An examination of the roles of the teacher and students during a problem-based learning intervention: lessons learned from a study in a Taiwanese primary mathematics classroom

ABSTRACT

The benefits of problem-based learning (PBL) to student learning have prompted researchers to investigate this pedagogical approach over the past few decades. However, little research has examined how PBL can be applied to mathematics learning and teaching, especially in countries like Taiwan, where the majority of teachers are accustomed to lecture methods and students are used to this style of teaching. This study examines the actions of a teacher and her class of 35 fifth-grade students (10–11-year-olds) as they tried to take on and respond to the demands of their new roles as “facilitator” and “constructors”, respectively, during a one-year PBL intervention in a Taiwanese mathematics classroom. Our findings provide insights into classroom participants’ role transition, from a customary role to a new role, when engaging with PBL. We identify an interrelationship between the teacher and student roles and discuss implications for the implementation of PBL at the primary education level.

KEYWORDS:

• Problem-based learning (PBL)
• primary education
• mathematics
• facilitator
• constructor
• role transition in PBL

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hui-Chuan Li is a Lecturer in Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, where she teaches and supervises on masters and doctoral courses. Her research interests lie in the field of mathematics learning and teaching, with a focus on classroom interaction, learning through talk and teacher professional development during the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL).

Andreas J. Stylianides is a Reader in Mathematics Education at the University of Cambridge. His research is concerned with understanding and acting upon problems of classroom practice in mathematics. A premise underlying his research is that, by engineering ways to address problems of practice, one develops also a better theoretical understanding of the processes (didactical, cognitive, etc.) underpinning the problems.