Home - PBL Projects

Improve motivation for student learning

Deep learning

“It was engaging and had us doing things for ourselves instead of being told the steps and how to do them.”

Improve students' confidence in the ability to solve real world applications

Authentic real world problems

"It gives you that level of confidence to say, 'Yes I can do this,' or, 'Next time i would like to try that, or do things differently.' And so it's a self-correcting process you really do start perfecting."

Improve students' skills and interest in life long learning

Self-directed learning

"You clearly realize while working where your strengths are and your weaknesses lie. And for me, having it pointed out where my weaknesses lie encourages me or motivates me to work harder in the areas where i know i need improvement"

Improve students' critical thinking skills

A structured approach

"I found myself White-boarding different problems in my life... just looking at the Whiteboards and starting to fill in the sections really helped me to understand subject matter that i was not familiar with. It teaches you what to do when you don;t know what to do."

Increase students' appreciation for collaborative learning

Teamwork

"The biggest thing is the life experiences that everybody gains, even me, through working with groups and the diversity of people. Not just ages - different backgrounds, different upbringings, and so forth. We all came from different places, and when we bring our own life experiences to these situations it's helpful, It's very helpful."

Engaging Students in STEM with Problem Based Learning

Thanks to the Optical Society for hosting our series of optics/photonics education webinars this academic year! Recordings of the webinars plus resources for teaching can be found in our Photonics Teaching Resources pages.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic we will be holding a virtual workshop in July 2021 to introduce problem-based learning to educators and introduce our new PBL Challenges (case studies). Contact us for further information at pblprojects@nebhe.org.

This site describes a quarter century of work by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and its partners to improve secondary and post secondary STEM education with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program (NSF ATE). The PHOTON Projects, a series of three curriculum and professional development and laboratory improvement projects in optics and photonics, engaged middle and secondary school teachers and college and university professors across the U.S. The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Projects have developed a collection of authentic real-world multimedia Challenges(case studies) with industry partners in the areas of optics and photonics, sustainable technologies, and advanced manufacturing and introduced them to teachers worldwide. Visit the CHALLENGES to view the existing problem-based learning curriculum.

The PHOTON Projects ( FOTEP, DUE # 9553762 ; PHOTON, DUE # 0053284, PHOTON2 DUE # 0302528 ) and the PBL Projects ( Advanced Photonics Manufacturing PBL, DUE # 1801115 ; Advanced Manufacturing PBL , DUE #1204941; STEM PBL , DUE #0903051 ; PHOTON PBL, DUE # 0603143) were funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program (NSF ATE). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Your use of the NEBHE Problem Based Learning Projects website and its materials is subject to our Creative Commons License and other terms of use.