A picture paints a thousand words - Collage-making in higher education problem-based learning - Study of creative art activity in PBL course

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi

Study examines how implementing a creative art activity within a problem-based learning (PBL) course affects occupational therapy (OT) students and their tutors. A qualitative ethnographic design was conducted in 2016–2017 with 126 first-year OT students who created a collage based on a chosen case, followed by discussion; 34 students and nine tutors participated. Focus groups, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and observations supported analysis. Results identified four categories: attachment to the client, changes in meeting atmosphere, development of learning skills, and the creative activity as a learning, treatment, and tutoring tool.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Problem-based learning in health professions education

Creativity in health (continuation)

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 59, Number 2, July 2019 A picture paints a thousand words: Collage-making in higher education problem-based learning Sarah Gat Margalit Pade Michal Avrech Bar Tel Aviv University The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of implementing a creative art activity in a problem-based learning (PBL) course on occupational therapy (OT) students and their tutors. A qualitativeethnographic study was conducted during 2016–2017. In one meeting of a PBL course, 126 first year OT undergraduate students were asked to create a collage reflecting the case study they chose, followed by a discussion of their experience. Thirty-four students and nine tutors participated in the study. Qualitative analysis was conducted using focus groups, semi-structured interviews, open questionnairesand observations. Findings of the qualitative analysis revealed four main categories: attachment to the client, change in the meeting's atmosphere, developing learning skills, and a creative art activity asa learning, treating and tutoring tool. Implementation of a creative art activity in a PBL course provided enrichment for students in the form of a learning and treatment tool and for tutors in the form of an instruction tool. This study sheds new light on active learning and A picture paints a thousand words: Collage-making in higher education problem-based learning 171 teaching, and offers some important insights regarding the use of creative art activities in higher education. Keywords: creativity, higher education, students, teaching, tutor Introduction Contemporary literature on teaching techniques in higher education has dealt with the development of innovative teaching strategies in light of the criticism of traditional teaching methods (Pundak, & Rozner, 2008; White, Larson, Styles, Yuriev, Evans, Rangachari, & Eise, 2016) . It is argued that traditional methods limit instruction to knowledge transfer only. As a result, they do not generate expected outcomes; for example, acquiring knowledge and promoting skills such as problem solving and understanding complex concepts. Furthermore, traditional instruction develops a negative attitude among students (Pundak, & Rozner, 2008) . Consequently, other teaching strategies have been developed based on the conceptual theory of ‘constructivism’ emphasising the active nature of learning. Active learning has been defined as classes in which students should read, write, discuss, or engage in solving problems. Active learning places students in the centre of the lesson and regulates their learning, while the teacher becomes a guide and a co-creator of new meaning making (Alt, 2016; Gaspar, & Mabic, 2014; White et al, 2016) . Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the techniques that meets this definition (Prince, 2004). Creative teaching is also a valuable technique to promote student-centred teaching (Gibson, 2010) and creative art activities are a powerful teaching tool for adult learners (Simmons, & Daley’s, 2013) . This paper presents a study incorporating these two methods and describes the implementation of a creative art activity as an active learning method in a PBL course. Additionally, it explores the experiences of occupational therapy (OT) students and their tutors while engaging in the new activity. Understanding the impact of creative art activities on OT students may contribute to the growing body of literature on active learning and teaching techniques for preparing health students for practice. 172 Sarah Gat, Margalit Pade and Michal Avrech Bar Problem-based learning in health professions education PBL is a learner-centred approach that builds on real-life cases to increase the students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject matter (Hung, 2015; Stern, & D’Amico, 2001). Problems, or cases (terms used interchangeably in the literature), are the cornerstone of PBL. They are based on authentic situations and provide the sub

FAQs

What creative art activity was implemented in the PBL course?

Students were asked to create a collage reflecting the case study they chose, followed by discussion of their experience.

How was the qualitative data collected and analyzed?

The study used focus groups, semi-structured interviews, open questionnaires, and observations, followed by qualitative analysis identifying four main categories.

What were the four main findings categories?

The analysis revealed attachment to the client, changes in the meeting atmosphere, development of learning skills, and the creative art activity as a learning and tutoring tool.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi