Marra, R., Jonassen, D. H., Palmer, B., & Luft, S. (2014).

Why problem-based learning works: Theoretical foun-

dations. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25(3&4),
221-238.

Why Problem-Based Learning Works:

Theoretical Foundations

Rose M. Marra
David H. Jonassen
University of Missouri
Betsy Palmer
Steve Luft
Montana State University

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method where

student learning occurs in the context of solving an authentic
problem. PBL was initially developed out of an instructional
need to help medical school students learn their basic sciences
knowledge in a way that would be more lasting while helping
to develop clinical skills simultaneously. Although PBL ad-
dresses this specific need, it is also based in sound educational
theories and paradigms. The author addresses those theoretical
foundations of PBL, which, in turn, help readers to understand
why PBL can be effective as well as enable them to diagnose
and improve PBL applications when things are not going quite
as planned.

Introduction
Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method that drives
all learning via solving an authentic problem. The idea of “basics first”
goes out the window in PBL; rather, one learns the basics in the context
of a meaningful, but ill-structured problem solving activity. A cohesive
body of research is beginning to show the effectiveness of PBL (see Hung,
Jonassen, and Liu, 2008). Authors in this special issue, respectively, provide

221
222 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

readers with a treatment of the basics of PBL (Love, Dietrich, Fitzgerald,

& Gordon) and a review of PBL research (Albanese & Dast).
PBL was initially developed out of an instructional need—wanting to
help medical school students learn basic sciences knowledge in a way
that would be more lasting while helping to develop their clinical skills
simultaneously. While a specific need was being addressed, PBL has
its basis in sound educational theories and paradigms. This article will
help the reader to understand the theoretical foundations of PBL; we are
beginning to know that PBL can work, and examining the educational
theory upon which it is based can help us understand why as well as
enable us to diagnose and improve PBL applications when things are not
going quite as planned.

PBL Overview
History of PBL
Problem-based learning has its implementation roots in the field of
medical education starting in the 1950s (Savery & Duffy 1995). It grew
from dissatisfaction with the traditional medical education practice at
McMaster University in Canada (Barrows, 1996; Barrows & Tamblyn,
1980). These PBL pioneers criticized traditional health science education
for its lecture format and heavy emphasis on memorization of fragment-
ed biomedical knowledge at the expense of helping students develop
the clinical problem-solving skills required for a lifetime of practice and
learning (Albanese & Mitchell, 1993; Barrows, 1996).
This first PBL curriculum implemented many of the characteristics
that typify PBL today. Students worked in small groups where they
interacted with simulated patients who had complex and meaningful
medical problems. They used patient interviews, records, and selected
laboratory results to identify learning issues and develop a diagnosis and
treatment plan (Barrows & Tamblyn, 1976; Torp & Sage, 1998). This may
seem like the students were metaphorically “thrown into boiling water,”
but in a PBL environment, student learning is supported and coached by
a faculty member whose role is to facilitate discussion-based learning by
asking questions and monitoring the problem-solving process (Barrows,
1985, 1986, 1996; Hmelo, 1998). If students are “stuck,” they can go to the
facilitator for guidance and resources. Rather than learning basic science
knowledge via memorization, textbooks, and lectures (methods that have
a high “forgetting curve”), students learn these basics during the mean-
ingful, hands-on task of solving clinical problems (Barrows, 1985, 1986;
 Why PBL Works 223

Hmelo, 1998). This student-centered approach has a long tradition prior

to PBL, including Dale’s Cone of Experience (Dale, 1969). Dale’s Cone
illustrates that learners tend to retain 90% of what they hear and do, an
idea that is at the core of PBL.

