modern problem-based learning technology helps achieve this goal. Most scientists recognize that the development of creative abilities of schoolchildren is impossible without problem-based learning.
Purpose of the course work: study and reveal the theoretical aspects of problem-based learning at school.
Coursework objectives:
- study and reveal the essence of problem-based learning technology in the educational process;
To study and reveal the essence of problem-based learning technology in the educational process in chemistry lessons;
Develop a chemistry lesson with elements of problem-based learning.
1. The essence of problem-based learning technology in the educational process
Objectives of problem-based learning
In domestic pedagogy, the ideas of problem-based learning have become relevant since the second half of the 1950s, and in the 1960s. Scientific, pedagogical and methodological literature substantiates the rich potential for solving educational problems and identifies ways to organize problem-based learning.
The purpose of problem-based learning: development of students’ intelligence and creative abilities; formation of solid knowledge; increasing motivation through the emotional coloring of the lesson; education of an active personality.
Thus, it can be noted that problem-based learning is learning in which the teacher, by creating problem situations and organizing students’ activities to solve educational problems, provides an optimal combination of their independent search activity with the assimilation of ready-made scientific conclusions.
By problem-based learning, V. Okon understands “a set of actions such as organizing problem situations, formulating problems, providing students with the necessary help in solving problems, checking these solutions and, finally, leading the process of systematization and consolidation of acquired knowledge D. V. Vilkeev under problem-based learning refers to the nature of learning when it is given some features of scientific knowledge.
I. Ya. Lerner sees the essence of problem-based learning in the fact that “the student, under the guidance of the teacher, takes part in solving new cognitive and practical problems for him in a specific system that corresponds to the educational goals of the school”
T.V. Kudryavtsev sees the essence of the process of problem-based learning in putting forward didactic problems to students, in solving them and in students mastering generalized knowledge and principles of problem tasks. This understanding is also found in the works of Yu. K. Babansky.
Based on a generalization of practice and analysis of the results of theoretical research, M. I. Makhmutov gives the following definition of the concept of “problem-based learning”: “Problem-based learning is a type of developmental education that combines systematic independent search activity of students with their assimilation of ready-made conclusions of science, and a system of methods built taking into account goal setting and the principle of problematic nature; the process of interaction between teaching and learning is focused on the formation of students’ cognitive independence, stability of learning motives and mental (including creative) abilities in the course of their assimilation of scientific concepts and methods of activity, determined by a system of problem situations”
Problem-based learning, unlike any other, contributes not only to the acquisition by students of the necessary system of knowledge, skills and abilities, but also to the achievement of a high level of their mental development, the formation of their ability to self-study and self-education. Both of these tasks can be implemented with great success precisely in the process of problem-based learning, since learning material occurs during the active search activity of students, in the process of solving a system of problem-cognitive tasks. It is necessary to note one more important goal of problem-based learning: the formation of a special style of mental activity, research activity and independence of students.
Forms of problem-based learning and ways of organizing it
In domestic pedagogy, there are three main forms of problem-based learning:
Problem-based presentation of educational material in a monologue lecture mode or a dialogic seminar mode;
Partial search activity when performing an experiment, during laboratory work;
Independent research activities. A problem-based seminar can be conducted in the form of a theoretical game, when small working groups, organized on the basis of a student group, prove to each other the advantages of their concept, their method. The solution to a series of problematic problems can be submitted to a practical lesson devoted to testing or evaluating a certain theoretical model or technique and the degree of their suitability in given conditions.
The most optimal is the following structure of the problem task:
Creating a problem situation:
The teacher’s formulation of problem situations aims to intensify the students’ efforts to resolve the corresponding contradiction.
The goal of the motivation stage in the lesson should be to raise a doubt, uncertainty, question or problem. All further student activity should be directed toward their resolution.
Creating different options for practical circumstances will help create problematic situations in the lesson. There are three main ways to create them:
receiving keywords;
riddle-interpretation technique;
feasible/impossible action.
