Discovering, Uncovering, and Creating Meanings: Problem Based Learning in Teacher Education

Abstract

By discovering, uncovering, and making meaning of our experiences as teacher educators and preservice teachers, it is possible to begin to share ideas about the roles and practices of problem based learning in teacher education. The following chapters reflect the close relationships between colleagues and preservice teachers who are involved in a problem based learning (PBL) teacher education cohort at the University of British Columbia. Our writings point to some critical understandings, programmatic realities, and professional dispositions of problem based pedagogy as they pertain to the education of new teachers. For over a decade and a half, a group of teacher educators at the University of British Columbia in collaboration with many school partners have initiated, led, and guided a cohort of preservice teachers in their ongoing explorations. Over time what has evolved and continues to evolve is a teacher education curriculum that not only supports the knowledge needs of future teachers but one that offers meaningful opportunities for them to develop dispositions for inquiry, engage in collaborative learning, and exercise critical thinking, reflexive practice, and professional judgment.