LITERATURE REVIEW ON PROBLEM AND PROJECT-BASED LEARNING (PBL) IN PRIMARY SCHOOL SETTINGS

This paper presents a review of the existing literature and its main goal is to clarify two research areas: (1) What are the main constraints for installing problem and project-based learning (PBL) principles in primary education? And (2) What type of model can be used to integrate both PBL´s and computers, taking impoverished context into consideration?

The first part of this paper explains the origin of Problem-Based Learning in higher education and explains how PBL is becoming more widely known and adopted through different combinations, such as Project-Based Learning in primary education. The second part explains the learning theories behind this model, while the third part provides an overview of the main challenges of teaching in an impoverished context and simultaneously attempting to introduce both a new model and a new technology. This literature review also provides an overview of information and communication technology (ICT) in education and describes the challenges of teaching with poverty. This literature review reveals that a considerable amount of literature has been published on PBL, the majority of which is specific to higher education in medical school settings, while little research has been conducted specific to K-12 populations.