Blog Post 9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

This is the question we were told to answer when approaching this week's blog post. What can we learn from our peers about project based learning and how can we apply to that our classroom. Project based learning has been our main focus in EDM310 for the majority of the semester and for good reason. With every blog post assignment or project we are assigned that concentrates on PBL, I learn something new. It might not be a lot of new information every time, but it is always a little something. This week, we were given several resources to watch and read over. Many of them were very helpful and informative in showing different aspects of PBL with in different subjects, like math and english for example. In PBL - High School Math, Sammamish High School is in the process of redesigning the curriculum of 30 courses which will affect about 75 teachers. One of the main things they emphasized in the video was the challenge of incorporating project based learning into the curriculum of math and english. Within these two subjects, they were just worried about losing the most important themes and lessons in the requirement of adding in PBL, although they were wanting to do so. One successful project that one of the math teachers came up with that involved PBL was during their lesson on probability. The teacher had her students create their own game. I think this was very clever in a couple ways. First, what kid does not love playing games of some some kind. Second, involving that love of games in school can only motivate students to create a successful project.

After all of the reading and watching to prepare myself for this blog post, I found that Seven Essentials to Project Based Learning was very informative. John R. Mergendoller and John Larmer did a great job at explaining to us the seven necessary ingredients to having a successful PBL lesson. They explained that the key is meaningful learning, the process of students' learning and the depth of their cognitive engagement- rather than the resulting project- that distinguishes projects from busywork. In order for the project to be meaningful, it needs to fulfill two criteria. First, students must see the work as personally meaningful to them and as a task that matters to them and one that they want to take pride in. Second, the project must have an educational purpose that is well-designed and well-implemented. They also went in-depth to discus the seven essentials to PBL.
1). Need to Know: In order to kick off a successful project, teachers need to activate in the students a need-to-know mentality. A good way to do this is to have an "entry event" of some kind to introduce the project and its driving question. This introduction needs to intrigue your students to engage their interest and stir up some questions. One of the worst things a teacher can do when introducing a new project is to walk into class with a stack full of info packets saying, "Here is your new project. Let's read over it and get started." Students will most instantly shut down and lose motivation if you do this. Teachers need to catch their attention to make them want learn more about the topic and initiate questions of their own. By making the project compelling and intriguing, the students' attitudes turn into, "Okay, I'm going to do this because I have accepted this challenge and I will learn all I need to succeed!"
2). A Driving Question: A good driving question needs to clearly capture the core of the project that gives the students a challenge and sense of purpose. The driving question should be "proactive, open-ended, complex, and linked to the heart" of what they need to learn. Without the driving question, the students may not understand why they are doing this project and what they are supposed to learn from it.
3). Student Voice and Choice: This element is key. "The more, the better" is the motto within this essential factor. Teachers need to design a project that allows the student to choose a style that fits them and and their learning style. Then students should also be able to choose a topic to study within the the general driving question and choose how to design, create, and present products. Another option similar to this is to provide the students with a list of options for creative products to prevent students from becoming too overwhelmed with choices. A good example of doing this I thought would be to simply let the students create their own project either individually or in a group. The students will come up with their own driving question within the topic we are studying. From here, the students will present to the teacher a proposal of their project within all of the guidelines given to them. Once they have done this, the teacher will tell them the plus and minuses of the project and adjust what is needed. By doing this, I think that students will be even motivated than we could anticipate and drive them to take pride in what they are doing and prove their success.
4). 21st Century Skills: Every project should give the students the chance to build on and improve their 21st century skills. These skills include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and the use of technology. Collaboration and communication are key to group projects. Critical thinking is also very important because you use that in using rubrics to guide and evaluate their work and progress throughout the project. These 21st century skills meets the second criteria which is to have an important and meaningful purpose for the project.
5). Inquiry and Innovation: Real inquiry is important. In that they follow their own trails that they have developed from their own questions, which lead them to test their ideas and draw their own conclusions. Closely following real inquiry is innovation. Innovation is simply a "new answer to a driving question, a new product, or an individually generated solution to a problem". One of the biggest things that a classroom should do is encourage and appreciate questioning, hypothesizing, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
6). Feedback and Revision: Students need to learn that revision is a reoccurrence in the real world because it is often that people's first attempt isn't of the best quality. The teacher should teach the students how to use rubrics and give proper feedback to their peers.
7). A Publicly Presented Product: Students should be able to have the opportunity to present their project to an audience outside of the classroom. Having their project seen and appreciate by people other than just their peers gives the students a sense of pride for what they have accomplished. Students see their work as more meaningful when it is done for more than just a test or the teacher.