Key Focus of PBL

A primary assumption of PBL is that when we “solve the many prob-
lems we face everyday, learning occurs” (Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980, p. 1).
Although such a statement may appear self-evident, this assumption is in
conflict with our public education system, which primarily implements
learning only in formal education settings—perhaps implying that once
we leave school, we cease to learn.
Proponents of PBL believe, as did Popper (1994), that “Alles leben ist
Problemlösen” (all life is problem solving). If this is true, then life is filled
with learning opportunities. In addition to the importance of lifelong
learning, PBL proponents posit the centrality of problems in learning. That
is, learning is initiated by an authentic, ill-structured problem. Ill-struc-
tured problems are those that have multiple or unknown goals, solution
methods, and criteria for solving them. In PBL-based classes, students
encounter the problem before learning. This approach is countered by
centuries of formal education practice, wherein students are expected to
“master” content before they ever encounter a problem and attempt to
apply the content to it.
The primary characteristics of a PBL learning environment are as
follows:
• Problem-focused: Learners begin learning by address-
ing simulations of an authentic, ill-structured problem.
The content and skills to be learned are organized
around problems rather than as a hierarchical list of
topics. Thus, knowledge is learned in the context of the
problem, and there is a reciprocal relationship between
knowledge and the problem. Knowledge building is
stimulated by the problem and applied back to the
problem.
• Student-centered: Faculty do not dictate the learning
activities, but rather serve in a supportive role.
• Self-directed: Students individually and collaboratively
assume responsibility for generating learning issues and
processes through self-assessment and peer assessment
224 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

and access their own experiential knowledge and learn-

ing materials. Required assignments are rarely given.
• Self-reflective: Learners monitor their understanding
and learn to adjust strategies for learning.
• Facilitative: Instructors are facilitators (not lecturers)
who support and model reasoning processes facilitate
group processes and interpersonal dynamics, probe
students’ knowledge deeply, but do not interject content
or provide direct answers to questions.
In the following sections, we explicate the theoretical underpinnings
of PBL and explore how these influence ways successfully to support
students engaged in PBL.

Theoretical Underpinnings of PBL

Constructivism
Fundamentally, PBL is based on constructivist assumptions about
learning. Constructivism can be described in terms of five tenets about
knowledge, meaning making, and learning (Jonassen, 1991).

Knowledge is constructed via interactions with the environment.

Humans as learners are perceivers and interpreters who construct their

own interpretations of the physical world through cognitive, interpretive
activities that construct mental models. This sense making process in-
volves accommodating new ideas and phenomena with existing beliefs
and the knowledge representations that have already been created. The
knowledge that is constructed by a learner consists of not only the ideas
(content), but also knowledge about the context in which it was acquired,
what the knower was doing in that environment, and what the knower
intended from that environment. What separates humans from lower
forms of life (as far as we know) is intentionality and the ability to artic-
ulate those intentions.

Reality (the sense that we make of the world) is in the mind of the
knower.

The sense making process described above produces a perception of the

external, physical world that is unique to the knower; this representation
 Why PBL Works 225

is based on that learner’s unique set of experiences that have produced a

unique combination of beliefs about the world. This does not mean that
we cannot share our reality with others. It does mean that knowledge is
not an external entity that exists in the physical world to be acquired or
transmitted.

Meaning and thinking are distributed among the culture and

community in which we exist and the tools we use.

As we engage in learning communities (such as the interactions among

learners in a PBL environment), our knowledge and beliefs about the
world are influenced by that community and their beliefs and values.
For instance, our knowledge of the world is influenced by the activities
in which we are engaged at work. The beliefs and knowledge of our
fellow practitioners or learners influences our thinking. Learning, then,
is seen by Duffy and Cunningham (1996) as changes in one’s relation to
the culture(s) to which one is connected. Our knowledge and belief is
distributed among the participants in these communities (Salomon, 1993).
This interaction and interdependence is played out particularly in PBL,
as learners rely on the experiential knowledge of other team members to
help accomplish tasks or articulate beliefs or stances needed to solve the
PBL problem.

Knowledge is anchored in and indexed by relevant contexts.