Reception of keywords is based on students reflecting on what they already know and stimulating the formulation of questions about what they do not yet know. To reflect on the known and isolate the unknown, a frontal technique is used: the teacher first asks the children what they know on a particular issue, and then asks them about what they still do not know. This formulation of the task does not cause any serious difficulties for students. The difficulty lies in the fact that children’s questions about what they do not know can be very numerous and among them there may not be the question that is to be studied. Using keywords avoids this difficulty. Encouraging and teaching research questions is one of the most important ways to develop research activity. Students are asked to guess what is hidden in the box using questions to which the teacher can only answer “yes” and “no.” Children begin to ask questions with enthusiasm, but quickly enough their questions dry up due to the lack of ability to ask research questions.
Next stage - stage of searching for the unknown. The teacher invites the children to use special keys that will lead them to solving the main problem. These clues are questions that are based on words that can be used to solve the problem. The teacher’s task at this stage is to teach how to use keywords to pose research questions. It is advisable to start learning how to ask questions with keys such as “properties” and “functions”.
By helping children move from one clue to another, the teacher encourages the formulation of research questions. In this case, children quickly solve the problematic problem. If at least one such lesson has been conducted, then in the future it is not difficult to enter such keywords as “reason”, “condition”, “meaning”, “origin”, “species”, etc.
Teachers who begin to use this technique for the first time are surprised at how quickly children come to the questions that were included in the scope of study. It is always necessary to remember the fundamental difference between the question posed by the teacher and the question that was born to the student. Behind the student question is the need to learn new material.
Next, the teacher can suggest grouping questions that are similar in meaning. Or he draws children’s attention to the fact that there are still many questions on this topic and encourages students to decide what needs to be done in this case. Children who have experience in independent searches can offer to conduct research. Having discussed with the children in what form it is best to conduct research, and having formulated the task of such research, you can move on to the next stage of the lesson - research in small groups.
Receiving keys ensures that a question arises, which is a prerequisite for conducting inductive research.
Another method of creating motivation is widely used - the method of riddles. It is based on the use of such stimulus material, which is characterized by varying degrees of uncertainty, which makes it possible to create a problematic situation. Such stimulus material can be anything: real objects, drawing, diagram, model, demonstration, etc.
The third way to create motivation in the lesson is feasible/impossible action. A characteristic feature of this method is that children are asked to complete a task that subjectively seems feasible. But in the process of its implementation, doubt arises or the impossibility of its implementation is discovered. The problematic situation in this case is created using some kind of task with a “trap”. The advantage of this technique is that it ensures the emergence of a very strong need to know something that children need to know.
Problem Statement:
Proposing hypotheses:
Students put forward possible hypotheses for solving this problem using various forms of problem-based learning technology.
Proof or refutation of hypotheses:
Students are required to substantiate the hypothesis and prove it, to check how well it corresponds to the initial conditions of the problem situation.
Checking the correctness of decisions (reflection-self-analysis):
After proving the hypothesis, which is carried out by deriving consequences from it and testing them, the final stage is carried out: evaluating the solution found, determining how suitable it is for solving other problems.
Reproduction of new material (expression of solution):
In the future, consolidation of the acquired knowledge can be carried out both according to the traditional scheme - using reproductive methods, and again within the framework of problem-based learning (or rather, with elements of problem-based learning) - by modifying the conditions of the original problem situation.
Levels of problem-based learning reflect not only different levels of students’ acquisition of new knowledge and methods of mental activity, but also different levels of thinking.
Level of usual non-independent activity - This is the students’ perception of the teacher’s explanations, the assimilation of a pattern of mental action in a problem situation, the performance of independent work, and exercises of a reproducing nature.
Semi-independent activity level characterized by the application of acquired knowledge in a new situation and the participation of students in a joint search with the teacher for a way to solve a given educational problem.
Level of independent activity provides for the implementation of independent work of the reproductive-search type, when the student independently works according to the text of the textbook, applies the acquired knowledge in a new situation, constructs a solution to a problem of an average level of complexity, proves hypotheses through logical analysis - the help of the teacher is minimal.
Level of creative activity characterizes the performance of independent work that requires creative imagination, logical analysis, the discovery of a new solution, and independent proof. At this level, independent conclusions and generalizations, inventions are made; artistic creativity also belongs to this level.
