O.K...I must admit that when I have heard project based learning in the past I wasn't really excited about it. Nor did I believe it in, want to be a part of it, OR want to incorporate it into my traditional teaching style!
HOWEVER, people change right? I have LOVED watching these videos and reading these articles...especially the article Launching a PBL Project and Geometry in the Real World: Students as Architects. O.K...actually let me back up. My three littles (my kids...I call them littles) are in a program at their school called the Creative School of Inquiry. This year they are learning through many different modes BUT one HUGE part is through projects. My oldest little did a project on Greece...how to get there, foods, religions, culture, a daily budget, and so much more. It was the first time I really saw a GREAT project that encompassed so many different subject areas. It was amazing and SHE LOVED IT!
O.K..now back to this class..so with just experiencing that...then I read these PBL articles and BAM...a light went off. I loved how you they talked about YOU really have to put in a lot of time and effort to create a GOOD PBL project...it needs to have driving question, a doable artifact, collaborative learning, and other elements. BUT these geometry students (as well as the little boy doing a project on mucus I believe) were learning and excited about it. While I believe that this can be very challenging, I think it is doable. AND while I think this goes away from our traditional thinking, I believe it will get our students excited about learning because they can use their smart phones, iPads, mp3 players, and more stuff that I don't even know about.
So, as I learn more about this AND engage my OWN LITTLES in learning this way...I hope to become more passionate and excited about this. Finally, we are incorporating it in our courses this year so I am glad I am learning more and more about this in hopes that I can help make our courses amazing for our students. I am loving this adventure!!!
PBL is challenging to incorporate and my initial thought is "no thanks!" I think my reluctance is that PBL challenges teachers as much as students because it requires us (teachers) to let go and let the students be in charge of their own learning. Admittedly, I'm a control freak. I know students learn better when they have an opportunity to explore & construct their own knowledge...but I'm concerned PBL eats up too much time in an already shortened (160 day) school calendar. That's a major issue, because we can't be in control and we can't dictate exactly what students learn with PBL. Are they hitting the right performance standards when they explore a topic on their own? I was the type of student that would have really loved some type of PBL unit - I would have gone above and beyond to produce a perfect artifact. BUT most of my students aren't like me and as a teacher I'm not sure I have enough time to meet the standards while also incorporating PBL??? I suppose the reality is that mastery of 75% of the material is better than partial mastery of all the material.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Twila...I'm hoping to learn more and find ways to improve my teaching by incorporating technology more effectively.
I love the concept of PBL. Your post, the videos, and my own thoughts of how kids learn, made me think about how my three year old learns. I had a "LightBulb" moment. Everything he does is with purpose so he can learn new things. Little bitties all learn through exploration, experimenting, asking probing questions, infinite rounds of "why?" and so on. Why is it we stop learning this way once we get to school? If this is the best way to learn when your brain is like a sponge, why would you quit learning this way? But once we start school, we think that learning from a book, being lectured to and cramming for tests is the best way or at least the way to get the most bang for our buck (so to speak).
ReplyDeleteYes, I know, we have to meet our standards and we have to prepare students to pass standardized tests; and certainly as a teacher of non-traditional academic area I have the freedom to teach in unique ways. It is just an observation on my part. Good Luck with your exploration of PBL!
Twila, I am glad that you start to see the value of PBL. I really enjoy reading your enthusiasm to PBL! Thanks for your inspiring blog.
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