Special Talk on PBL by Georgia Tech Expert

On February 2, there was a great special talk on Tokyo Tech campus by Dr. Wendy Newstetter, who is the director of Learning Sciences Research, College of Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.  Topic was about “problem based learning (PBL)”

As Tokyo Tech will start a new educational system from April 2016, this occasion was such good timing to learn from the experience at Georgia Tech and the insights of Dr. Newstetter’s long and rich expertise.

The special talk was actually combination of lecture and mini-workshop for the participants to experience PBL class settings and atmosphere briefly.  Key-elements and efforts of PBL were presented in the session.

For me (Abe), one of the most interesting parts in the lecture was about the shift of the ownership of learning to students and the importance of the transition of students’ cognitive state about what they know and what they do not know and the process between them.

Thank you so much, Wendy-sensei!

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pic. Dr. Wendy Newstetter

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pic. Participants in a small group discussions.

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pic. Another scene in the mini workshop

(by N. Abe)