The ideas that we know and the skills that we have acquired consist,
in part, of the situation or context in which they were acquired or have
been applied (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991;
Schank, Fano, Bell, & Jona, 1993/1994). That is, the context of knowledge
acquisition is part of the knowledge that is used by the knower to explain
or make sense of the idea. This means that abstract rules and laws, di-
vorced from any context, have no meaning. What we really understand
about skills is the application of those skills. We store these applications as
stories (Schank, 1986), which become a primary medium of conversation
and meaning making among humans. Constructivism argues that skills
will have more meaning if they are acquired initially and consistently in
meaningful contexts. Unless ideas can be applied, they have no meaning.
Merely teaching facts and explaining concepts without contextualization
prevents indexing those ideas to the features of the situation in which they
are relevant (Schank et al., 1993/1994).
226 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

Knowledge construction is stimulated by a question or need or

desire to know.

What produces the knowledge construction process is a dissonance

between what is known and what is observed in the environment. Resolv-
ing the dissonance that is intrinsic to problems students face in PBL is for
them the essence of knowledge construction—and thus, of learning. We
can memorize ideas that others share with us, but to seek actively to make
meaning about phenomena involves some dissonance between what we
know and what we want or need to know. Confronting this dissonance
in a PBL ensures some ownership on the part of the learner. This is an
especially critical attribute of PBL, wherein learners are immediately
engaged in understanding and solving authentic problems that they are
intrinsically motivated to solve.

Situated Learning
A related perspective posits that PBL has its roots in theories of situ-
ated learning (Hung, 2002). Situated learning or situated cognition was
proposed by Brown et al. (1989) and argued that meaningful and lasting
learning takes place best when it is embedded in a social and physical con-
text as similar as possible to that in which the learning would be applied.
This idea was in contrast to the way most formal learning took place at that
time (and still, unfortunately, does)—that is, devoid of authentic context
and far removed from any aspect of actually using what is to be learned.
Situated cognition proposes that the contextual setting of knowledge is
essential and that meaning making is rooted in the relationships that we
construct between ourselves as learners and our surrounding situations
and interactions (Hung, 2002). Stated another way, knowledge is, at its
root, produced via interactions between the mind and the world in which
it is situated.
In a PBL, the “situation” or the meaningful context is to a large degree
provided by the ill-structured problem the learners are solving. This learn-
ing situation is similar to what we do in our everyday and professional
lives, where we are continuously solving ill-structured problems. Because
meaning is derived by learners from the contexts in which they are work-
ing or learning—ideas abstracted from contexts and presented as theories
have little, if any, meaning to learners—knowledge that is anchored, or
“situated” in specific contexts is more meaningful, more integrated, bet-
ter retained, and more transferable. One reason for this phenomenon is
the means by which students represent their understanding (Jonassen,
 Why PBL Works 227

2006). Specifically, knowledge constructed for solving problems results

in task-related procedural knowledge and phenomenological (the world
as we consciously experience it) knowledge types. These are richer, more
meaningful and memorable representations.
Drawing on both situated cognition and constructivist beliefs about
learning as the bases for PBL is quite feasible given the strong parallels
between the two systems of belief. Both argue that knowledge is not sim-
ply a separate thing to be had by the learner, but rather that it arises from
the interaction of the mind with the world our mind encounters. These
encounters can occur between ourselves and the things with which we
interact (for instance, the lawn mower we are trying to fix), with more
traditional sources of information (for instance, books and material on
the Internet), and certainly with other individuals. These are, indeed, the
types of interactions fostered by PBL.

Discussion: Implications for Supporting PBL

The PBL mode of learning introduces new roles for both faculty and
students. However, one of the benefits of exploring the theoretical founda-
tions of an instructional methodology is that those foundations can tell us
something about how to support teaching and learning in this modality.
In the next section, we discuss some of these instructional means of sup-
porting student success in PBL environments and how they are grounded
in the theoretical frameworks described above.

