Project Based Learning

1
Project Based Learning
2
Life Is Project Based Learning
3
But where is the disconnect between life and
school?
4
PBL is NOT New
CARL ROGERS 1902 - 1987
JOHN DEWEY 1859-1952
LEV VYGOTSKY 1896-1934
SOCRATES 470-399 B.C.
JEAN PIAGET 1896-1980
JEROME BRUNER 1915-CURRENT
BENJAMIN BLOOM 1913-1999
SEYMOUR PAPART
5
Learning an active process in which students
construct new ideas or concepts based on their
current knowledge.
6

• PBL
• engages students
• provides an environment for the acquisition of
  skills needed in higher education workplace.
• teaches curricular content
• Builds 21st Century Skills

7
Seven Elements of Project-Based Learning

• Standards Based
• Assessment
• Student Centered
• Collaboration
• Real World Connection
• Extended Time Frame
• Multimedia

Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project http//pblmm.k1
2.ca.us
8
Six As of Project Based Learning

• Authenticity
• Academic Rigor
• Applied Learning
• Academic Exploration
• Adult Connection
• Assessment Practices

From Buck Institute Web site http//www.bie.org
9
Another Way to Look at What is PBL

• Content
• Conditions

• Activities
• Results

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
10
Content

• Compelling ideas
• Problems presented in their full complexity
• Students finding interdisciplinary connections
  between ideas
• Students struggling with ambiguity, complexity,
  and unpredictability
• Real-world questions that students care about

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
11
Conditions

• Support student autonomy
• Students community of inquiry
• Coursework in a social context
• Students exhibit task- and time-management
  behaviors
• Students direct their own work learning
• Students simulate the professional work

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
12
Activities

• Investigative and engaging
• Students multi-faceted investigations over long
  periods of time
• Students encountering obstacles, seeking
  resources, and solving problems
• Students making their own connections among ideas
  and acquiring new skills
• Students using authentic tools
• Students getting feedback from expert sources and
  realistic assessment

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
13
Results

• Real-world outcomes
• Students generating complex intellectual products
  to demonstrate learning
• Students participate in assessment
• Students held accountable for competence
• Students exhibiting growth in real-world
  competence

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
14
How Do I Begin?

• Planning
• Begin with an Essential Question
• What is important to your students
• What is the deep learning--the enduring
  understanding
• What are the necessary skills
• Standards
• Prerequisite knowledge (prior knowledge)
• Prerequisite skills
• Skills and knowledge to to be embedded into the
  project

15
Engage Students
in problem solving in higher order thinking
skills in critical thinking
to solve real problems for a real audience
16
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Focus of curriculum
• Content coverage
• Knowledge of facts
• Learning "building-block" skills in isolation
• of complex problem-solving skills

• Focus of curriculum
• Depth of understanding
• Comprehension of concepts and principles
• Development

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
17
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Scope and sequence
• Follows student interest
• Large units composed of complex problems or
  issues
• Broad, interdisciplinary focus

• Scope and sequence
• Follows fixed curriculum
• Proceeds block by block, unit by unit
• Narrow, discipline-based focus

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
18
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Teaching role
• Follows student interest
• Large units composed of complex problems or
  issues
• Broad, interdisciplinary focus

• Teaching role
• Follows fixed curriculum
• Proceeds block by block, unit by unit
• Narrow, discipline-based focus

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
19
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Focus of assessment
• Process and products
• Tangible accomplishments
• Criterion performances and gains over time
• Demonstration of understanding

• Focus of assessment
• Products
• Test scores
• Comparisons with others
• Reproduction of information

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
20
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Materials of instruction
• Direct or original sources printed materials,
  interviews, documents, and others
• Data and materials developed by students

• Materials of instruction
• Texts, lectures and presentations
• Teacher-developed exercise sheets and activities

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
21
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Use of technology
• Central, integral
• Directed by students
• Useful for enhancing student presentations or
  amplifying student capabilities

• Use of technology
• Ancillary, peripheral
• Administered by teachers
• Useful for enhancing teachers' presentations

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
22
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Classroom context
• Students working alone
• Students competing with one another
• Students receiving information from an instructor

• Classroom context
• Students working in groups
• Students collaborating with one another
• Students constructing, contributing, and
  synthesizing information

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
23
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Student role
• Carry out self- directed learning activities
• Discoverer, integrator, and presenter of ideas
• Students define their own tasks and work
  independently for large blocks of time
• Communicate, show affect, produce, take
  responsibility

• Student role
• Carry out instructions
• Memorizer and repeater of facts
• Students receive and complete brief tasks
• Listen, behave, speak only when spoken to

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
24
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Short-term goals
• Understanding and application of complex ideas
  and processes
• Mastery of integrated skills

• Short-term goals
• Knowledge of facts, terms, content
• Mastery of isolated skills

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php
25
Traditional Instruction Emphasizes
Project Based Learning Emphasizes

• Long-range goals
• Depth of knowledge
• Graduates who have the dispositions and skills to
  engage in sustained, autonomous, lifelong learning

• Long-range goals
• Breadth of knowledge
• Graduates who have the knowledge to perform
  successfully on standard achievement tests

Buck Institute for Education http//www.bie.org/p
bl/pbloverview/definition.php