Structure of a problem situation
Problem situations may vary in the degree of difficulty in solving the problem. The highest degree of problem is inherent in such a learning situation in which a person:
1) formulates the problem (task) himself;
2) finds its solution himself;
3) decides and self-monitors the correctness of this decision.
Problem situations are based on the active cognitive activity of students, which consists of searching for and solving complex issues that require updating knowledge, analysis, the ability to see a pattern behind individual facts, etc.
A problem situation in a lesson could be:
– problematic tasks with missing, redundant, contradictory data, with obviously made mistakes;
– search for truth (method, method, rule of decision);
– different points of view on the same issue;
– contradictions of practical activities.
Ways in which a teacher can lead students to a problem situation:
– stimulating dialogue is an “excavator” that digs up a problem, question, difficulty, i.e. helps to formulate a learning task
– leading dialogue: a logically constructed chain of tasks and questions – a “locomotive” moving towards new knowledge, a method of action;
– use of motivating techniques: “bright spot” - communication of intriguing material (historical facts, legends, etc.), demonstration of incomprehensible phenomena (experiment, visualization), “updating” - discovery of the meaning, significance of the problem for students.
Main conditions use of problematic situations are:
From the students:
– new topic (“discovery” of new knowledge);
– the ability of students to use previously acquired knowledge and transfer it to a new situation;
– the ability to identify the area of “ignorance” in a new task;
– active search activity.
From the teacher's side:
– the ability to plan, create problem situations in the lesson and manage this process;
– formulate the problem situation that has arisen by pointing out to students the reasons for failure to complete the assigned practical educational task or the inability to explain to them certain demonstrated facts.
Table 2. Techniques for creating a problem situation
|
Type of problem situation |
Type of contradiction |
Techniques for creating a problem situation |
|
With surprise |
Between two (or more) facts |
Present contradictory facts and theories at the same time |
|
Challenge different opinions of students with a question or practical activity. |
||
|
Between the students’ everyday ideas and scientific fact |
a) expose the students’ everyday understanding with a question or practical task with a “trap”; b) present a scientific fact with a message, experiment, presentation |
|
|
With difficulty |
Between necessity and inability to complete the teacher’s task |
Give a practical task that is not possible at all |
|
Give a practical task that is not similar to the previous one |
||
|
a) give an impossible practical task, similar to the previous one; b) prove that the students did not complete the task |
Comparative characteristics of problem-based and traditional learning.
The main difference between the two types of training should be considered goal setting and the principle of organizing the pedagogical process. The goal of the existing type of education is to assimilate the results of scientific knowledge, equip students with knowledge of the fundamentals of science, and instill in them the relevant knowledge and skills. The goal of problem-based learning is broader: the assimilation of not only the results of scientific knowledge, but also the path itself, the process of obtaining these results; it also includes the formation of the student’s cognitive activity and the development of his creative abilities (in addition to mastering the system of knowledge, skills and abilities). Here the emphasis is on the development of thinking. Table 1 shows the main comparative characteristics of problem-based and traditional types of learning.
Table 1. Comparative characteristics of traditional and problem-based learning
|
Traditional training |
Problem-based learning |
|
1. The material is given ready-made, the teacher pays attention, first of all, to the program |
1. Students receive new information while solving theoretical and practical problems |
|
2. In oral presentation or through a textbook, problems, obstacles and difficulties arise caused by the student’s temporary exclusion from the didactic process |
2. In the course of solving a problem, the student overcomes all difficulties, his activity and independence reach a high level here |
|
3. The pace of information delivery is aimed at stronger, or average, or weaker students |
3. The pace at which information is conveyed varies by student or group of students. |
|
4. Monitoring school achievements is only partially related to the learning process, it is not an organic part of it. |
4. Increased student activity contributes to the development of positive motives and reduces the need for formal verification of results |
|
5. There is no possibility of ensuring 100% results for all students; |
the greatest difficulty is the application of information in practice |
Problem-based learning is not a completely new phenomenon in pedagogy. Elements of problem-based learning can be seen in the heuristic conversations of Socrates, in the development of lessons for Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. K.D. Ushinsky came especially close to this idea. He, for example, wrote that the best way to translate mechanical combinations into rational ones is the method used by Socrates and called Socratic after him. Socrates did not impose his thoughts on his listeners, but, knowing what contradictions in a series of thoughts and facts lie next to each other in their heads, poorly illuminated by consciousness, he raised questions of these contradictory series into the bright circle of consciousness and, thus, forced them to collide or destroy each other , or reconcile in the third thought that connects and clarifies them.