PBL and Metacognition

Metacognition is the awareness of one’s own knowledge, of one’s
actions, and of one’s current “cognitive or affective state” (Hacker, Dun-
losky, & Graesser, 1998, p. 3). Thus, metacognition can include students’
knowledge of what they know, what they do not know, how they learn
new knowledge or skills, and what strengths and weaknesses they have
in regard to their area of study. Metacognition is an important meta-level
set of cognitive strategies that enables learners to perform better. Flavell
(1976, 1979) distinguished two characteristics of metacognition: knowl-
edge of cognition and self-regulation of cognition. Knowledge of cognition
includes knowledge of task, strategy, and personal variables. That is,
metacognitive knowledge includes knowledge of the skills required by
different tasks, strategic knowledge (knowledge of alternative learning
strategies and when to use them), and self-knowledge (knowledge of
one’s abilities and the abilities of others) (Flavell, 1987).
228 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

The self-regulation aspect of metacognition includes the ability to

monitor one’s comprehension and control one’s learning activities.
Self-regulation describes activities that regulate and oversee learning,
such as planning (predicting outcomes, scheduling strategies) and prob-
lem-monitoring activities (monitoring, testing, revising and re-scheduling
during learning). Self-regulation also involves evaluation (appraising the
effectiveness of regulation) (Schraw & Moshman, 1995; Sperling, Howard,
Staley, & Dubois, 2004; Zimmerman, 2002; Zimmerman & Moylan, 2009).
Although well-developed metacognitive skills can positively contrib-
ute to student success in almost any type of learning activity (Bransford,
Brown, & Cocking, 2001; Prince, 2004), the need for metacognitive skills
increases in student-centered pedagogies such as PBL. In traditional in-
structor-centered pedagogies, regulation of learning tasks is structured
by the teacher. In contrast, as pedagogies such as PBL become more
student-centered, students become increasingly responsible for self-reg-
ulation of their learning. Hmelo-Silver (2004) describes the fundamental
nature of metacognition to successful PBL experiences, indicating that
while PBL develops problem-solving skills, those skills cannot develop
without the development of “appropriate metacognitive and reasoning
strategies” (p. 240). For instance, students must be aware of what they do
and do not understand, and from that understanding be able to set goals
and identify tasks that will help them accomplish those goals. Although
some students may “naturally” adapt to this additional responsibility and
experience positive effects on learning outcomes, others may struggle,
resulting in a negative impact on their learning (Prince, 2004). A successful
PBL experience requires support for students—particularly those new to
PBL—to develop the necessary metacognitive skills. Later in this article,
we describe some specific strategies that can be used for this purpose.

PBL and Cases

We have previously introduced the concept of situated learning as a the-
oretical basis for PBL. Theorists and educators have struggled with ways
to provide these in situ experiences in PBL. Although Brown et al. (1989)
argued for implementations that were based on a cognitive apprenticeship
(adapting the principles of a traditional apprenticeship to cognitive skills),
providing students with cases is another way of accomplishing the in situ
PBL setting (Jonassen, 2010).
Cases are fundamental to PBL implementations. That is, problems are
represented as cases, and cases are used in various ways as instructional
support. Cases are one of the primary ways that situated learning theory
 Why PBL Works 229

is implemented in PBL. Authentic cases are the way that the learning is
“situated” in a real-world setting and, additionally, the means by which
students situate the basic knowledge (for example, basic sciences for
medical school, engineering fundamentals for the engineering students)
they are learning as part of the case. There are, however, different kinds
of cases and different ways of using them in a PBL (Jonassen, 2010).
Figure 1 illustrates the functions that cases may have in a PBL. It shows
that example cases and cases to analyze serve primarily as instructional
supports, whereas the case as a PBL problem to solve is the basis for stu-
dents’ learning of content and skills (Jonassen, 2010).

Cases as Examples and Experiences to Analyze

Cases other than the primary instructional case can function as instruc-
tional supports for students in PBL. Cases as examples can be used as one
way to support students in a PBL. This instructional tactic is consistent
with all models of instructional design (Branch, 2009; Gagne & Briggs,
1974) that insist on the inclusion of examples in instruction. The role of
examples is to serve as concrete models of ideas being represented ab-
stractly. A PBL case example that is worked out to a complete solution and
perhaps annotated to illustrate the problem-solving process can support
PBL students in their current problem-solving activities (Jonassen, 2003).
A similar use of cases to support PBL learning is to practice analyzing
cases in preparation for their ultimate PBL case problem solving. This case
study method is usually done as an activity for its own purposes. That
is, students are to analyze the completed case and respond in a certain
fashion. The case study method might be used as part of students’ PBL
processes if they were prompted by an instructor/facilitator to look at a
particular already-solved case in order to apply lessons from this case to
their current problem solving activity. In essence, the case study method
provides analogues for students to apply to their own problem solving,
thus serving as a particular type of case “exemplar.”

