Greening the Olympics

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• Greening the Olympics
• A problem-based learning exercise
• Jennifer Blumhof
• Senior Advisor Environmental Sciences- GEES
• Learning for Sustainable Futures Skills for
  social and environmental responsibility
• Liverpool 23/24 March 2006
• Collaborative Project HLST,C-SAP GEES

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INTERDISCIPLINARITY

• "... the problems of the world do not come in
  simple disciplinary containers. There are
  interconnections between ecology and economics,
  for example, and between them and politics. In
  the end, all knowledge is connected........."
• Barnett, R. 1990. The Idea of Higher Education.
  The Society for Research into Higher
  Education/Open University Press. p176

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The skill of Interdisciplinarity

• seeks to create a broader and more integrated
  understanding of what and why
• environmental studies are essentially concerned
  with examining environmental issues from a
  variety of perspectives,continually striving for
  a more structured,integrated and holistic
  understanding, that is an interdisciplinary
  understanding (Blumhof,J. and Honeybone,A. 1993
  Getting Going in Action Research)
• but we are forced to slosh about in that
  primordial ooze known as interdisciplinary
  studies.(Passmore,J.1974 Mans responsibility
  for Nature.Duckworth)

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Workshop Aims

• to consider an interdisciplinary issue that
  investigates the sustainable use of resources and
  that includes human capital
• to explore the use of problem-based learning
  (pbl) as a tool for exploring sustainability
• to explore the use of pbl as a means of
  developing skills for social and environmental
  responsibility

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Workshop outline

• 14.30 introducing the problem
• 14.35 groups work on the problem
• 15.15 groups feed back initial findings
• 15.45 tea
• 16.00 reflections on exercise and some
  information on pbl

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Problem-Based Scenario- trigger

• You are a group of academic consultants
  invited by the Mayor of London to advise on
  greening the 2012 Olympics so that they produce
  sustainable benefits for Londoners.
• You have six weeks to submit a report and this
  morning your group will begin to address the
  task. At the end of 40 minutes, and with the aid
  of a flip chart, your group has two minutes to
  give a presentation on your preliminary ideas.

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What is pbl?

• The principal idea behind problem-based learning
  (pbl)..is that the starting point for learning
  should be a problem, a query or a puzzle that the
  learner wishes to solve.
• (Boud,David.1985.Cited in Boud,David and
  Feletti,Grahame(eds)1991.The Challenge of
  Problem-Based Learning.London.Kogan Page Ltd.p13
• Triggers for pbl can be given as
  text/story/critical incident, cartoon, oral
  report, video clips,newspaper article, email
  etc.etc.anything that triggers the learning
  process!
• PBL IS A PHILOSOPHY THAT PUTS STUDENTS AT THE
  CENTRE
• PBL IS A PROCESS- SPIRAL AND REFLECTIVE

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The pbl process

Offer solutions/do assignment
the problem
apply what you have found out
brainstorming
reflect
decide what the problem/s is/are
refine ideas critique resources
learning needs- what you need to find out
Based on Charlotte Silens model, University of
Linkoping
self study
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Some of the benefits of pbl

• student centred (understanding the needs of the
  learner eg motivation)
• integrative (develops skills and content)
• problem-based (eg real world real time problems)
• self-directed (eg pursue own learning enquiry and
  often manage complex timetabling)
• collaborative(often for staff and students)
• reflective (cant do it without thinking what has
  gone well, not so well, what else do I need to
  do/find out etc.)

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Some skills developed through pal skills for
social and environmental responsibility?

• INTELLECTUAL critical reasoning ,creative
  thinking,problem-working
• INTELLECTUAL Subject knowledge and
  understanding-eg interdisciplinarity
• PRACTICAL/APPLIED formulating hypotheses,designin
  g investigative strategies,information
  gathering,information handling,evaluating
  information
• COMMUNICATION -presenting (oral/written/graphic)
• INTERPERSONAL-teamwork
• SELF-MANAGEMENT - time-management
• OTHER?????

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GRADUATE SKILLS- UNIVERSITY OF HERFORDSHIRE

• Communication
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Application of number
• Graphic
• Communication and
• Information Technology
• Presenting (oral / written / graphic)
• Viewing
• Non-verbal
• Performing
• Giving feedback
• Receiving feedback
• Foreign language
• International and intercultural communication

• Intellectual
• Critical reasoning
• Creative thinking
• Analysing
• Synthesising
• Evaluating
• Memorising and recalling
• Questioning
• Summarising
• Creating
• Problem working
• Subject knowledge and understanding

• Interpersonal
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Assertiveness
• Negotiating
• Empathising
• Networking
• Managing people and resources

• Self Career Management S
• Self appraisal
• Self-reflection
• Self-confidence and promotion
• Self discipline
• Adaptability
• Responsibility
• Time-management
• Action planning
• Opportunity awareness

• Practical
• Formulating hypotheses / problems / arguments
• Designing investigative strategies
• Information gathering
• Information handling
• Interpreting information
• Evaluating information
• Evaluating method
• Decision-making
• Reporting findings
• Referencing
• Psychomotor coordination

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Socio-constructivism- peers enrich the process
Tell me about your other similar experiences
Experience
Ask me questions I have overlooked
Offer me suitable methods
Reflect
Actively experiment
Generalise
Discuss with me, and leave me to refine
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Problem-Based Learning questions for lecturers

• how might you develop the use of PBL further?
• 2. If you dont use PBL at present, do you now
  think it would be appropriate for your
  courses/modules?
• 3. what triggers have/or could you use?

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Problem-Based Learning questions for students

• What do you think worked well?
• 2. What do you think did not work so well?
• 3. Any proposals for improvement?