Title: Putting both rigor and relevance into
1Putting both rigor and relevance into Project
Based Learning
Thom Markham Buck Institute for Education CUE
Annual Conference Palm Springs, CA March 12,
2005
2Use Design Principles
Begin with the end in mind
Manage the process
Craft the Driving Question
Map the project
Plan the Assessment
3Create a Learning Community
- A strong teacherstudent relationship
- Rigorous, shared standards
- Opportunity for student voice and choice
- Under these conditions you will also promote
resiliency in students and help build a culture
of engagement in your classroom and school.
4Require authentic academic work
- Construction of knowledge
- Disciplined inquiry
- Build on prior knowledge
- In-depth understanding
- Elaborated communication.
- Value beyond school
- - Newmann, 1995
5Plan Backwards
- Who is the audience for the work?
- What are the outcomes for students?
- What products will students create?
- How will you assess the student work?
- How should activities be organized?
6Use the power of projects
Skills 1 2 life skills
Content 2 3 standards
Personal Strengths 1 Habit of Mind/EQ
7Personal Strengths
- Intrapersonal
- Independence
- Assertiveness
- Self-awareness
- Mood regulation
- Interpersonal
- Empathy
- Listening
- Conflict resolution
- Social responsibility
- Stress management
- Working with deadlines
- Impulse control
- Adaptability
- Problem solving
- Flexibility
- Reality testing
8Skills
- Communication speaking presenting publishing.
- Group process leadership teamwork
collaboration. - Self-management time and task management
self-monitoring.
9Content/standards
- Include
- State and national content standards.
- School-wide or District outcomes.
- Literacy
- Think about
- Coverage vs. uncoverage.
- The power standards What are they and how do
you teach them? - How many?
10Organize tasks and activities
- Consider
- Direct instruction What content knowledge do
students need to succeed? - Skill-building Do students know how to succeed
in the project? - Culture-building Are students ready to manage
themselves?
11Projects vs. Project Based Learning
- Projects
- Loose set of activities
- Supplements the curriculum
- Thematic
- Broad assessments
- No management structure
- Standards-focused PBL
- Inquiry-based. Use Driving Question as a focus.
- Part of the curriculum
- Focused
- Aligns specified outcomes with assessments
- Uses project management tools to structure
learning
12Students in a 9th grade English are told that
they will be doing a 2-week unit of study
designed to build their oral language skills (use
of persuasive arguments, evidence to support an
opinion, rhetorical devices, etc.). They are
divided up into teams to prepare for a debate on
one of three topics school uniforms, curfews,
and homework. Each group does research and
prepares arguments for both sides, since they
will not know which position they will take until
the day of the debate. Their performance in front
of the class is scored with a performance
assessment and their written notes and arguments
for both sides are turned in for grading.
The Debate
13Need more?
- Thom_at_bie.org.
- Buy the Handbook.
- www.bie.org.
- http//edtech.boisestate.edu/FIPSE
- Click on Designing Your Project. Use code 200
to enter site
14Use the Handbook
- Five sections with resources
- Begin with the End in Mind skills, standards,
and habits of mind - Craft the Driving Question samples
- Plan the Assessments -- rubrics
- Map the project -- the scope
- Manage the Project -- project tools
- Project examples
- What do PBL teachers say?
15The lighthouse for the Project A Powerful
Driving Question
- Focused
- Concrete
- Requires core knowledge to answer
- Consistent with standards and curriculum
- Inspiring
- Provocative
- Open-ended
- Authentic
16Refining a Driving Question
- How is nature interconnected?
- How does the biological data collected in the
Indian Valley watershed inform us about the
interconnectedness of natural systems?
17Refining a Driving Question
- What is a safety shed?
- How can we design and build a cost-effective,
fireproof safety shed that can be used in all
high schools in the district?
18Refining a Driving Question
- What is a heart-healthy meal for seniors?
- How do heart healthy meals nurture seniors and
extend longevity?
- What is the history of our community?
- How do oral histories help us interpret our past
and predict the future of our community?
19Using the Driving Question to focus the inquiry
process
- Brainstorm multiple perspectives or points of
view on the question - Anticipate need to knows and teachable moments
- Track knowledge gaps with formative assessments
- Have students keep a problem log or journal to
reflect on the question during the project
20Plan the Assessment
21Best practices in assessment
- Provide assessment criteria at beginning of
project - Create rich descriptors for criteria
- Provide exemplars
- Offer ongoing feedback
- Capture process as well as product
- Use assessments to support the success of all
students, rather than sort and select
22A balanced assessment plan with multiple products
- Daily
- Homework
- Weekly
- Quiz
- Early milestone
- Journal
- Self-reflection
- Informal assessment
- Mid-project milestone
- Essay
- Artistic product
- End of project
- Exhibition and oral presentation
- Exam
23Include artifacts in the assessments
- Email records, library record searches, telephone
logs, minutes of meetings, journals, self-report
measure, reflections, observations, interview
notes, etc. - Document the process of learning
- Evaluate skills and habits of mind
- Encourage meta-cognition
- Allows you to assess all work
24Step 1 Align products with outcomes
Outcomes
Products
Content standards Skills Habit of mind
Early Middle Late
research
oral presentation
reflection
25Step 2 Know what to assess
Break down content and skills into specific
elements.
Establish performance criteria.
- Oral Presentation
- Voice
- Eye contact
- Content
- Posture
- Response to questions
Volume Length of time Quality Body
language Knowledge and poise
26Use products that assess project outcomes
State standard Plate tectonics operating over
geological time has changed the patterns of
land, sea, and mountains on earths surface
Product Visual display and oral presentation on
volcanoes
Assessment Oral presentation must demonstrate
and use vocabulary relating to (1) three kinds
of plate boundaries (2) properties of rocks and
how they were formed, and (3) volcanoes on
ocean floor.
27Step 3 Use rubrics to evaluate skills and
performance
- Fulfill conditions for good assessment
- Provide a tool for precise feedback.
- Increase fairness while decreasing grading time.
- Reduce quibbling over grades.
- Acknowledge subjectivity of grading.
28Use core management tools
- Task lists
- Daily goal sheets/briefs
- Time sheets
- Reflections in journals or problem logs
- Debrief with team leaders
- Have groups report out to whole
29Evaluate and reflect
- Evidence shows robust correlation between
reflection and retention. - Using a cycle of inquiry helps to prepare for the
next project and develop an inquiry-based
classroom. - The methods whole class debrief fishbowl
survey self-report.
30Reflect on process and outcomes
- Student performance.
- Student engagement.
- Clarity of instructions.
- Clarity of process.
- Clarity of evaluation.
-
(Reeves, 1999)