The history of problem-based learning itself begins with the introduction of the so-called research method, many of the rules of which in bourgeois pedagogy were developed by John Dewey, who founded the Chicago Experimental School in 1894, in which the curriculum was replaced by play and work activities. Then reading, counting, and writing were carried out only in connection with the needs-instincts that arose spontaneously in children as they developed - physiological maturation. For learning purposes, John Dewey identified 4 most important needs—instincts: social, constructive, artistic expression, and research.
To satisfy these instincts, a preschool child was provided with the following sources of knowledge: words (books, stories), works of art (pictures), and technical devices (toys). At an older age, the child was offered riddles, tasks, problems to solve, and they were involved in practical activities - work.
The conceptual provisions of his teaching were:
a) a child in ontogenesis repeats the path of humanity in knowledge;
b) the assimilation of knowledge is a spontaneous, uncontrolled process;
c) the child learns material not just by listening or
perceiving with the senses, but as a result of satisfaction
his need for knowledge, being an active
subject of his learning.
In-depth research in the field of problem-based learning began in the 60s of the twentieth century. The idea and principles in this area, in line with the study of the psychology of thinking, were developed by Soviet psychologists S.L. Rubinstein, D.N. Bogoyavlensky, N.A. Menchinskaya, A.M. Matyushkin, and in application to school education by such didactics as M. A. Danilov, M. N. Skatkin. T.V. Kudryavtsev, D.V. Vilkeev, Yu.K. Babansky, M.I. Makhmutov and I.Ya. Lerner dealt with these issues a lot. Research in this area is now being conducted by other representatives of pedagogical science.
The task of the school is to form a harmoniously developed personality. In modern pedagogy, issues of the general development of children in the learning process are studied. The most important indicator of a comprehensively developed personality is the presence of a high level of thinking abilities. The level of his, first of all, independent work depends on how highly developed the student’s thinking is.
Along with pedagogical science, psychology also deals with problem-based learning, which believes that the most important factor in problem-based learning is the thinking process. What is thinking and how does it affect problem-based learning?
Thinking is 1) one of the highest mental manifestations; 2) the process of human cognitive activity, characterized by a generalized and indirect reflection of reality.
Thinking as a mental process appears especially clearly, primarily in cases where, for example, a person spends a long time and persistently solving a difficult mental task or problem. As a result of his long and persistent attempts, he finally finds a solution to this problem or, conversely, does not find it. This is the product or result of the entire previous mental, thought process.
Thinking is always a search and discovery of something essentially new. Already a small child, as he develops elementary types of mental activity, begins to discover new things in the surrounding reality. For example, he thinks about the design of this or that toy, tries to understand some relationships between people, and masters increasingly complex skills and abilities. As a result, our little thinker makes small discoveries and begins to understand something that he did not understand before.
What is discovered in the process of thinking is new only in relation to the previous stages of thinking and, in general, to the entire life of a given individual.
Any training, no matter in what forms it is carried out, is always a necessary and indispensable condition for the formation and development of thinking. It is in the process of learning that thinking arises, forms and develops as a search and discovery of something essentially new. To train a person does not mean to pre-program and completely pre-program all his actions and actions, all his behavior. Such programming (if, let us assume, it were possible to implement it) would make any thinking of the student unnecessary, superfluous, since he would already know in advance everything necessary for life and therefore would no longer need to discover and learn anything new.
In fact, any thinking, at least to a minimal extent, is always a search and discovery of something essentially new (new for given specific individuals), and therefore it is always, to one degree or another, productive, creative, and independent. Many authors distinguish two main types of mental activity, thinking: 1) reproductive and 2) productive, creative.
Reproductive thinking is usually called, first of all, such thinking with the help of which a person easily solves problems of a type or type that has been familiar to him for a long time. People can learn something new mainly or exclusively through no longer reproductive, but, on the contrary, productive, creative thinking.
