Lori Schnaider - IDS

Problem-Based Learning challenges students solve practical problems. It gives them the important practice needed of incorporating lesson content into their real-life scenarios, for which they are being educated. When they are no longer in a class setting and are faced with a similar problem, they already have experience solving it in the manner prescribed in the class and are more inclined to do so. This ensures transfer of knowledge from the course to practical application in the students’ lives, effectively achieving the course goals and objectives.

Problem-Based Learning is a very effective method for training engineers. Much of their work and how they like to work is solving problems. Also, getting them to practice using the methods and content in the course encourages them to use it back on the job. For this teaching method to be effective, the problems or case studies need to be closely related to real life situations. If they are too general or do not apply, the engineers typically tend to be turned off to the entire lesson.

The content of each part builds on each other, giving the participants deeper knowledge of the LEED Green Building Program. The participants will work as a group to complete the case study. Students will be given a short quiz to assess successful completion of the learning objective.