Abstract
It is widely accepted that in the context of Knowledge-based Society, the educational institutions must demonstrate their
ideologically and pragmatic point of views, when discussing the role of the promoters of educational changes. The changes
require - among other aspects of pedagogical and psycho-social issues - a reconsideration of what constitutes the effective
teaching strategy, adapted to the needs of the learners.
Thus, within the Science classes (Chemistry, Physics and Biology), the teaching approach cannot remain an expositional one,
based only on the transmission and reception of information. A student-centred educational process, aiming to the development
of key-skills, necessarily involves a pro-active approach that facilitates students’ involvement in research, scientific investigation,
analysis of problematic situations or solving real problems or merely hypothetical ones. Through its specificity, the ProblemBased
Learning (PBL) strategy may be a central component of such teaching approaches.
The purpose of the article is to highlight the effectiveness of PBL, through presenting some of the best educational practices
implemented by the Romanian Science teachers who participated in the “PROFILES - Education through Science” Continuous
Professional Development Programme.
The investigative approach is a qualitative one, focused on the analysis of the teaching practices based on PBL implementation,
but also on the analysis of students’ and teachers’ opinions who used this strategy in Science lessons. The hypothesis that was
stated as a premise of the research took into consideration the fact that when using the PBL teaching strategy during the Science
lessons, the students will acquire not only cognitive skills but also a series of instrumental and transversal ones.