All Problems are Not Equal: Implications for Problem-Based Learning

TLDR

Problem‑based learning centers on problems, yet research has largely focused on learner and tutor roles, problem design, and technology, with limited attention to the intrinsic nature of the problems themselves. This study proposes a model for assessing problem difficulty, evaluates its applicability to PBL curricula, and urges researchers to incorporate difficulty considerations into curriculum design. The model defines difficulty through dimensions such as breadth, attainment level, procedural intricacy, relational complexity, and structuredness, classifies problems into four categories, and distinguishes three types—decision‑making, diagnosis‑solution, and policy—examining their suitability as PBL foci.

Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional model that assumes the centrality of problems to learning. Research on PBL has focused on student learning, student roles, tutor roles, problem design, and technology use (Hung, Jonassen, & Liu, 2008), but little attention in the PBL literature has been paid to the nature of the problems that provide the focus for PBL. In this paper, we articulate a model for evaluating problem difficulty. Problem difficulty is define in terms of complexity, including breadth of knowledge, attainment level, intricacy of procedures, relational complexity, and problem structuredness including intransparency, heterogeneity of interpretations, interdisciplinarity, dynamicity, or competing alternatives. Based on these characteristics, we identify four classes of problems and then describe three different kinds of problems: decision-making, diagnosis-solution, and policy problems. We then examine the amenability of these classes and problem types as foci for PBL curricula. Finally, we challenge PBL researchers and designers to consider the issue of problem difficulty in articulating PBL curricula.