The main “mechanism” of thinking - analysis through synthesis - is as follows: in the process of thinking, the cognizable object is included in more and more new connections and, because of this, appears in more and more new qualities, which are fixed in new concepts and conceptual characteristics; Thus, all new content is drawn out of the object; it seems to turn every time with its other side, new properties are revealed in it.
Thinking in pedagogy appears primarily as a process, that is, as something becoming, forming, developing, never completely completed in its discovery of ever new properties and relationships of an object.
Developmental education, that is, leading to general and special development, can only be considered such education in which the teacher, relying on knowledge of the laws of development of thinking, uses special pedagogical means to carry out purposeful work on the formation of the thinking abilities of his students in the process of studying the fundamentals of science. Such learning is problematic [Greek: problema-task, task].
Problem-based learning arose as a result of advances in advanced practice and theory of teaching and education, combined with the traditional type of teaching, is an effective means of general and intellectual development of students.
In the pedagogical literature there are a number of attempts to define this phenomenon.
By problem-based learning, V. Okon understands “a set of actions such as organizing problem situations, formulating problems, providing students with the necessary help in solving problems, checking these solutions and, finally, leading the process of systematizing and consolidating acquired knowledge.”
By problem-based learning, D.V. Vilkeev means the nature of learning when it is given some features of scientific knowledge.
I.Ya. Lerner sees the essence of problem-based learning in the fact that “a student, under the guidance of a teacher, takes part in solving new cognitive and practical problems for him in a specific system that corresponds to the educational goals of the school.”
T.V. Kudryavtsev sees the essence of the process of problem-based learning in putting forward didactic problems to students, in solving them and in students mastering generalized knowledge and principles of problem tasks. The same understanding is found in the works of Yu.K. Babansky.
Based on a generalization of practice and analysis of the results of theoretical research, M.I. Makhmutov gives the following definition of the concept of “problem-based learning”: “Problem-based learning is a type of developmental education that combines the systematic independent search activity of students with their assimilation of ready-made conclusions of science, and a system of methods is built taking into account goal setting and principle; the process of interaction between teaching and learning is focused on the formation of students’ cognitive independence, stability of learning motives and mental (including creative) abilities in the course of their assimilation of scientific concepts and methods of activity, determined by a system of problem situations.”
A.A. Verbitsky interprets the concept of “problem-based learning” as a method organized by the teacher of active interaction between subjects of the educational process with the problematic content of learning, during which they become familiar with the objective contradictions of science, social and professional practice and methods of their destruction, learn to think, enter into relationships of productive communication, creatively assimilate knowledge.
Problem-based learning is one of the most effective means of activating student thinking. The essence of activity achieved through problem-based learning is that the student must analyze factual material and operate with it in such a way as to obtain new information from it. In other words, it is an expansion, deepening of knowledge using previously acquired knowledge or a new application of previous knowledge. Neither a teacher nor a book can give a new application of previous knowledge; it is sought and found by the student, placed in the appropriate situation.
Mental search is a complex process. Not every search is associated with a problem. If a teacher gives a task to students and indicates how to complete it, then even their independent search will not be a solution to the problem. Students can take an active part in research work, collecting empirical material, but not solving any problems. Genuine activation of students is characterized by an independent search for solutions to problems.
The goal of activating students through problem-based learning is to raise the level of the student’s mental activity and teach him not individual operations in a random, spontaneously developing order, but a system of mental actions that is characteristic of solving non-stereotypical problems that require the use of creative mental activity.
The essence of activating a student’s learning through problem-based learning is to activate his thinking by creating problem situations, formulating cognitive interest and modeling mental processes. The following related terms and concepts are found in the pedagogical literature:
Problematic approach (T.I. Shamova), the principle of problematicity (V.T. Kudryavtsev, A.M. Matyushkin), requiring the organization of a problem situation;
Problem-based methods (V. Okon) as ways and means of solving pedagogical problems;
Problem-based learning as a type of teaching (M.I. Makhmutov, M.N. Skatkin), if we consider it as a relatively independent didactic system.
Today, problem-based learning (problem-based learning technology) is understood as such an organization of the educational process, which involves the creation in the minds of students under the guidance of a teacher of problem situations and the organization of active independent activity of students to resolve them, as a result of which the creative mastery of knowledge, skills, abilities (ZUN) occurs ) and the development of thinking abilities.
