PBL: Open ended and close ended~

Having done the PBL and watched the presentations of other groups, I am Thrilled!

Wow! What amazing topics! How amazing ethical, social, financial dilemmas! How very unique structure of the PBLs and layout for assessments. Congrats fellow GEDIs! I am impressed and hopeful that we will all go ahead to become truly the teachers of our students, for our students, and by our students.

Open-ended and Not so open ended PBLs:

I want to broach the topic of PBLs being open ended or close ended. Which is better? Probably this in itself is an open ended question :)

So, I will just focus on what I understood from our presentations (not including the readings) on advantages of both kinds of PBL.

Advantages of Close-ended PBL:

Subjects that need to train students in at least in part finding the right answers can benefit from close-ended PBL. We ofcourse dont want bridges and airplanes with faulty designs. In disciplines where right answer does exist, close ended PBL serve the dual purpose of engaging students through its story and thereby guiding students to arrive at the right answer.

Advantages of Open-ended PBL: 

Oh! And yes when I want to fire students' creative thinking, and imagination, and I want to encourage them to 'push the envelope', of course I will choose an open-ended PBL. Because sorry ma'am and sir, there is no correct answer! It is a continuum with no ends. It is often conflict of interests, ethics, engineering challenges, public welfare, and arts! 

It is beautiful! And we certainly need more of such PBLs in our class rooms!

And, I want to end this blog with the picture below that reinforces the abilities of our students and our future! Great job GEDIs! It was a pleasure to be in same class as you all!