Required Forms for all four of these grants are given on the following pages and consist of:

Bush Grant Proposal: Dissemination Grant

Cover Sheet

Select one:

___ Project Grant

___ Core and Core Area Grant

___ Seed Grant

_X_Dissemination Grant

Name: Angela High-Pippert Dept./Program: Political Science

Mail # 4208 Phone # 651-962-5725 E-mail: ahighpippe@stthomas.edu

The date of my initial full-time employment at UST was: August 1999 and the status of my present employment (tenured, tenure-track, limited term, adjunct) at UST is:

tenure track.

1. Title of proposed project: “Problem-Based Learning in a Political Science Classroom: Perspectives of a Professor and an Undergraduate Student”

2. Description of project suitable for use in publicity and reporting to a general audience (not to exceed 50 words; avoid use of jargon):

This paper is co-authored with Lisa Lyttle, a political science major. We are presenting our paper, which examines the use of problem-based learning from both a professor’s and undergraduate student’s perspective, at the Midwest Political Science Association Meeting. We are requesting funds for registration fees and travel costs.

3. Intended start date: April 15-18, 2004

Project duration (in months): N/A

4. Total amount requested: $1561

5. Have you previously received 2002-05 Bush Grant funds? _X_ Yes ___ No

If yes, please describe: I received Bush grant funding for my registration and travel costs to the Problem-Based Learning Conference at the University of Delaware in June 2003.

2) Budget Format page

BUDGET ITEM Grant Request Other Funding Total

1. Personnel / Director Stipend __________ ___________ ___________

2. Travel expenses __$1561___ ___________ ___________

a. Lodging __$636_____

b. Transportation __$740_____

c. Meals __$100_____

d. Conference Fee __$85______

e. Other (give detail) ___________

3. Supplies, e.g. books

and refreshments ___________ ___________ ___________

4. Duplicating, postage, telephone __________

5. Other (provide detail) ___________ ___________ ___________

TOTAL REQUESTED: __$1561______ ___________ ___________

Explanation for Budget:

Lodging at the conference hotel is $159 per night. We may be staying for two nights, depending on the timing of our presentation. It is possible that we only need to stay in the hotel for one night, which would amount to $318 rather than $636 – but we won’t know the timing of our presentation until a few months from now.

Estimates for transportation are as follows. Two airline tickets at $350 each, plus $20 each in ground transportation costs, for a total of $740.

The cost of meals is estimated to be approximately $50 each, for a total of $100.

Conference registration fees are $15 for an undergraduate student, and $70 for a professional. Total of $85.

There are no other sources of funding available for these travel costs. Angela High-Pippert’s department travel funds were used to attend the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting in August 2003. The political science department does not have funds to support travel costs for undergraduate students.

3) Grant Application Checklist

Please complete this checklist and submit with your application, which is due by 5:00 p.m. on the following dates:

For work beginning in: Due Notification Date

Summer April 1 June 1

Fall July 15 August 1

J Term October 1 November 1

Spring November 1 December 1

Submit the application to: Bush Grant, Mail # JRC 432.

Check that your application package contains eight complete, collated copies of the following:

___ A. Cover Sheet

___ B. Proposal Narrative

___ C. Budget Format page and Budget Explanation (not required for Seed Grants)

___ D. Copies of supporting documentation, if applicable

___ E. Two-page vitae (not required for Core and Core Area Grants)

___ F. Grant Application Checklist (this sheet, signed and dated)

Other items to acknowledge:

___ G. Final reports

I do not have any final reports due for previous UST Bush grants.

___ H. Protection of Human Subjects of Research

I understand that if my research will involve human subjects, I must seek approval from UST's Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research (IRB) before beginning the project. See the IRB website for information: http://www.stthomas.edu/irb

___ I. Final Report

Within three months of my project’s completion date, I agree to submit to Program Coordinator Vanca Shrunk (c/o Bush Grant Mail # JRC 432, idschrunk@stthomas.edu, 2-5740) the following: 1) a project evaluation report, 2) an accounting of funds spent, and 3) assessment results. I understand that submission of this final report is a prerequisite for any future funding from UST’s Bush grant for Collaborative Inquiry.

Applicant

Signature:_____________________________________________

Date:____________

Proposal Narrative:

Lisa Lyttle, an undergraduate political science student, and Angela High-Pippert, a political science professor, are co-authoring a paper on problem-based learning (PBL) in political science. Our proposal fits under Category A, as we are requesting funds to disseminate results of faculty/student collaborative work. We are presenting our paper at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 16-18, 2004. The Midwest conference is the largest national conference in our discipline, and will have approximately 460 panels and 1600 papers/posters in 2004.

Our paper is entitled “Problem-Based Learning in a Political Science Classroom: Perspectives of a Professor and an Undergraduate Student.” Problem-based learning allows students to learn disciplinary knowledge while also learning to think and solve problems. In essence, PBL bridges theory and practice for students. Professors present a compelling “problem” to teams of students, who must then define the nature of the problem, identify resources that will help them develop answers to the problem, and create workable solutions to the problem. PBL problems are complex, ill-structured, based on real-world situations, and have many possible solutions. Among the anticipated outcomes of PBL are enhanced critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, research skills, communication skills, and content knowledge.

Obviously, all of those skills would be an asset to any undergraduate student, and the opportunity to cultivate areas such as critical-thinking and research skills while teaching course content should be quite appealing to most professors. However, political science majors may have even more to gain from PBL than some other academic majors. After all, political science professors teach students that politics is a method of determining the best common solution to a common problem, or making common decisions for a group through the use of power. In other words, politics is “who gets what, when, and how,” and deciding who is going to get what and how they are going to get it requires both problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

In this paper, we examine the use of problem-based learning as a two-week project in an introduction to American public policy course, from both a professor’s and undergraduate student’s perspective. The professor’s perspective includes discussing the nature of the problem presented to students, learning objectives, methods of assessment, and student reactions to the projects. This paper also provides strategies for easing the transition of students into more self-directed learning, as well as overcoming resistance to group work. The undergraduate student’s perspective is based on her previous experience with PBL in the same course last semester, when she completed a different project. Her insights into how students actually work together to develop learning issues and seek solutions to the problem will add a dimension that is often missing from articles on teaching and learning strategies.