Author(s): Markham, Thom
Published: December 2011 in Teacher Librarian
URL to article
Research Focus Area: Opportunities for students to create authentic work for real audiences beyond the teacher
Abstract:
Imagine a day in the distant future when a student comes home from school (or the community learning center), and the parent asks, “What did you do at school today?” And the child answers, “The teacher tried something new today. She called it a “lecture”. It’s something they used to do in school at the beginning of the century.” As the world moves forward, so must education-and it is quite possible that eventually lecture and direct instruction will be long forgotten remnants of a prior age. But we’re not there yet. Despite the arrival of the digital world, and the fact that nearly 11 percent of the 21st century is gone, educators are still not certain how to organize instruction for young people. I know that many people would resist the idea that we don’t know what we’re doing. There’s no shortage of curriculum writers, standards experts, and instructional specialists. But as teacher librarians know better than anyone, methods that worked a decade ago now suffer from obsolescence. I believe we’re groping toward a wholly different model of education-and making significant progress. That progress can be seen in the exploding interest in project based learning (PBL). As teacher-librarians move increasingly into new roles as information specialists and learning commons organizers, I believe it will be helpful to understand the best practices and methods for PBL that have emerged over the last five years. These practices can be shared with teaching staffs and become the basis for professional development.
Research Question(s):
In what ways does Project-Based Learning constitute wholly different model of education?
Methods:
not given
Key Findings:
- Many teachers still equate PBL with ‘hands on’ learning or ‘activities,’ but PBL is a far more evolved method of instruction.
- In industrial education, knowing and doing were separate domains. PBL integrates knowing and doing. Students learn knowledge and elements of the core curriculum, but also apply what they know to solve authentic problems and produce results that matter.
- In PBL, students focus on a problem or challenge, work in teams to find a solution to the problem, and often exhibit their work to an adult audience at the end of the project. Increasingly, PBL students take advantage of digital tools to produce high quality, collaborative products.
- One great advantage of PBL is that it offers teachers the opportunity to teach, observe, and measure the growth of real world skills.
- PBL refocuses education on the student, not the curriculum—a shift mandated by the global world.
- PBL rewards intangible assets such as drive, passion, creativity, empathy, and resiliency.
- PBL is an ongoing, reflective process that should lead to further questions and investigation.
- Indications are that students who learn through PBL perform well on standardized tests.
Implications:
The PBL Model:
- Identify the Challenge: At the core of PBL lies a challenge that must be meaningful and doable. Projects start with a big idea, an authentic issue, or a vital concept. The challenge must then be carefully defined to align with the objectives of the course.
- Craft The Driving Question: A good PBL teacher drives a project through intention. What is the deep understanding that teachers want students to demonstrate at the end of the project?
- Build the Assessment: The mantra of PBL is create and deliver. Students produce a result at the end of the project. The result is assessed against specific criteria established at the beginning of the project and defined in an assessment plan. The key to strong projects is to focus equal attention on content, skills, and personal strengths or habits of mind.
- Plan Backwards: PBL is an extended learning experience that relies on process as well as the end products. As the instructional leader, a teacher must coach students through the process. Teaching the content of the project is relatively straightforward. But coaching students in skills such as collaboration and presentation, or helping them reflect on their empathic attitudes toward teammates, is new territory.
- Enroll and Engage: Starting right is the key to success at the end. This includes incorporating student voice and choice into the project, organizing a project schedule, and having clear benchmarks.
- Facilitate the Teams: High-performance PBL relies on teams that demonstrate commitment, purpose, and results, similar to the organizational goals of high performing industries. Coaching teams to better performance is central to successful projects. The author urges educators to let go of the notion of “groups” and move to the language of high performance teams.
- Keep the End in Mind: The PBL process is a non-linear problem solving process that can be chaotic or divergent. A good PBL teacher knows how to manage the work flow throughout the project and prepare students to present their best work at the end. Many projects fail because teachers focus all their efforts on preparing for the content assessment while overlooking the practice and thinking time necessary for the PBL process.
- Teaching teams need to evaluate the impact of PBL over time.
Limitations:
- This article is descriptive in nature and does not provide the tangible evidence of a study or literature review.