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PHILIP HALLINGER & EDWIN M. BRIDGES
implementing PBL in the classroom. These attitudes signal the instructor’s beliefs and intentions to students. While the instructor needs to create a learning environment that invites and supports student risk-taking, the environment must reflect high expectations and standards for student success. As noted, the teacher accomplishes this through attention to students’ transition to PBL as well as through other features of the PBL methodology. In the absence of such a learning environment, PBL does not fully attain its potential for student engagement and learning. In the following sections of this chapter, we discuss the instructional decisionmaking and behaviors of the instructor as he/she implements PBL in the classroom. We organize the discussion in terms of salient considerations and actions of the instructor before, during and after using a PBL project in class. THE INSTRUCTOR’S ROLE IN PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING: BEFORE THE PROJECT As discussed in Chapter Three, PBL involves significant front-loading of time and attention on the part of the instructor. Front-loading includes not only development of new PBL projects, but also preparation of materials and other resources prior to class sessions. Here we review decisions and logistical preparations for the instructor to consider prior to conducting a PBL instructional project with students. Review and Preparation of PBL Project Materials and Logistics We discuss salient issues concerning selection of PBL projects in Chapter Eight in the context of curriculum implementation. For the purposes of this chapter, we assume that the instructor has already decided which PBL projects to use in the curriculum. The next step involves the review of the resources and mechanics of the project. Here the instructor must consider how to conduct the project within the constraints of the particular setting. Each PBL project has multiple components that require similar attention. The tasks commonly involved in preparation for the classroom include: 1) selecting readings and other resources (old and new ones), 2) arranging for the provision of human resources, 3) preparing materials, 4) preparing the physical environment, 5) obtaining equipment. Planning for these well in advance of the class session is critical to the smooth functioning of a PBL project and also to student success. Review the PBL Project As instructors, we find it imperative to do all of the readings before assigning a project. This enables us to understand the content of the project as conceived by the author. Since it is likely that the project will relate to an area of the instructor’s expertise, this process often leads to the selection of additional readings and/or replacement of indicated readings. A key area for consideration in planning concerns the time constraints and task flow of the project. The first time that an instructor uses a project there will be uncertainty as to how much time is needed, regardless of what the teaching notes