To restore the quality of education, the 2013 curriculum reform in Indonesia urged teachers to employ pupil-centered, thematic problem-based learning (PBL). This study examined whether the PBL collaborative learning enabled students to learn better and in an equal manner through an array of cross-cutting aspects like race, social class, and gender. The presented study involved two teacher colleges and randomly assigned undergraduate classes that were taught with the use of PBL practices while other comparable classes were taught through traditional lecturing. It was found that the students in the experimental group performed better and more equalized than those in the other group. This is to assist the teacher colleges to teach their student-teachers to design and practice more engaging classes where boys and girls are given equal chances to foster their potentials to the fullest.

The contribution enquires into possibilities of application of the heuristic methods in the teaching process, specifically its applications during the classes of mathematics in grammar school. In the frame of the research the influence was monitored of the unconventional way of solving problems during classes of mathematics in relation to the evaluation of educational advancements. Furthermore, pupils evaluated their attitude towards mathematical study including their viewpoint on problematic exercises in maths and the successfulness of solving these mathematical exercises was also evaluated. The results of the experimental group were compared to the same areas in the control group.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) represents a major development and change in educational practice that continues to have a large impact across subjects and disciplines worldwide. PBL is a successful teaching and learning strategy used to engage students in deep rather than surface learning and where the learning is student focused rather than teacher focused (Biggs,1999). The paper presents the comparison of PBL with traditional learning in the teaching of geography in high school. Comparative analysis of the results of the pedagogical experiment, which included three high schools, 14 classes with 339 students, is carried out. In the statistical analysis of data t-test was used to check the hypothesis on the differences of the arithmetic means. The results of the final test showed that there was a significant difference in the arithmetic means between the students who had taken a PBL course and the students who had taken a traditional course. It can be concluded that PBL has a positive impact on improving student achievement in the learning of geography in elementary and secondary schools.

The study was conducted to observe changes in nursing students’ Self-Directed Learning Readiness (SDLR) scores and Locus of Control (LOC) scores during their four-year education with the PBL approach and to determine the relationship between SDLR and LOC. The sample included 47 students. Data were collected with LOC and SDLR scales. When the students’ four-year scores were compared, a significant difference was observed between SDLR scores and LOC scores. In both scales, the nursing students’ second and third-year scores increased significantly compared to their first-year scores whereas their fourth-year scores decreased. There was a negative weak correlation between the SDLR scores and LOC scores of the students in every year. Both the SDLR scores and LOC scores decreased in the fourth-year students because the students spent a large part of their time on clinical education. Therefore, it might be proposed that fourth-year curriculum should include topics which might help them cope with stressors associated with issues such as individual development and job finding.

Most teachers ask if there is a “best” – known way to teach. The most effective teaching method depends on the specific course objectives and the pupils’ needs. The paper presents research that was carried out to analyze a relation between the problem solving and the traditional teaching method. The research was done as a pedagogical experiment of parallel groups with a randomly chosen sample of sixth and eighth grade pupils. The obtained results were treated statistically. The comparison showed a significant difference in respect of the speed of acquiring knowledge, proving that problem-solving teaching is more advantageous than the traditional method.