A Critical Investigation of the Problems with Problem-Based Learning.

This paper is a critique of problem-based learning and focuses on, first, the concept of life as problem-governed and professional practice as problem-solving; and, second, the utility of problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach in pre-professional training. The paper suggests that a problem-based approach to professional education is ontologically narrow and epistemologically inconsistent with the lived nature of professional practice. Problem-based professional practice is seen as supporting the professional role as the rightful epistemic authority, thus perpetuating a class of professional elite who dominate social order and knowledge. The paper also suggests that problem-based practice and problem-based learning presume the possibility of a detached knower, separate from time, place, social position, body, gender, and interpersonal relations and thus the perspectives, intentions, and priorities of the individual are excluded by the pressure for a productive solution. Several questions regarding problem case examples are raised: who produces the cases and what inclusion and exclusion criteria are used; whether pre-framed questions allow student professionals to frame their own experiences; and whether a problem case can authentically represent human experience. (Contains 36 references.) (JLS)