Blog Assignment #9

Blog Assignment #9

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

Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning

This article went into depth about project based learning and was a very interesting read. I really liked that there was an example of an actual teacher giving a project based lesson to her students with an explanation below. There were two criteria's and seven essentials for project based learning listed in this article.

A project is meaningful if it fulfills two criteria:

1. First, students must perceive the work as personally meaningful, as a task that matters and that they want to do well.

2. A meaningful project fulfills an educational purpose.

Seven Essentials of PBL:

1. Need to Know
    To be successful as a teacher in project based learning you may have to adjust your teaching style or presentation of the project. It is very important the way a teacher engages their students and introduces an assignment. In the article it said that most students feel like they get assigned "busy work" and is pretty much meaningless to them. We need to change that and find ways to get them motivated.

2. A Driving Question
    After you have engaged the students and introduced the topic, it is important to lead a classroom discussion. This gets ideas flowing and many different questions, answers, and communication started. In this discussion it is important to give the students a driving question that creates focus. A good driving question will give the students a sense of purpose and a challenge.

3. Students Voice and Choice
    Once the students are interested then the teacher will explain the requirements for the assignment. Make sure that there is technology involved and also include a product of the students choice. Teachers may provide a limited menu to avoid the students from being overwhelmed by choices. I would definitely give my students some choices since I always felt overwhelmed as a student when I didn't have guidelines/choices. If someone would like to come up with their own product I wouldn't mind as long as they ran it by me first so I could approve.

4. 21st Century Skills
    PBL is all about collaboration, Make sure that collaboration is central to the project and have students in small teams of three or four. Have them get in their groups to start planning and discussing responsibilities. It is important to walk around and observe to see how well the group is communicating with one another and as individuals. One of the topic's this article brought up is that collaborating, critical thinking, and the use of technology will serve them well in life. I love that teachers and the education system is now looking at education as preparation for life and I definitely agree that those three skills will help in their future.

5. Inquiry and Innovation
    Once learners find something that is interesting to them I feel like just them being interested in it is motivation in itself. Everyone has different interest and topics that they enjoy and if you are doing something that you do not enjoy then the experience is dull and meaningless. Students will get more out of a project that is interesting than one they don't care about. Once they are interested in the topic and they start researching they usually get excited about what they are doing and they want to know more. Like the article said, "As learners find answers, they raised and investigated new questions." One question leads to another.

6. Feedback and Revision
    Having the students critique one another is also very important in collaboration. It makes the students aware that not only are they being "graded" by their teacher but also their peers. Peer critiquing is more about learning and working hard than it is for an actual grade. I feel like the person critiquing learns just as much as the one who is being critiqued. Creating a rubric for a guideline is important for the teacher and the students. I feel like people will put more effort into something if they know other people, especially their peers, will be critiquing their work..

7. A Publicly Presented Product
    Instead of just grading their projects it is important to show your students that they did these projects for more than just a grade. Have an exhibition night and invite an audience to come see the students work. Make the students feel proud of their hard work and show the meaning behind it. If they know that their parents, peers, and community are going to  observe their work then they will try harder and it will mean more to them.

Project BasedLearning for Teachers

This short video reiterated in a summary what I learned in the article discussed above. When giving a Project Based Learning lesson you should give your students an extended period of time to answer a driving question. The question should be deep and require the students to complete an end product to share their learning with others. Common core standards are aligned with college and work experience, application of knowledge, and is evidence based. PBL is inquiry based, open ended, and is problem solving. Not only will the students be meeting the standards but they will be learning valuable skills such as collaboration skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, and career and life skills. With the growing of technology it also plays a huge role in PBL. There are so many resources out there and teachers are finally starting to encourage their students to use and take advantage of the many resources we have available. PBL also gives the students more control of their learning. I feel like project based learning is a wonderful way of learning for the students and the teachers. If we didn’t learn to evolve and adapt our teaching to the world around us then we would only be taking away from our students and their future. 

Project - Based Learning and Physical Education

The title of this article spiked my interest as soon as I read it. When you think of project based learning you do not think to incorporate into physical education; or at least I don't. In this article they took the seven essentials for project based learning that we discussed earlier and applied a physical education lesson to it. High school students were given the task to create the best exercise plan for middle school students. To do this they first needed to engage in research online and in person. They then had to come up with driving questions so they could begin work. They were split up into groups and each group was allowed to choose their own PE unit, They not only had to show that the lesson would meet the standards but they also had to showcase it by podcasts, video, demonstrations, etc. This project requires collaboration skills and presentation skills. Because it is an open ended task the students are constantly having to asked more questions. When it is complete they would have to present their projects to an audience.

In some ways I feel like this is a great idea but on the other hand I feel like sometimes students just need a break from thinking. They spend all day sitting, listening, and thinking in all of their other classes. I know it was a relief sometimes just to go to PE, play basketball, and that be the only thing I had to think about. I think it may be a good idea to come up with a project based learning lesson at the end of the semester for a final grade. That way they can have their "carefree" time and have a project at the end of the semester. 

PBL - High School Math

In this video they talked mostly about the challenges teachers are having incorporating project based learning into their classrooms. Not only is it an adjustment for the students but even more for the teachers. They are having to come up with brand new ideas and completely change their curriculum. This process could be harder for the educators that have been teachers for many years. Sometimes it is harder for people to change when they are already successful. Why change it if there is nothing wrong? The world evolves and we need to evolve with it; that includes our education and how we teach it. 

This is the first video I have seen where the students are asked their opinion about PBL. It is very important to get the students perspectives since they are the ones who are affected and can really give feedback. As we heard from the video, the math teachers are having to work extra hard to incorporate PBL into their lesson plans. They can not apply it to every assignment so they are incorporating it as much as they can. They are working hard and collaborating with one another to be successful. I have noticed in all of these resources that collaboration is one of the most important aspects of project based learning. Not only is collaboration required in the projects that the students are doing but more importantly for the teachers. They have to put their minds together and collaborate on new ideas; that is the only way project based learning can be successful.

What Motivates Students?

This video was all about students feedback on what motivates them to do good in school and what rewards mean the most to them. It was so cute to hear what motivates them to do well in school. Most of their motivation was to get good grades so they can get good jobs when they grow up. Smart kids! One of the boys motivation to do well in school is so he will not get grounded and he can go to all of his baseball games. Another one of their motivation was simply just to be recognized for working hard and doing a good job. It is very important to give feedback either way but very important when a student exceeds at something.

Rewards and/or a reward system is especially great for the elementary classroom. It teaches them a good work ethic early on and that when you work hard and do good things in school then you will be rewarded. Unfortunately you will not be rewarded with candy in college but you will be rewarded in good grades; which is more important. It is important to keep your students motivated and at this age rewards (candy, pizza party, special privileges, etc) are a great motivator. 

Callie Barton