science

Practice-based professional learning

Practice-based professional learning is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Practice-based professional learning rather than just read about it. In short: Practice-based professional learning (PBPL) is understood in contrast to classroom- or theory-based learning. It is kindred to terms such as work-based learning, workplace or work-centred learning.

Key takeaways

Practice-based professional learning belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Practice-based professional learning to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Practice-based professional learning from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Practice-based professional learning (PBPL) is understood in contrast to classroom- or theory-based learning. It is kindred to terms such as work-based learning, workplace or work-centred learning. Distinctive, though, are a concern for professional learning, and the preference for practice rather than work. While it does not disdain propositional knowledge and what is sometimes called theory, its prime interest is in the formation of self-renewing and effective professional practices—a distinct theoretical position in its own right.

UK Higher Education The range of concerns may be seen, for example, in the UK Open University's practice-based professional learning centre, one of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's centres for excellence in teaching and learning. Its interests cover the inter-relation of various forms of professional knowledge, ways of fostering them and their co-ordination, workplaces as sites of learning, the assessment of practice-based learning achievements, and the use of modern technologies to support distributed learning. Other centres for excellence occupy some or all of the territory, notably the Professional Development Unit at the University of Chester, SCEPTrE in the University of Surrey, CEPLW in the University of Westminster and NCWBLP in Middlesex University. Interest in this territory is not confined to the UK, with some of the most respected work associated with David Boud at the University of Technology, Sydney, NSW.

US K-12 Education As practiced in K-12 education in the United States, practice-based professional learning develops and integrates a school's use of curriculum and assessment, instructional leadership, and professional learning communities (PLCs) to create a system-wide shift in day-to-day classroom instruction. Indeed, it is this focus on daily classroom practice, "the core tasks and activities of teaching rather than knowledge or theory" that distinguishes practice-based professional learning from other models of professional learning and development. Several US universities and educational companies have created materials and resources that use a PBPL approach.

See also Professional learning community Reflective practice Work-based learning

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Practice-based professional learning

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Practice-based professional learning claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Practice-based professional learning before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Practice-based professional learning ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Practice-based professional learning

In research: Practice-based professional learning appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Practice-based professional learning in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Practice-based professional learning is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alternative education, Internships, Learning theory (education), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Practice-based professional learning outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Practice-based professional learning in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Practice-based professional learning means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Practice-based professional learning out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Practice-based professional learning in simple terms?

Practice-based professional learning (PBPL) is understood in contrast to classroom- or theory-based learning. It is kindred to terms such as work-based learning, workplace or work-centred learning.

Why does Practice-based professional learning matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Practice-based professional learning?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Practice-based professional learning.