Cases as Problems to Solve

Cases as problems to solve are the essence of a PBL. This article and
other articles in this issue have already described the usage of cases in PBL.
PBL normally replaces traditional content-based curriculum with a set of
problems that integrate the content into practice. In PBL classes, students
work in groups supported by a process tutor to solve authentic (clinical)
problems or simulations of practice that drive student learning. Students
230 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

Figure 1
Relationships Between Case Functions in PBL
 

assume responsibility for their learning by interpreting case problems

self-reflectively, generating learning issues and objectives throughout the
case, determining their own assignments, accessing learning materials,
monitoring their own learning, and applying their knowledge back to
the problem. In PBL programs, cases are merely the vehicle for initiat-
ing reflective, self-directed learning but are central and essential to that
learning process.

Using Theory to Improve PBL

We know that cases and student use of metacognition and self-regula-
tion skills are necessary for a well-functioning PBL environment, and we
 Why PBL Works 231

know that these instructional means are based on the theoretical under-
pinnings of PBL. But where does all this leave us as faculty members in
the midst of trying to implement and improve PBL for our students? Entire
books have been written on this topic (see Amador, Miles, & Peters, 2007;
Woods, 1994); however, in this section we will briefly address strategies
based on the theoretical and implementation foundations discussed that
can help to continually improve PBL environments. These strategies are
based on the principles of formative evaluation—evaluation designed
to monitor and improve a product or process that is still available to be
modified.
Problems are a critical aspect of a PBL. They embody the in situ nature
of PBL and are the basis for the construction of knowledge. They exist to
trigger the learning process and are the basis for student learning activ-
ities. Creating an effective problem is, thus, essential for successful PBL.
Dolmans, Snellen-Balendong, Wolfhagen, and Van der Vleuten (1997)
outlined seven principles of problem design. They described that prob-
lems should (1) simulate real life, (2) lead to elaboration, (3) encourage
integration of knowledge, (4) encourage self-directed learning, (5) fit
in with students’ prior knowledge, (6) interest students, and (7) reflect
the faculty member’s learning objectives. Jonassen and Hung (2008) fo-
cused on one of the problem characteristics originally indicated by Shaw
(1976)—problem difficulty—and defined it to be characterized by problem
complexity and problem structuredness. According to Jonassen and Hung
(2008), problem complexity refers to the breadth, difficulty level, intricacy,
and interrelatedness of problem space, while problem structuredness rep-
resents the intransparency, variety of interpretations, interdisciplinary,
and interdisciplinary nature of problems.
Working to instantiate these ideas about problem characteristics into
practice, Jacobs, Dolmans, Wolfhagen, and Scherpbier (2003) developed
and validated a questionnaire to assess the degree of complexity and
structuredness of PBL problems and how students differentiated between
these characteristics. Their results indicate that although students could
clearly differentiate between simple and well-structured problems, these
students were not able to discern ill-structured from complex problems.
Perhaps more helpful to designing PBL problems with characteristics
that will support successful PBL implementations, Des Marchais (1999)
used a Delphi technique with six PBL experts who were asked to identify
three criteria considered most essential for the design of problems. The
study identified that the two most important criteria were that the problem
should stimulate thinking or reasoning and lead to self-directed learning
in students. Sockalingam and Schmidt (2011) turned to PBL students and
232 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

used reflective essays to ascertain their perceptions of the characteristics

of well-designed PBL problems. Students identified 11 problem character-
istics that helped lead them to desired learning outcomes. They said the
problem should (1) lead to learning, (2) trigger interest, (3) be of suitable
format, (4) stimulate critical reasoning, (5) promote self-directed learning,
(6) be of suitable clarity, (7) be of appropriate difficulty, (8) enable appli-
cation or use, (9) relate to prior knowledge, (10) stimulate elaboration,
and (11) promote teamwork.
Although all of these studies may be helpful for understanding what
PBL problems should contain, faculty implementing PBL may still find
this work lacking in specificity. Major and Palmer (2001) offer that those
implementing PBL should consider two techniques for problem improve-
ment: outside evaluation by experts and content analysis of projects.

