Designing Problems to Promote Higher-Order Thinking

For problem based learning (PBL) the required level of content knowledge should be made clear at the start or the players’ current level  assessed and the game adjusted accordingly. If the problems are too difficult players will get frustrated. On the other hand, if the problems are not challenging enough they will neither engage players nor stimulate critical thinking. Therefor, problems should be just slightly above players’ current skill level so they need to extend their knowledge base and skills to solve.