THE EFFECT OF USING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING UPON STUDENTS’ EMOTIONS TOWARDS LEARNING AND LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THREE DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES

Abstract

In the past few years, teaching staff have been motivated to engage students in different communication forms. This quasi-experimental study presents the implementation of a problem-based learning (PBL) approach in the first year classroom environment to enhance the students’ skills of communication and to promote their positive learning emotions. The study was carried out involving students studying in health, engineering and science fields. They were categorized into two groups, namely experimental (90 students) and control group (90 students). The study period lasted 4 weeks, during which the module was taught to the 180 first year students in both groups. The findings revealed the learning approach significantly affected the students’ communication skills and their emotions concerning learning. Finally, conclusions were drawn from this study.