Secrets of PBL for STEM

The Secrets to Project-based Learning in STEM Michael  M.  Grant,  Ph.D.      

Michael M. Grant 2009

Michael  M.  Grant  Instruc4onal  Design  &  Technology  h:p://viral-­‐notebook.com  mgrant2@memphis.edu  @michaelmgrant  

Michael M. Grant 2012

http://viral-notebook.com

Michael M. Grant 2012

32 Secrets to Share • Defining projects

•  Components of projects

•  Managing projects

•  Creating projects

•  Grading projects

•  The realities of projects

Who likes learning new stuff?

Who likes school?

We’ve got to change that!

It’s up to me & you!

Defining projects

1 Projects are authentic, reflecting

the real world.

Projects use a driving question or problem.

2

3 Projects require the production of

an artifact.

4 Projects value depth over breadth.

Components of projects

5 Projects require a task or series of

tasks.

6 Students follow a process or investigation to complete task(s) and produce artifact.

Project are not recipes.

Project task(s) afford multiple paths to completion and learning.

7

8 Students should have choice in the

topic(s) and/or process of investigation.

9 Scaffolds help students perform at a

higher level with project tasks.

10 Resources are evaluated and

synthesized to produce artifact(s).

11 Collaborations allows students to

negotiate content and receive feedback.

12 Assessment encompasses

process and product.

13 Artifacts afford multiple

representations of knowledge.

Projects are not recipes.

Managing projects

14 Projects take time.

Good projects offer students opportunities to gauge their learning.

15

16 Teachers embed mechanisms to help students manage projects.

17 Projects achieve multiple standards/

objectives at the same time.

Creating projects

18 Projects should encourage students to

at least apply knowledge.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Evalua4on  

Synthesis  

Analysis  

Applica4on  

Comprehension  

Knowledge  

Lower  Order  Thinking  Skills  (LOTS)  

Higher  Order  Thinking  Skills  (HOTS)  

19 Students will segment their learning from one class or topic to another.

Merging STEM should be the rule — not the exception.

20 Students will gauge what is easy to do

and choose the path of least resistance.

21 Students' previous experiences with projects will impact what artifacts

students produce.

22 The amount of time and the resources available to the student will impact the

artifacts students produce.

Grading projects

23 Projects should be rigorous.

Projects take longer to grade...but the final grade shouldn't be the first grade.

Constantly refer to the rubric and the driving question.

24

Projects may aggregate multiple sources of knowledge into a portfolio.

25

26 Students will weigh what's good

enough versus the amount of time and effort required.

27 It is practically impossible for an

artifact to represent all that has been learned.

28 Process and product must be assessed in order to recognize

what students have learned.

The realities of projects

29 Teachers and students must recognize and accept their roles in project-based

learning.

30 Teachers and students must be

comfortable with the physical messiness of project-based learning.

31 Teachers and students must have a

tolerance for ambiguity in project-based learning.

32 Project-based learning must be

integrated with the reality outside a teacher’s classroom.

Questions?

mgrant2@memphis.edu http://viral-notebook.com

@michaelmgrant

Thanks MSTC for having me and letting me play with you guys for a couple of days!!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0

United States License.

Michael M. Grant, PhD 2012