WORK-BASED/PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
N I C K R OG E R S
N R E D C O
NS U LT I N
G , L L C
WBL / PBL
What does that mean to you?
HISTORY
What work requires of schools. A SCANS report for America 2000
WHAT ARE SCANS?
Three-part Foundation• Basic Skills• Thinking Skills• Personal Qualities
WHAT ARE SCANS?
Five Competencies• Resources• Interpersonal• Information• Systems• Technology
PURPOSE OF WBL/PBL
Engage students in contextualized learning
Make learning meaningfulHelp students track what they are
learningProvide evidence of learning for portfolioCan serve as formal or informal formative
assessment
EXERCISE 1
Pick an everyday activity that one might do.
Example: Call a business to confirm a visit
BREAKDOWN THE ACTIVITY INTO TASKSExample: Answering the telephone
Tasks:• Reading the numbers• Pushing the right buttons• Speaking into the phone• Listening to person on other end• Determining whether to be transferred or leave a
message • Transferring or leaving a message
ALIGN THE TASKS TO SCANSExamples: • Reading the numbers • Basic Skills: A. Reading
• Pushing the right buttons• Thinking Skills: B. Decision-Making• Technology: A. Selects Technology
• Speaking into the phone• Listening to other person• Determining where to be transferred or leave a
message• Transferring or leaving a message
SAMPLE ACTIVITIES• Searching for medical information online• Ordering a sandwich in a fast food restaurant• Giving someone directions• Making an appointment• Finding the nearest gas station
PICK ONE AND BREAK INTO TASKS.THEN ALIGN TO SCANS.
CHECK OFF SCANS ON SCANS CHECKLIST
FOUNDATION SKILLS Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Basic Skills: Reading Writing Arithmetic/Mathematics Listening Speaking
Thinking Skills: Creative Thinking Decision Making Problem Solving Seeing Things in the Mind’s Eye Knowing How to Learn Reasoning
Personal Qualities: Responsibility Self-Esteem Sociability Self-Management Integrity/Honesty
COMPETENCIES
Resources: Time Money Material and Facilities Human Resources
Interpersonal: Participates as a Member of a Team Teaches Others New Skills Serves Clients/Customers Exercises Leadership Negotiates Works with Diversity
Information: Acquires and Evaluates Information Organizes and Maintains Information
Interprets and Communicates Information
Uses Computers to Process Information Systems:
Understands Systems Monitors and Corrects Performance Improves or Designs Systems
Technology: Selects Technology Applies Technology to Task
Maintains and Troubleshoots Equipment
NEXT….• Identify SCANS not practiced• Design tasks and activities which will
incorporate unpracticed SCANS• If students are struggling with a particular
SCANS skill or competency• Design another activitey with tasks which
include those SCANS• Do a “pull-out” and do a stand-alone task with
those SCANS.
ASSESSMENTStudents self-assess• Go through checklistTeacher assesses with student• What observedBoth discuss which SCANS need to be practiced and reinforced
BREAKDOWN OF LESSON INTO ACTIVITIES
Animate a Civil War Battle
Research history of
famous battle
Identify key events and characters
Outline the story
Design animated characters
BREAKDOWN OF FIRST ACTIVITY INTO TASKS
Research Famous Battle
Decide who does what
Do online search
Find other sources of information
Identify key events and characters on which/whom to
focus
ALIGN TASKS TO SCANS SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
Research Famous Battle
Decide who does what
Do online search
Find other sources of information
Identify key events and characters on
which/whom to focus
Identify SCANS
NegotiatesParticipates as a
member of a teamExercises leadership
ReadingAcquires and
evaluates informationUses computers
Problem-solvingAccessing resources
Interprets and communicates
SpeakingDecision-making
@ NREd Consulting, LLC Page 1
ALIGN STANDARD TO SCANS
History-SS 8.10 Students analyze the multiple causes, key events, and complex consequences of the Civil War.
Tax. #6 Activity: Create a flowchart indicating circumstances which led up to the civil war and indicate which are linked by cause and effect.
Research Famous Battle
Decide who does what
Do online search
Find other sources of information
Identify key events and characters on
which/whom to focus
Identified SCANS
NegotiatesParticipates as a
member of a teamExercises leadership
ReadingAcquires and
evaluates informationUses computers
Problem-solvingAccessing resources
Interprets and communicates
SpeakingDecision-making
A REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON PROJECT-BASED LEARNING BY JOHN W. THOMAS
The five criteria are:• Centrality• Driving question• Constructive investigations• Autonomy• Realism
PBL PROJECTS ARE CENTRAL, NOT PERIPHERAL TO THE CURRICULUM.
First, according to this defined feature, projects are the curriculum. In PBL, the project is the central teaching strategy; students encounter and learn the central concepts of the discipline via the project.
Second, the centrality criterion means that projects in which students learn things that are outside the curriculum ("enrichment" projects) are not examples of PBL, no matter how appealing or engaging.
PBL PROJECTS ARE FOCUSED ON QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS THAT "DRIVE" STUDENTS TO ENCOUNTER (AND STRUGGLE WITH) THE CENTRAL CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF A DISCIPLINE.This criterion is a subtle one. The definition of the
project (for students) must "be crafted in order to make a connection between activities and the underlying conceptual knowledge that one might hope to foster." …(and)…..is usually done with a "driving question" ……
PBL projects may be built around thematic units or the intersection of topics from two or more disciplines, but ….the questions that students pursue, as well as the activities, products, and performances that occupy their time, must be "orchestrated in the service of an important intellectual purpose"
PROJECTS INVOLVE STUDENTS IN A CONSTRUCTIVE INVESTIGATION.
An investigation is a goal-directed process that involves inquiry, knowledge building, and resolution. Investigations may be design, decision-making, problem-finding, problem-solving, discovery, or model-building processes. But….. the central activities of the project must involve the transformation and construction of knowledge (by definition: new understandings, new skills) on the part of students…
PROJECTS ARE STUDENT-DRIVEN TO SOME SIGNIFICANT DEGREE.PBL projects are not, in the main, teacher-led,
scripted, or packaged. Laboratory exercises and instructional booklets are not examples of PBL, even if they are problem-focused and central to the curriculum. PBL projects do not end up at a predetermined outcome or take predetermined paths. PBL projects incorporate a good deal more student autonomy, choice, unsupervised work time, and responsibility than traditional instruction and traditional projects.
PROJECTS ARE REALISTIC, NOT SCHOOL-LIKE.
Projects embody characteristics that give them a feeling of authenticity to students. These characteristics can include the topic, the tasks, the roles that students play, the context within which the work of the project is carried out, the collaborators who work with students on the project, the products that are produced, the audience for the project's products, or the criteria by which the products or performances are judged.
Gordon (1998) makes the distinction between academic challenges, scenario challenges, and real-life challenges. PBL incorporates real-life challenges where the focus is on authentic (not simulated) problems or questions and where solutions have the potential to be implemented.