Outside Evaluation by Experts

Similar to the Des Marchais implementation of the Delphi method, so-
liciting expert reviews of one’s PBL problems by faculty with expertise in
PBL implementations may solicit helpful feedback for faculty. While such
a review can be conducted before an initial rollout of a PBL problem, it
may also be conducted post implementation using student performance
data as additional sources to help experts assess the effectiveness of the
problem for supporting learning.

Content Analysis of Projects

Because PBL uses ill-structured problems with many possible solutions,
each student group within a class may pursue a slightly different domain
of knowledge. To assess the range of content knowledge learned by stu-
dents in the class, instructors may need to evaluate across assignments
and groups to look for the variety of resources students are collecting and
the degree to which these resources do (or do not) contribute to successful
problem solving and learning.

Strategies for Monitoring Students’

Metacognitive Skills:
The Iron Range Engineering Program
Metacognitive skills are necessary for students to succeed in PBL, but
students may not enter a PBL experience with sufficiently developed
metacognitive skills. To illustrate how developing metacognitive skills
 Why PBL Works 233

can be supported in a PBL environment, we turn to a specific PBL imple-

mentation. The Iron Range Engineering (IRE) program, a collaboration
between Itasca Community College (ICC) and Minnesota State University
Mankato, is an exemplar of the gradually growing number of engineering
programs implementing PBL (Litzinger, Lattuca, Hadgraft, & Newstetter,
2011). The IRE curriculum is unusual, however, in the degree to which it
implements PBL as there are no formal classes.
IRE has implemented an entire upper-division engineering curriculum
using semester-long industry-based PBL projects. IRE students do not
enroll in traditional courses; rather, every semester students (with the
help of faculty) designate a number of specific technical and professional
competencies that they propose to attain during the term. Students work
with faculty to develop individualized syllabi that guide their learning
activities and assessments for these competencies.
A majority of these competencies and associated learning activities are
accomplished via team-based PBL projects undertaken via partnerships
with regional mining, milling, and manufacturing industries. Other
student learning, however, occurs individually or in student-organized
small groups. Students have a wide variety of resources available to them
for accomplishing their learning. These resources span the spectrum of
printed materials and electronic libraries to faculty and industry experts.
In both the industry-based projects and in individual learning, students
must exercise metacognitive skills and be self-directed learners as they
make decisions about how best to complete the learning tasks necessary
to achieve competency.
IRE faculty have recognized the need to support the development of
students’ metacognitive skills and have introduced several means of doing
so. Although most learning takes place via their industry projects, or via
informal student groups, faculty have instituted for a more formalized
learning activity called “learning conversations.” The format of a learning
conversation can vary from a small group of students working with a facul-
ty member to get guidance on how to solve thermodynamics problems, to
a more formalized, regularly scheduled gathering of all first-year students
as a faculty member presents content associated with a competency that
many students are trying to meet that term. Each year, as new IRE students
arrive, faculty introduce them to the concept of metacognition, its value
in their success at IRE and as life-long learners, and ways to develop and
apply their metacognitive skills while at IRE.
As students engage in learning activities, they complete a “metacog”
memo documenting their reflections on the learning processes they used,
the judgments they made on the quality of the learning, and the regulative
234 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

changes made based on these judgments. Some students talked specifically

about the value of the metacognition memos:
Right away, [the memos] were extremely useful [because] in a
metacog memo . . . I break it down to how I learned during that
competency, what methods I used . . . and I kind of rate how it
worked, how well it worked for that competency. . .and kind of
just reflect back on what I did, how it worked, and if I’ll use it
again, and what future improvements I can make. . . .

