Roman Roads and Bridges Reflection

Before this class I had never experienced a Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach to teaching. From the start of the PBL I found it interesting and exciting that as students we determined what to do in presentation and was not given a handout or a specific way of doing it, we were in control. When I found out in class who my teammates were I was excited and happy for the diverse and intelligent group that I was put into. Our first PBL was Roman Roads and Bridges. Before I came to College of Applied Sciences I was a Civil Engineering student. This PBL rejuvenated my love and appreciation for construction and architecture. So from the get go I was excited about receiving this topic. As the weeks went on my group was able to develop great ideas about the PBL. I remember that we were going to meet on a Saturday in October to work on the project. Well I got off work early and decided to take a nap in my car, when it was time to go meet up with the group I had learned that my car battery died because I had kept the lights on, because of this I missed the entire meeting and felt terrible about it. Even without me there my group accomplished a lot; I felt bad for missing the meeting, so I stepped up and decided to create the power point and do a little extra. Even through my mishap we finished the PBL and presented it. During the presentation we were each a different person from the Roman Empire and I was Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, a Roman Politician and Military Commander. I was a little nervous (still don’t know why) but the first thing I did was miss a very important line from the speech, making my “Quiz Question” almost impossible to answer. The strangest part of the presentation was that we practiced it about 4 times, each time averaging 20 minutes of speaking, but during the presentation we spoke for around 40 minutes. Overall the PBL was very fun and challenging to accomplish, and I am looking forward to doing the next PBL…Pompeii.