Main characteristics of problem-based learning:
1) students receive new information while solving theoretical and practical problems;
2) in the course of solving the problem, the student overcomes all difficulties, his activity and independence reach a high level;
3) the pace of information transfer depends on the student or group of students;
4) increased student activity contributes to the development of positive motives and reduces the need for formal verification of results;
5) learning results are relatively high and stable. Students more easily apply their acquired knowledge to new situations and at the same time develop their skills and creativity.
The technique of problem-based learning includes activities of the teacher and student such as:
· organization of a problem situation
· formation of problems
individual or group problem solving by students
· verification of the solutions obtained, as well as systematization, consolidation and application of newly acquired knowledge in theoretical and practical activities
In pedagogy, there is a cognitive approach to defining problem-based learning techniques.
Children's intellectual development occurs mainly at school. In most cultures, systematic education begins at the age of 5-7 years. At this time, many cognitive, speech and perceptual-motor skills become more advanced and interconnected, which greatly facilitates learning and increases its efficiency.
According to the genetic epistemology of J. Piaget, the age between 5-7 years marks the transition from pre-operational thinking to thinking at the level of specific operations. Thinking becomes less intuitive and egocentric, more reversible, flexible and complex, gradually turning into logical thinking. The child is able to establish cause-and-effect relationships, as well as, using logical reasoning, to coordinate changes occurring with objects. L.S. Vygotsky defined two levels of cognitive development. The first level is the level of the child’s actual development, determined by his ability to independently solve problems. The second level is the level of his potential development, determined by the nature of the tasks that the child could solve under the guidance of adults or in collaboration with more competent peers. Vygotsky called the distance between these two level zones the zone of proximal development. Thus, to fully understand the cognitive development of children and the appropriate design of learning, it is necessary to know both the actual and potential level of their development.
Speaking about problem-based learning, we can note several of its distinctive features.
The first and most important feature is the specific intellectual activity of the student in independently mastering new concepts by solving educational problems, which ensures consciousness, depth, strength of knowledge and the formation of logical-theoretical and intuitive thinking. Only solid knowledge becomes the real property of schoolchildren, which they can consciously apply in their further theoretical and practical activities.
The second feature is that problem-based learning is the most effective means of forming a worldview, since in the process of problem-based learning the features of critical, creative and dialectical thinking develop. Independent problem solving by students is also the main condition for transforming knowledge into beliefs, since only a dialectical approach to the analysis of all processes and phenomena of reality formulates a system of strong and deep beliefs.
The third feature follows from the patterns of relationship between theoretical and practical problems and is determined by the didactic principle of connecting learning with life. Connection with life serves as the most important means of creating problem situations and a criterion for assessing the correctness of solving educational problems.
The fourth feature of problem-based learning is the systematic use by the teacher of the most effective combination of various types and types of independent work by students. This feature is that the teacher organizes the implementation of independent work, which requires both the updating of previously acquired knowledge and the assimilation of new knowledge and methods of activity.
The fifth feature is determined by the didactic principle of an individual approach. The essence of the difference between problem-based and traditional learning is that in traditional learning, the need for individualization is a consequence of the dialectical contradiction between the teacher’s frontal presentation of new knowledge and the individual form of their perception and assimilation by the student.
In problem-based learning, individualization is mainly due to the presence of educational problems of varying complexity, which are perceived differently by each student. Individual perception of a problem causes differences in its formulation, putting forward various hypotheses and finding other ways to prove them.
The sixth feature of problem-based learning is its dynamism (the dynamic reciprocity of its elements). The dynamism of problem-based learning lies in the fact that one situation passes into another naturally on the basis of the dialectical law of interconnection and interdependence of all things and phenomena of the material world.
As some researchers point out, in traditional teaching there is no dynamism; instead of problem-solving, “categoricalness” prevails there.
The seventh feature is the high emotional activity of the student, due, firstly, to the fact that the problem situation itself is the source of its excitement, and secondly, to the fact that the active mental activity of the student is inextricably organically linked with the sensory-emotional sphere of mental activity. Any independent mental activity of a searching nature associated with the individual “acceptance” of an educational problem evokes the student’s personal experience and emotional activity. In turn, emotional activity determines the activity of mental activity.
