Illuminating Lighting Education P roblem-based learning (PBL) builds on American philosopher John Dewey's belief that a learner constructs knowledge in response to real-life events (Schmidt 1993). PBL increases learners' sense of community and attitudes toward content (Ferreira & Trudel 2012) while also accomplishing two main goals: for the learner to both construct domain-centric knowledge and to apply that knowledge to increase their general problem-solving skills (Barrows & Tamblyn 1980). Here, domain-centric knowledge refers to knowledge acquired in a learner's field; for instance, an understanding of the possible meanings of lighting color or angle. Through the appropriate implementation of PBL, learners across many disciplines have been shown to improve problemsolving and critical-thinking skills (Ulger 2018) and display enhanced creative flexibility (Cheung 2011). This process of acquiring domain-centric knowledge and applying it to problems is a transferable skill that learners can take into their field or any future discipline or career path. 16 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | ISSUE 1, 2024