Brief History of PBL
- Neuroscience and psychological research
- learning is partly a social activity
- learning involves exploring, negotiating, interpreting and creating
- Changes to the world
- More technology
- Greater demand for workers with strong collaboration, critical thinking and communication skills
Defining Standards-Focused PBL
- PBL definition: systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.
- Features of outstanding projects:
- Student-driven – students at the center of learning processes
- Central concepts and principles integrated into project design so it can serve a central, not periphery place in curriculum
- In-depth exploration of authentic and important topics triggered by authentic questions
- Essential tools and skills – students get many opportunities to use these for learning, self management and project management
- Products – students create products that solve problems or explain dilemmas using information gathered through investigation, research or reasoning
- Multiple products – create frequent opportunities for formative feedback
- Performance-based assessments communicate high expectations and require range of skills and knowledge
- Collaboration – opportunities for collaboration of various forms
- Standards-based – align with national and/or state curriculum standards
The Benefits of PBL
- PBL is good for
- teaching higher order thinking skills
- teaching students to “know” AND “do”
- students learning and practicing problem solving, communication and self-management skills
- encouraging students to develop habits of mind that are good for lifelong learning and careers
- integrating curriculum with themes, community issues, and other subjects
- assessing performance using criteria that are similar to work force criteria such as goal setting and accountability
- creating positive collaborative relationships among diverse students
- meeting needs of learners with different preferences and readiness levels
- engaging bored or unmotivated students
- focusing on central ideas and processes of disciplines
- challenging and supporting students
Coverage vs. Uncoverage
- Looking at yearlong sequences from the perspective of “uncoverage” versus coverages means deliberately choosing to do less to leave more time to go more in depth with important topics
- Select topics that are central to the discipline and must be appreciated “at depth” for projects.
Are your students capable?
- Students with more PBL knowledge and enthusiasm may be able to handle more autonomy. Examples – may be involved in selecting project topics and in formulating project rubrics
- Students new to PBL need scaffolding in collaboration, project management, self management and presentations
Your Style and Skills
- Need to design tasks that enable students to co-create knowledge through inquiry, dialogue and skill building
- Leaders facilitate problem solving in a group and help group find their own solutions; Managers control the process and look for prescribed outcomes
- Need to know how to let students get involved in learning struggles.
- Need to allow for variety of paces once individual and teams start to self-pace
PBL and Your School
PBL can improve school culture by
- Encouraging teacher collaborations
- Motivating students to learn and achieve
- Promoting rigor and relevance and relationships
Adjustments to large skills gaps
- shorter projects
- more workshops during projects
- tie projects to few standards
Project-based learning (PBL) is a mode of instruction that is a response to advances in neuroscience and psychology and to the changing increasing demands of our technology-driven modern world. PBL helps students learn content while also learning job-related skills (collaboration, work ethic, self-management, project management, critical thinking, communication). PBL can engage bored and unmotivated students.
Preparation Steps
- Design a project that ties to an upcoming bundle of standards
- Compare project design to the characteristics of outstanding projects – note its strengths and gaps
- Conduct research to enhance project’s strengths and overcome its gaps
Early Implementation Steps
- Facilitate project
- Use frequent formative assessments to refine project activities and to help students improve their understandings and projects
Advanced Implementation Steps
- Facilitate student project reflections to learn more about strengths and weaknesses of project from students’ perspective. Annotate their feedback and use it while designing future projects.
- PBL articles