Investigation of Pre-Service Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Their Views on Problem-Based Learning

Introduction

Great changes and developments have occurred in our ways of communicating, having access to information, and using technology today. In light of those developments, it is considered insufficient to have knowledge about and skills in a specific area. Employers expect their employees to have such abilities as being able to work with experts in other areas in different contexts, to think critically, to access knowledge, and to use the knowledge besides having different social, communicative, and cooperative skills. These rapid changes, which are specific to today’s society and work life, necessitate individuals to develop themselves continuously in the process of lifelong learning. Considering all these, changes also in educational systems, which are expected to raise the individuals needed in the work-life of the future have occurred (Tynjälä, 1999). Primarily our way of teaching should be changed to make our students cope with such situations. They need more help than ever to ask questions, answer the questions, search for and find the appropriate resources, and convey the solutions to others effectively. In this respect, problem-based learning (PBL) is a method of education, which helps students to develop the reasoning and communication skills, which are necessary for achievement (Duch et al., 2001).

Problem-based learning, which was developed in medical training in the 1950s and 1960s, was regarded as an innovative teaching method and was used by several educators over time (Dolmans et al., 2015). PBL has been used in many areas to improve students’ problem-solving and critical-thinking skills in authentic learning environments (Loyens et al., 2015; Schmidt et al., 2009; Yew, & Goh, 2016). PBL is mostly described as a pedagogical method, which enables students to learn while they are handling problems actively (Yew & Goh, 2016). The method helps students to take on active roles and have responsibility for their learning since it enables them to be concerned with real-life problems (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). The complex problems which are used in PBL and which have more than one solution have various properties, which encourage high levels of cognitive interaction (Loyens et al., 2015). Complex and authentic life problems are used in motivating students to describe and research the knowledge and concepts that they need to possess to be able to solve the problems. Students work in small groups and use their skills in acquiring, transmitting, and integrating knowledge (Duch et al., 2001).