With PBCL, students apply their knowledge to actual problems that are framed by business partners and instructors. The business partner benefits from the students’ solutions, while students get to use what they have learned in a professional context. These business problems are real, open-ended challenges. PBCL methodology manages this open-endedness through a series of stages—including feedback, documentation, and reflection—that are built into the problem-solving process.

Because there is no one right approach to a solution, making mistakes is an essential part of the PBCL process: students gain an awareness of what may have gone wrong, and have the opportunity to revise their approaches. They also get the chance to examine multiple, equally valid answers to the same problem. With PBCL, students directly apply their knowledge to a real problem in a real profession. When they enter the work world, this real-world experience can give them an advantage over those taught only through academic approaches.

While PBCL originated in two-year colleges’ technical education programs, secondary schools have applied the methodology successfully to a wide range of STEM content.

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