Investigating Learners’ Perception of Uncertainty Level and satisfaction in learning experience in an Authentic Problem-based Learning Classroom

摘要

Learners of Problem-based learning (PBL) are expected to gain learning experience from “real world” problems through uncertainty resolution alongside with the problem solving process. The uncertainty incorporated in the authentic PBL problem acts as a source of intrinsic motivation and a stimulus to learning which appears as the natural provocations for real learning experience. PBL learners must seek information to resolve uncertainty in various stages of the problem solving process. This paper aims to investigate the perception of PBL learners with regards to their uncertainty level and satisfaction in learning experience while following an authentic PBL approach in learning physics. 78 students (FALL 2016 Semester) from American Degree Transfer Program at Taylor?s University in Malaysia participated in this study. These PBL learners were randomly assigned into two equal groups. The independent variables were groups of students with and without pretesting while dependent variables were PBL learners? perception of uncertainty level and satisfaction in learning experience. Uncertainty construct was developed and designed to measure an individual?s real or anticipated uncertainty level with regards to the cognitive, affective and physical dimension in a 30-item selfreporting, numerically measurable questionnaire. Satisfaction in learning experience will measure learners? satisfaction in learning experience with regards to the benefits through construction and made sense of the information gathered and knowledge acquisition, and application of the acquired knowledge to perform the learning task in a 10-item self-reporting, numerically measurable questionnaire. The pre-test and post-test questionnaires consist of 40 items with high reliability, that is Cronbach?s Alpha of 0.852 (pre-test instrument) and 0.882 (posttest instrument) for the survey questionnaire. Results from the analysis of repeated T-tests and independent sample T-Tests showed that PBL learners? uncertainty level was reduced while satisfaction in learning experience was increased after attending the authentic PBL activities. Besides, the Pearson?s correlation coefficient between the decrease in uncertainty level and increase in rating of satisfaction in learning experience were statistically correlated.