ENroute Yearbook 2017-18
Problem-based Learning as a Teaching Strategy
Katarzyna Siemienowicz, School of Applied Sciences, Associate Fellow
My teaching journey started during my postgraduate studies, and since then I
have had numerous teaching opportunities. I was responsible for laboratory skills
training and direct supervision of BSc and MSc research students and I have also
worked as laboratory demonstrator. For the last two years of my PhD training I
worked as a problem-based learning (PBL) facilitator with first- and second-year
medical students. PBL sessions consists of a series of two weekly meetings in
which students work
through increasingly
complex scenarios in a
clinical context which act
as stimulus for learning
through using appropriate
questioning. Student-
centred PBL meetings
are designed to promote
problem solving, intrinsic
motivation, self-directed
learning and good study
habits.
My role as a PBL facilitator was to supervise and guide students through a process
resulting in identification of learning issues and enabling them to learn at an
appropriate depth as well as encouraging students to think critically, motivating
them and promoting student’s interaction as a group. During those two years as PBL
facilitator I worked hard to develop numerous skills which helped me to perform my
facilitator role efficiently. Although, I had some previous teaching experience, this
new role proved to be very different and challenging but also very rewarding. PBL
experience informed my present teaching practice.
I currently hold my first post-doctoral research post at the Edinburgh Napier
University. As part of my role as research fellow I supervise, train and mentor
undergraduate and postgraduate research students in our lab group. My main
teaching aims are to assist students in expanding their intellectual potential, growing
their critical thinking and analytical skills,
advancing their practical abilities, and to
encourage their personal development
and confidence thus preparing them to be
future independent scholars. I am trying to
accomplish that by sharing my enthusiasm
for science and engaging students with
active research, encouraging them to
formulate their own research questions
and overseeing their own learning, but also
giving them space to grow and letting them
spread their ‘research wings’.
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