The eighth feature of problem-based learning is that it provides a new ratio of induction and deduction (increasing the importance of the second path of knowledge) and a new ratio of reproductive and productive, including creative, assimilation of knowledge, increasing the role of creative cognitive activity of students.
Thus, the first feature of problem-based learning is that it ensures the strength of knowledge and a special type of thinking, the second is the depth of convictions, and the third is the creative application of knowledge in life. These three features are of greatest importance and ensure the fulfillment of the main mission of the school.
The main five features are of a social and didactic nature and determine the effectiveness of the actions of the first three. As practice shows, the process of problem-based learning gives rise to different levels of both intellectual difficulties of students and their cognitive activity and independence when mastering new knowledge than when applying previous knowledge in a new situation Based on the use of any types of creativity, three types of problem-based learning can be distinguished.
The first type ("scientific" creativity) is theoretical research, that is, the search and discovery of a new rule, law, theorem, etc. for students. This type of problem-based learning is based on the formulation and solution of theoretical educational problems.
The second type (practical creativity) is the search for a practical solution, that is, the search for a way to apply known knowledge in a new situation, design, invention. This type of problem-based learning is based on the formulation and solution of practical educational problems.
The third type (artistic creativity) is an artistic reflection of reality based on creative imagination, which includes literary writings, drawing, writing a piece of music, playing, etc.
All types of problem-based learning are characterized by the presence of reproductive, productive and creative activity of the student, the presence of search and solution to the problem. They can be carried out using various forms of organization of the pedagogical process. However, the first type is most often found in the lesson, where individual, group and frontal problem solving is observed. The second is in laboratory, practical classes. The third type is in class and in extracurricular activities.
It is quite clear that each type of problem-based learning, as an internally differentiated activity, has a complex structure that gives different learning outcomes depending on many factors.
Each of the listed types of problem-based learning can occur with varying degrees of cognitive activity of the student. Determining this degree is important for managing the process of developing cognitive independence in schoolchildren.
The problem-based learning cycle can be visualized as a diagram:
Stage I - formulation of a pedagogical problem situation; students are directed to perceive it; The teacher organizes the child’s question and the need to respond to external stimuli. A pedagogical problem situation is created using various verbal and technical means.
Stage II - a pedagogically organized problem situation is transformed into a psychological one; the state of the question is the beginning of an active answer to it, awareness of the essence of the contradiction, formulation of the unknown. At this stage, the teacher provides measured assistance, asks leading questions, etc. The difficulty of managing problem-based learning is that the emergence of a psychological problem situation is an individual act, so it is important that the teacher uses differentiated and individual approaches.
Stage III - searching for a solution to the problem, a way out of the impasse of contradiction. Together with the teacher or independently, students put forward and test various hypotheses and attract additional information. The teacher provides the necessary assistance (in the zone of proximal development).
Stage IV - “aha-reaction”, the emergence of an idea for a solution, the transition to a solution, its development, the formation of new knowledge (ZUN, SUD) in the minds of students.
Stage V - implementation of the found solution in the form of a material or spiritual product.
Stage VI - tracking (control) of long-term learning results.
Thus, we can say with confidence that problem-based learning, when properly organized, really contributes to the development of students’ mental strength (contradictions make them think, look for a way out of a problem situation, a situation of difficulty); independence (independent vision of the problem, formulation of a problematic issue, problem situation, independence in choosing a solution plan, etc.); development of creative thinking (independent application of knowledge, methods of action, search for an independent non-standard solution). It contributes to the formation of readiness for creative activity, promotes the development of cognitive activity, awareness of knowledge, and prevents the emergence of formalism and thoughtlessness. Problem-based learning also ensures a more durable assimilation of knowledge (what is acquired independently is better absorbed and remembered for a long time); develops analytical thinking (conditions are analyzed, possible solutions are assessed), logical thinking (requires evidence of the correctness of the chosen solution, argumentation); can make learning activities more attractive for students, based on overcoming significant but feasible difficulties; it focuses on the integrated use of knowledge [9, p.328].