Project-Based Learning: why, what, how

Jonathan E. Martin@JonathanEMartin

www.21k12blog.netEducation in a Changing World Conference, August 8, 2013

why

So much is changing……..

http://www.justsaypictures.com/im-looking-for-the-mouse.html

Now we will just assume that media includes the possibilities of consuming, producing, and sharing side by side, and that those possibilities are open to everyone. How else would you do it?

Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus

• Relevance

• Exploration, Discovery, and Process

• Learning by Doing, Making Mistakes, Constructing Meaning

What the World Needs is Different

7 Survival Skills• critical thinking & problem solving • effective oral & written

communication • accessing & analyzing information

-• curiosity and imagination• collaboration across networks &

leading by influence -

• agility and adaptability• initiative and entrepreneurship

We Need Deeper Learning

What could we do to make the biggest impact for students and teachers?

Deeper Learning:

• Mastery of core academic content• Critical thinking and problem-solving• Working collaboratively in groups• Communicating clearly and effectively• Learning how to learn

• Barbara Chow, ED, Hewlett Deeper Learning, EdWeek

Shadow-blogging

Relevant & Interesting Problems

What if? • At least half of the time

they spend on schoolwork must be on stuff that can’t end up in a folder we put away.

• It should be because their work is something they create on their own, or with others, that has real value in the real world.

Technology as accelerator

Professionalism

Authentic Audience

Rethinking Assessment

PBL

Project-based learning is integral to school’s program

Essential Ed. Elements

1.Hands on projects solving real problems

2.Collaboration: Working in Teams

3.Creating4.Multi-disciplinary

learning5.Design Thinking6.Trial and Error

what

High Quality, 21st century PBL (HQ21PBL)

A design view of PBL

“a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning essential knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process that is structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks”

Mergendoller, et al., 2006

Critique

Web Literacies & Digital Citizenship

Broad-Based Assessment

Real-World Relevance

Scaffolding & Teaching as necessary

Default position: Every student, every unit

Back to why

Reviewing the Research Regarding PBL Efficacy-- several slides borrowed from Jason Ravitz, former Director of Research, BIE, available here: http://www.slideshare.net/biepbl/metasynthesis-3slides

My argumentThis model of PBL– inquiry driven, student-centered, technologically accelerated, networked-connected, skill developing, real-world informed and applied—

is essential, most of all

because it develops, supports, and assesses the skills and mindsets of self-directed and self-empowered learning,

and there’s nothing more important for our students’, our society’s, and our planet’s future.

how

www,pbl-online.com

The existential question

Teacher-DrivenOr

Student-Driven

http://www.pbl-online.org/

www.bie.org/diy

Determine your ILOs

Content Standards/Knowledge21st c. Skills

Develop Project ConceptOnline Archives

Textbook SuggestionsNews and Events

Collaborative DesignHow would a professional use this knowledge

and skill set?

Design ProjectTake the Time

Map it OutTry it Yourself

EvaluateWork with Colleagues

Project-Based or Project-Oriented Learning? Use the Six A’s

Six A’s

AuthenticityAcademic Rigor

Applied LearningActive ExplorationAdult Connections

Assessment practices

• Steinberg, Real Learning, Real Work

A Good DQ should

• Be provocative and relevant• Drive the project• Capture a project theme or a "big idea“• Arise from real world dilemmas• Point students toward mastering content and skills that

enable them to answer the question• Not be easily solved or answered

“Operationalizing” the DQ

From: Was Truman’s decision to drop the bomb justified?

To: How might we prepare a message to our Senator advising how to vote on a nuclear weapons elimination treaty?

Adapted from BIE handbook

What have been the most popular novels among teenagers in the last 30 years?

To: How can we communicate effectively to the Library board how reading interests have changed over the last 30 years so that they will revise their purchasing strategy?

Adapted from BIE handbook

• Ignite Sessions/ Pecha Kucha• Blogging: Quadblogging• Websites & Wikis• Videos • Teaching younger students• Books for grandparents/family members• Letters to Newspapers, Public Officials• Pamphlets and handbooks

Going beyond powerpoint

• Assess knowledge and skills discretely• Design exhibitions of learning in which students

demonstrate knowledge and skills• Use Multiple Measures; Don’t require

“culminating product” to hold all accountability

• Use rubrics for ILO’s, not tasks • Use self, peer, and expert assessments• Employ frequent formative assessment

Questions?

http://www.pbl-online.org/

jonathanemartin@gmail.com @JonathanEMartinwww.21k12blog.net

www.bie.org/diy