In addition to the challenges of self-regulating their learning processes,

students have found time management to be a particularly difficult aspect
of this program. To scaffold time management, IRE students produce a
“metachron.” In a process that is similar to the one employed for metacogs,
students reflect on time spent on learning activities:
. . . I find that [a metachron] helps me keep track of how I’m
spending my time, not just what I’m doing, but . . . I’m able
to see where my time management improvements need to be,
plus I can go back and say, “Oh, I did this for those 2 hours,”
and then I can write down what I thought of what I did, you
know, was it helpful?

Conclusions
PBL is one of several instructional methodologies being implemented in
higher education settings that are student centered. In PBL environments,
learning is entirely focused around solving an authentic problem, which
is often presented in a case. And in contrast to traditional pedagogies,
learners do not learn the “basic” first and in a separate, often inauthentic
mode (for example, read “about” a theory or a model rather than use
it); rather, they learn basic content in the context of solving the complex,
authentic problem.
The challenging news is that this pedagogy requires significant changes
for both learners and teachers. The hopeful news is that understanding
the basic theoretical premises on which PBL is founded—specifically,
constructivism and situated cognition—can help practitioners be more
effective in designing, implementing, and improving PBL environments.
This article has explored those theoretical foundations and then applied
them to help educators understand and use cases effectively to support
PBL, design problems appropriate for PBL environments, and develop
and use the metacognitive supports students need during PBL activities.
 Why PBL Works 235

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238 Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

Rose M. Marra is a professor of learning technologies at the University of Missouri

(UM), where she teaches in the areas of online learning, instructional design and assess-
ment. Dr. Marra has conducted research in online and science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) learning environments for 15 years, and she has extensive
experience in problem-based learning, engineering education, assessment and evaluation,
and gender equity in STEM fields. Dr. Marra has successfully led grant-funded research
projects in STEM education, with over $10 million in external funding, including six
National Science Foundation grants. Prior to coming to UM, Dr. Marra was on the
faculty of the Penn State College of Engineering. In a past life, Dr. Marra was a software
engineer for AT&T Bell Laboratories. David H. Jonassen passed away in December 2012;
he was a curators’ professor at the University of Missouri in learning technologies and
educational psychology. Over his 40-year career, Dr. Jonassen taught at Penn State, the
University of Colorado, the University of Twente - Netherlands, the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro, and Syracuse University. He published 37 books and hundreds
of articles, and papers on instructional design, computer-based learning, hypermedia,
constructivism, cognitive tools, and problem solving. He received dozens of awards and
was posthumously inducted as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.
The last 10 years of his life were devoted to the cognitive processes engaged by problem
solving and to developing models and methods for supporting those processes during
learning. Betsy Palmer, who passed away in May 2013, was an associate professor of
education at Montana State University (MSU). Dr. Palmer taught statistics and both
qualitative and quantitative research methods courses in the department of education at
MSU. Within the adult and higher education program, she taught courses focusing on
college student research and theory, student services, and college curriculum and teach-
ing. Dr. Palmer’s research focused on college students and the institutional practices that
foster improved outcomes for students. She was particularly interested in college student
personal epistemology, non-traditional pedagogical approaches, such as problem-based
learning and service learning, and multicultural educational outcomes. An outstanding
educator and researcher, Betsy was well published and received numerous awards and
honors, including, most recently, the MSU department of education's Outstanding Re-
search Award for 2011-2012 for her work in engineering education as well as her work
in Nepal. Steve Luft is a full-time student at Montana State University working on his
doctorate in Education with a specialty in Adult and Higher Education. Steve earned his
master’s in technical communication from Montana Tech of The University of Montana.
Steve earned his undergraduate degrees in mechanical technology and drafting technol-
ogy from Northern Montana College (NMC), known today as MSU-Northern. Prior to
working on his doctorate, Steve spent the past 17 years at Montana Tech of The University
of Montana as a tenured faculty member, department chair, and assistant and associate
dean. During his time at Montana Tech, he was recognized locally as well as nationally
for his efforts. Steve was nominated for Montana Tech’s Outstanding Achievement
Award, awarded Montana Tech’s Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award, as well as a
Montana Campus Compact Faculty Fellowship for his work with service learning. Steve
was also nominated three times for the Carnegie Foundation U.S. Professor of the Year.
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