The description of problem-based learning in Visible Learning is exactly how I would describe project-based learning. Are they the same?

Meta-analysis is but a method--very worthwhile but the hard work is interpreting…In Visible Learning I have commentaries on these methods so will refer you there--I read them all, pour over them to make meaning… and this is the hard work. You are right, sometimes there are definitional issues, sometimes not well interpreted in the original meta-analysis. The bottom line for me, is that too often a) the advocates for these methods are messiahs and miss the expertise needed to implement, b) but more important these methods shine when the learning is deep (relate and extend) but too often introduced before the students have the necessary knowledge to problem solve etc. For example, Problem-Based Learning (PBL) for surface is close to zero, for deep 0.54” (John Hattie, personal communication, March 19, 2018).