EDTECH 542: Week 3 Reflections

Reflection:

This week’s class work was really involved, with a large amount of creative thought needed to get the ball rolling towards completion of a completed PBL unit by the end of the semester. This week we started to develop a project idea, a driving question with sub questions, a project website, and a technology based concept map tool for brainstorming our project ideas and flow. At first, I was having a hard time coming up with a project that I wanted to do that be easily used and implemented this fall. I then took a look at my standards and worked backwards from their. I chose a science standard, developed a project based on that standard and then started creating my driving questions and brainstorming map. This approach worked out great and I am off and running for my project. To view the project overview go to the following link: What’s for Lunch?. As I go through this process it is easy to see that it will be a first iteration and will need constant revision and refinement before the completed project.

Here is an image to the start of my project brainstorming.

There are two main concepts for this weeks learning objectives to keep in mind. The essential elements of a PBL project and the key characteristics of a driving question. The Buck Institute for Education (2014) list these essential elements as:

Essential Elements of PBL include:

• Significant Content - At its core, the project is focused on teaching students important knowledge and skills, derived from standards and key concepts at the heart of academic subjects.
• 21st century competencies - Students build competencies valuable for today’s world, such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation, which are explicitly taught and assessed.
• In-Depth Inquiry - Students are engaged in an extended, rigorous process of asking questions, using resources, and developing answers.
• Driving Question - Project work is focused by an open-ended question that students understand and find intriguing, which captures their task or frames their exploration.
• Need to Know - Students see the need to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills in order to answer the Driving Question and create project products, beginning with an Entry Event that generates interest and curiosity.
• Voice and Choice - Students are allowed to make some choices about the products to be created, how they work, and how they use their time, guided by the teacher and depending on age level and PBL experience.
• Critique and Revision - The project includes processes for students to give and receive feedback on the quality of their work, leading them to make revisions or conduct further inquiry.
• Public Audience - Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher.

As identified by EDTECH 542 (2014) class a driving question should have the following characteristics.

• Driving Questions are open-ended
• Driving Questions are Provocative
• Driving Questions get at the Heart of a subject area
• Driving Questions are Challenging
• Driving Questions need to Interest Students
• Driving Questions are consistent with Standards

EDTECH 542: Week 2 Reflections

Project Based Learning in Diverse Classrooms

The article “The Effectiveness of Problem-Based Instruction: A Comparative Study of Instructional Methods and Student Characteristics” by Mergendoller and Maxwell offers insight into the how project based learning can be effective for diverse learners. The results of the article found that students with academic challenges did necessarily show tremendous growth towards grade improvement, but did show growth toward  verbal and cognitive skills through the PBL process.  Further research needs to be done with at-risk students allowing for other measures to to be taken in addition to verbal articulation. When I think about my experiences with working with diverse student populations, I would agree with these results. For many of these students the content is not the most important aspect of learning, but the social skills, problem solving skills, and collaboration skills can be foundational in future success for these students. PBL provides a medium in which student can learn these valuable skills along with academic content making it a win-win  for both teachers and students alike.

How do you think PBL will fit into your teaching style?

When looking at my style of teaching I think that PBL would be a great fit for me. I like to facilitate a very student centered classroom. I enjoy working with students to help them find solutions to the challenges they have with the academic tasks they need to complete. I also like to have diversity in instruction and not have a student centered class all the time. I think it is important for teachers to help students find ways to actively engage in teacher centered instruction.  This is an additional valuable skill set to have that can support the 21st century skills that PBL promotes. From my examination of PBL to this point I think it provides these types of instructional strategies that can be implemented throughout the project.

Do you have an idea for a project? If so, begin articulating it now.

Currently I am leaning towards a topic that is covered in the first few weeks biology class. These topics include science safety or science process and skills. I think creating a PBL project so early in the year will help students develop the necessary skills to be successful in class throughout the semester. As these students are new to high school they are usually really pliable at the beginning of the year and this could help establish great routines for class behaviors around collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. The science process and skills unit would be ideal for a PBL unit. The main idea being “How do scientist solve problems?”. I will need to develop a real world scenario that is engaging and has an effective driving question. These will be my next steps towards the development of my PBL project for this class.

EDTECH 542: Week One Reflections

Reflection: 

During this first week the primary tasks were to get acquainted with the course, students, and course topic. Standard fair for the beginning of any online course.  I have been familiar with Project Based Learning (PBL) through different staff development opportunities and course curriculum that I have implemented in my own teaching experience, but this introduction was definitely beneficial in the revisiting of the details of the topic. The discussion post topics allowed for adequate examination of PBL as a learning strategy and created a well thought out definition of the model.  As stated by the Buck Institute for Education:

"Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge." 

There are many essential elements for PBL that include skills, procedures, and desired outcomes that are important components of successful PBL implementation. These elements were discussed as part of the course discussion.

As I created my own definition for PBL, I started to think of the challenges that can arise with implementing PBL to a given student population. I look forward to learning more about the nuts and bolts of PBL and hope that this will clarify some of the challenges that it could create.

My questions:

How can I assure that students will meet the content requirements given by the district assessment  with the freedom and creativity that PBL provides?

What are some examples of effective strategies for teaching students the skills needed for successful PBL?

Resources: (Provided by course instructor)

Organizational Web Sites

• The Buck Institute for Education
• Edutopia: Project-Based Learning
• Envision Library
• ISTE-NETS National Educational Technology Standards for Students

PBL Overview

• Introduction to Project Based Learning
• Essential Elements of Project Based Learning
• A Review of Research on Project Based Learning
• Project Based Learning Research
• Managing Project Based Learning: Principles from the Field
• Project, Problem, and Inquiry-based Learning
• Project Based Learning: An Overview
• Project Based Learning: Explained