another life blog

The idea of PBL, problem-based learning, is very much like the socialist idea. In an ideal setting, PBL will allow the students to explore and learn on their own more than ever. It’s my opinion however, that the world is very much less than ideal, and PBL will only see limited success without any traditional didactic lessons.

In the morning of the tour, they had us write a short essay, each of us having random questions I believe. Mine was, “If you could invent any one thing, what would it be and why?” I thought about the question long and hard for a minute and decided to have fun with it. I answered, “I would like to invent an anti-gravity device!” It would really revolutionize the world, don’t you think?

The next thing on the agenda was an observation of a PBL Case Study in session. Well, it wasn’t in session, more like a Q&A time with what the students feel about it. I think most of them answered somewhat honestly, and responded that the program isn’t for everyone, and that the national board average shows it. USC for the national board scored rather low, and only 30% got into specialized program after the 4 year DDS training. The PBL continues somewhat through 4 years of the school, but they will still have on-hand clinical demonstrations, sim-labs, etc. It’s simply that there is no teacher up on a podium, lecturing for an hour, that’s all. We met with Professor Schuler next where he gave a speech about PBL and why it works better to help the students recall and prepare for the future of dentistry. I buy it, definitely - but, to allow students to flounder about without giving them a bit of direction to begin with, is a waste of time.

There was a financial aid session tossed in somewhere before this, but it didn’t really apply since I got the Air Force happiness already. We went to have lunch with some 2nd year students, then got back to do a little on-hand PBL session. Basically, it’s like this:

Card 1: Pat planned a cruise for dental school reunion for a long time. They met at the pier side restaurant, and had a hearty fresh seafood meal before going on board the ship. After a rough night at sea, Pat woke up with nauseous feeling, and light headache.

What are the facts?
Pat planned a cruise.
Pat ate fresh seafood
Rough night at sea.

What are some ideas?
Food poisoning
Sea food allergy

What are the learning needs?
Is Pat a man or woman?
What are the bacterias that causes food poisoning?
Has Pat previous history of sea sickness?

Etc, etc. Basically, the learning needs are what the students will go forth and research on their own for a day, then present the learning needs to each other. From there, they’ll reassess the facts and ideas. Now, the facilitator can either give the students a brand new card, or a card with more information. This will change the learning needs to more indepth things and so on. Anyway, after the PBL session, we were given a tour of the facilities. I have to say, some of the chairs look rundown and need to be replaced. Otherwise, it’s all good I suppose. I wasn’t too impressed, but whatever!

Exiting USC campus, it wasn’t raining anymore so I thought I would have a chance at seeing the setting sun at Santa Monica Pier, so I made my way there. The traffic out of LA is always light it seems - and I got there fairly quickly — but I took the wrong turn and saw Malibu first. It’s a cold day in Spring, so I didn’t see ANY “beach bunnies.” I did take a few pictures of the coastline though.

Turning about, I got to Santa Monica pier, and took a looksee around. Again, not too impressive, the man made things, but I did like the waves on the beach, and the setting sun. I met a German traveller with a big camera who told me taking pictures of the sun might destroy my camera (but a lil late I thought at that point). His name is Ihnold I think… cool guy ~ studied in aeronatuical engineering and predicated exactly when the sun will set. Soon as the sun sets, the damn place became freezing cold (already cold, but got even colder). I got out, and drove toward Little Tokyo to had myself a nice dinner.

I arrived at the Japanese village plaza and came to a place called Oomasa . It looks alright, and everyone inside spoke Japanese. It was a pretty neat environment, except they didn’t much like me I think. The “boss” was the one handling my orders, and he practically tossed me all the food at me. Ah, whatever. I ordered some combo dish, and a grilled eel. It was alright, nothing extraordinary. Did cost a pretty penny though.

I walked around the Village for a bit after, but didn’t find taiyaki. Not seeing a lot of other people, and the place kinda closing down, I went back to my car, and decided to go see IMAX theater. Dumb, I know. I thought they might still be open at night. Not really finding it, and realizing it’s probably closed, I thought I’ll go check out Sunset and Hollywood.

On the way to the intersection, I somehow lost where I crossed it and found myself driving down Hollywood Blvd. Again, just normal shops, until I got to in front of the Kodak Theater and the Chinese Theater. It’s very lively there, and I parked to take a look around. A lot of street performers happening, and nightclubs - and I simply walked about for the next couple hours, taking a look at girls with their boobies hanging out complaining about the cold.

Before midnight, I decided that there’s nothing more to see, and that I won’t be getting into any of the nightclub since you must be on the list to wait in the line to get into the damn places. So I went back to hotel, and crashed into bed. Tomorrow, I suppose I’ll go have the ramen at the Japanese Plaza Village, go check out Beverly Shopping Center, watch V for Vendetta, Thank you for smoking, and then hire an escort. Heh, 1 full year for 1.8 mil. Hahaha!

Right.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 18th, 2006 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Pre-Dental, my life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.