Chris Clark

Tenesha Young

PROJECT BASED LEARNING

PROJECT BASED LEARNING…WHAT IS IT?

• comprehensive instructional approach to engage students in sustained, cooperative investigation (Bransford & Stein, 1993).

• Learning central concepts and principles of a discipline in depth through a well-designed project

• Allows students to reflect upon their own ideas and make decisions that affect the project outcome

HOW STUDENTS BENEFIT• Project-based learning is an instructional method centered on the learner. Instead of

using a rigid lesson plan that directs a learner down a specific path of learning outcomes or objectives, project-based learning allows in-depth investigation of a topic worth learning more about (Harris & Katz, 2001).

• Learners create artifacts (i.e. a poem, a play, or a multimedia presentation) to represent what they have learned.

• PBL allows students with different learning styles, abilities, and interests to express themselves in diverse ways.

WHY USE PBL• engages the student and allows the student to connect to the problem thus increasing the

student’s motivation

• student centered and allows constructivist teaching

• authentic because there is no answer to the problem or task

• requires the learner to take on more challenging, higher order thinking

CONNECTION TO 21ST CENTURY SKILLS• Critical thinking / problem solving skills

• Leadership skills

• Communication skills

• Collaboration skills

• Creative thinking skills

• Cross-cultural skills

• Technology Literacy

• Media Literacy

STAGES FOR PBL• Introduction

• Task

• Resources

• Process

• Guidance and Scaffolding

• Cooperative/Collaborative Learning

• Reflection

EXAMPLE 1 – NUTRITION PROJECT Americans are a nation that consumes a lot of food, and the continuing rise in obesity rates in the United States and among young people in particular is a troubling issue. We will work on a project that will look at several aspects of how we consume food and what are the best practices within different economic levels for a healthy eating lifestyle. After each part of the project, you will be asked to fill out a learning log that will answer in depth a series of essential questions.

• Part 1: Diet Log – You will keep track of everything that you eat for the course of a week in a Diet Log. Record what you ate during the course of a day. Compare what you recorded with the Food Pyramid recommendations by the US Department of Agriculture (http://www.mypyramid.gov/).

Essential Questions: What is my “typical” diet like? Why is it important to eat the recommended servings from each food group?

NUTRITION PROJECT • Part 2: Making Choices in a Crowded Field – Students will observe the number of

commercials that they see during an hour of television on a log that will focus on the advertiser, the intended audience and methods used to sell the product.

Essential Questions: What influences my decisions on the food choices that I make? How would I “advertise” a healthier way of eating?

• Part 3: Planning a Healthy Diet – Each student will be placed in a small group that will be given a “budget” to shop for food that will be used to plan a week of meals for the group that meets the standards of the USDA’s daily food pyramid. Each day’s meals should meet nutritional guidelines and also stay under 30% fat content.

Essential Questions: How do I plan a nutritious and healthy meal? What are the factors that influence meal planning?

RUBRICBeginning

1Developing

2Accomplished

3Exemplary

4Score

Research and Recording

Student regularly recorded data inaccurately or not recorded at all.

Student occasionally recorded data in inappropriate formats or data inaccurately recorded.

Student recorded data in an appropriate format.

Student neatly recorded data presented in appropriate formats such as outlines, databases, charts and graphs.

4Data collection very well organized

ParticipationStudent did not participate in class discussions and did not offer any insight or opinion in a small group setting.

Student participated in class or in small group settings but not in both. Student did not contribute often.

Student participated in class discussions and in small group work most of the time.

Student made effective contributions to class discussions and to work in small groups. Student is able to listen to what is being said by others and to respond in a helpful manner.

4Great team player; excellent job taking on leadership role

Goal Management

Student did not able meet any of the due dates or complete the project.

Student met some of the teacher’s due dates, but fell behind and missed a few dates.

Student met due dates recommended to him/her by the teacher on time.

Student used a personal assessment of past performance to set and meet all of the parts of the project in a timely manner.

4Excellent job meeting deadlines; two thumbs up for submitting work early

Reflection

Student did not write about the information that I was gathered and how it relates to his/her learning. Student can answer very few of the essential questions in vague and unclear ways.

Student has difficulty in analyzing information and how it relates to the learning experience. Student may be able to answer some of the essential questions of the project, but only in the simplest sense.

Student is able to analyze information and to write about what he/she has learned from their experience. Student can answer the essential questions in a limited way.

Student analyzes their learning experience and writes about the way in which their learning connects to what they believed before the experience. No grammatical mistakes in student writing.

3Ideas are clear; make sure you proofread next time

EXAMPLE 2 – GLOBAL WARMINGHow can we help save our planet from the effects of global warming? Students will research the effects global warming has had and will continue to have on our planet. Students design an advocacy plan, which will showcase their knowledge and understanding of global warming. The plan should include one description of an effect global warming has had on the planet and calls to action to reduce and possibly reduce that effect.

EXAMPLE 3 – SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTUREStudents in a geometry class will take the role of an architect and design a school for the year 2030. Students will research the design of schools and feasible sizes of classrooms and amenities (i.e., gymnasiums, cafeteria, computer lab). The end product can be a brochure, web page, or poster that students will present to a panel of adults or students serving as the school board or city-planning committee.

EXAMPLE 4 – COMPOSTING: WHY BOTHER?Some students may have been involved in recycling programs, which are basically waste separation activities. In this unit, students engage in the entire process of making new material from waste, as they turn biodegradable garbage into the gardener's "black gold"—rich compost.

In this ecology study, students learn about the composting process, and participate in the "Rot Off!” challenge, a contest that involves making the most compost from the school's kitchen and yard waste. To win the contest (and end up with something other than smelly sludge), students have to learn how to get organic material to decompose (an aerobic process) rather than rot (an anaerobic process). Win or lose, students learn from their composting experiences and use their expertise to help inform others about composting. As a final activity, the compost is used in the school or community garden and sold by the bagful as a classroom fundraiser.

Courtesy of: http://www.scienceforamerica.com/project-based-learning

SUMMARY• PBL is adaptable to different types of learners and learning situations (Blumenfeld et

al., 1991).

• The authenticity of PBL allows the learner to create their own learning experience.

• PBL allows the content to be more meaningful to the learner.

• Higher levels of learning are achieved through PBL.

QUESTIONS • What major advantages or disadvantages can you see in a project-based learning

experience in comparison to your own methods of study?

• How does it improve the learning of students to give them the level of freedom that a project-based experience provides? What potential pitfalls would you anticipate in this process?

• How would you add differentiation to a project-based learning experience?

• As a teacher, would you be comfortable with the “hands-off” nature of a project-based learning experience?

• A difficulty of project-based learning could arise in the size and scope of the project. How would you adjust your plan if you discovered that the project was becoming unmanageable?

RESOURCES • Barron, B. (1998). Doing with understanding: Lessons from research on problem- and project-

based learning. Journal of the Learning Sciences. 7 (3&4), 271-311.

• Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J. S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26 (3 & 4), 369-398.

• Bransford, J. D., & Stein, B. S. (1993). The IDEAL problem solver (2nd ed.). New York: Freeman.

• Mitchell, S., Foulger, T. S., & Wetzel, K., Rathkey, C. (February, 2009). The negotiated project approach: Project-based learning without leaving the standards behind. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(4), 339-346.

• Moursund, D. (2003). Project-Based Learning: Using Information Technology. Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education.

• http://www.bie.org

• http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning

• http://www.scienceforamerica.com/project-based-learning