PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND TRADITIONAL TEACHING: A STUDY FOCUSED ON "MATTER AND ENERGY TRANSFORMATION"

ABSTRACT:

Teaching for Problem-Based Learning is a teaching approach centred in students that enables learning new information by solving problems. This paper aims at comparing the contribution of Teaching for Problem-Based Learning according to a transdisciplinary approach, compared to a traditional teaching approach in what concerns students' learning on the theme 'Matter and Energy Transformations'. Data collected through a science knowledge test suggest that the experimental group performed better (presented less incomplete answers) than the control group did regarding high demanding cognitive questions. Even though this type of results was expected, follow up studies are needed in order to test the consistency of the result obtained.

Keywords:
Teaching for Problem-Based Learning; Physical and Natural Sciences; Transdisciplinary Teaching.