# Teaching Through Problems ## Teaching Through Problems Lecturing interactively and facilitating discussions may be the primary modalities for instruction, but they are certainly not the only ones. Teaching through problems is increasingly practiced on college campuses and in secondary classrooms. These classrooms engage students in relevant, discipline-specific puzzles, frequently shifting instructors to the periphery as students collaborate to realistically apply textbook concepts and reach new understandings. Teaching through problems videos are organized into five submodules according to the specific learning exercise employed: Case-Based Collaborative Learning (CBCL), Case Teaching, Simulations, Project-Based Learning, and Team-Based Learning. Supplemented by classroom footage and student testimonials, featured faculty share strategies and philosophies for designing, facilitating, and helping students make meaning from immersive, hands-on learning activities. ![bg](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_28_10__1920x685/public/instructionalmoves/files/teachingthroughproblems_v1a.jpg?itok=PlGbmPvW) ![Icon](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/instructionalmoves/files/icon_cbd.png?itok=t5gnc9GV) [### Case-Based Collaborative Learning ](/cbcl)Learn how to structure, craft, and facilitate cases for students’ collaborative learning ![Case Teaching icon](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/instructionalmoves/files/case-teaching.png?itok=Z53a_uok) [### Case Teaching ](/case-teaching)Learn how to plan, facilitate, and manage student-driven case discussions ![Simulations icon](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/instructionalmoves/files/simulations.png?itok=l-Nwdykb) [### Simulations ](/simulations)Learn how to design, manage, and debrief complex, immersive simulations for students ![icon](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/instructionalmoves/files/icon_project.png?itok=4e2PcVKm) [### Project-Based Learning ](https://instructionalmoves.gse.harvard.edu/project-based-learning)Learn how to design and facilitate authentic and challenging projects for students ![icon](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/instructionalmoves/files/icon_team.png?itok=CSZYZX3l) [### Team-Based Learning ](https://instructionalmoves.gse.harvard.edu/team-based-learning)Learn how to plan and facilitate teams that enable students’ collaborative learning ## Featured Faculty [### Julie Battilana ](/julie-battilana)Instructor Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration (Harvard Business School), Alan L. Gleitsman Professor of Social Innovation (Harvard Kennedy School) **Course details:** "Power and Influence"; Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School; 85 students **Relevant quote:** *"My approach when I stay with a student, is never to try and trick the student...I stay with the student because I'm genuinely interested in what the students have to say. And I want to make sure that we all as a group fully understand their reasoning."* ![Julie Battilana](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/instructionalmoves/files/battilana_headshot.png?itok=frR__dYw) [### Barbara Cockrill ](/barbara-cockrill)Instructor Harold Amos Academy Associate Professor of Medicine **Course details:** "Homeostasis I"; Harvard Medical School; 40 students **Relevant quote:** *"Our goal with cases is to have students come in and do the hard part of learning in the classroom, which is the application, the thinking, the wrestling with the material."* ![cockrill_headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/instructionalmoves/files/cockrill_headshot.png?itok=hYLmzaGC) [### Brian Mandell ](/brian-mandell)Instructor Mohamed Kamal Senior Lecturer in Negotiation and Public Policy **Course details:** "Advanced Workshop in Multiparty Negotiation and Conflict Resolution"; Harvard Kennedy School; 60 students **Relevant quote:** *"Even before playing, I'm trying to get them to develop an anticipatory mindset. Like an expert or grand master chess player, they can start to think in twofers -- one, two moves at a time -- and at the same time, anticipate questions from other parties at the table."* ![Brian Mandell](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/instructionalmoves/files/mandell_headshot.png?itok=5GCNMMyK) [### Eric Mazur ](/eric-mazur)Instructor Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics **Course details:** "Physics as a Foundation for Science and Engineering"; School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; 60 students **Relevant quote:** *"I thought it'd be nice if I could somehow return to my students the ownership of learning, so that they're not learning because I tell them it's good for them but because they actually want to."* ![Eric Mazur](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/instructionalmoves/files/mazur_headshot.png?itok=DxkVlxLc) [### Richard Schwartzstein ](/richard-schwartzstein)Instructor Ellen and Melvin Gordon Professor of Medicine and Medical Education **Course details:** "Homeostasis I"; Harvard Medical School; 40 students **Relevant quote:** *"The challenge of this kind of teaching and the fun part for me is that it's largely unscripted. We know the goals and objectives for the session...but we don't know exactly what the groups are going to come up with for hypotheses. So managing that conversation is a little challenging, but it's fun because no two sessions are exactly the same."* ![Richard Schwartzstein](/sites/g/files/omnuum10466/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/instructionalmoves/files/schwartzstein_headshot.png?itok=9TtmvQmk)