Tag: pbl

100 Ways to Implement PBL

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

What: Project-based learning (PBL) is an alternative to the traditional teaching method of lecture and listen. “If traditional education is classical, PBL is jazz. In a PBL classroom, teachers present problems that students must solve together in groups” (source). Project-based learning empowers students by giving them voice and choice over their learning. Implementing project-based learning drastically changes the culture of the classroom by engaging students through active learning experiences. 

How to: If PBL is so great  “then why do we still have so many schools falling into the test prep trap? Why do so many teachers feel like they cannot make the jump into PBL? Why haven’t we seen a nationwide movement towards PBL as a best and effective practice for all students?” (source). The answer is not ‘what’ but ‘how’. Even though, as educators, we know what we should do (implement active learning experiences like PBL), we are rarely truly taught how. Teachers may not feel comfortable knowing how to implement PBL in their classrooms. A.J. Juliani published a blog with 100 ways to implement PBL in the classroom broken down by grade and by subject area making implementing PBL simple. You can access the entire list of 100 ways by clicking here. 

Next Steps

Interested in learning more? Check out the websites below for great information. 

References:

All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above. 

TLDR (too long didn’t read):

A.J. Juliani published a blog with 100 ways to implement PBL in the classroom broken down by grade and by subject area making implementing PBL simple. You can access the entire list of 100 ways by clicking here. 

@hollandkaylah

Project-Based Learning: Am I Doing it Right?


“PBL isn’t about writing a state report. It’s about using what you know about the state you study and then creating your own state. It isn’t about building a replica of the Washington Monument. It’s about researching someone to honor, designing your own monument, and persuasively pitching a committee to build it.” –Edutopia

Characteristics of Project-Based Learning

  • Role-playing
  • Real-world scenarios
  • Blended writing genres
  • Multiple reading genres
  • Authentic assessments
  • Authentic audiences
  • Real-world expertise brought into the classroom
  • Units that assess multiple skills
  • Units that require research and comprehension of multiple subjects
  • Student choice
  • Collaboration
  • Multiple methods of communication (writing, oral speaking, visual presentations, publishing, etc.)

Am I Doing it Right?

Are your students engaged? Engaged learners find personal meaning and value in their work, and they often go above the bare minimum. They may also spend their free time on the assignment.

As a teacher, are you becoming more of a guide on the side? You should notice that students start asking each other questions instead of always coming to you. They also should become more independent in finding their own answers either through research or experimentation.

Are your students learning in new ways? One sign that your students are thinking more critically is if you are hearing questions like, “But why is it like that? But couldn’t this work, too? Has anyone tried it like this before?” Even negative push back from students is actually a sign that they are being stretched and challenged, which is a good thing!

Are your students making choices about their products or processes as they learn? In other words, are your students finding different ways to demonstrate their learning, rather than all producing the same product?Are your students learning while doing instead of learning and then doing? Many traditional class projects don’t begin until after the students have finished their learning. They master a concept and then produce something. In PBL, the learning happens through the process of producing something.

Check out this video from friEdTechnology:

More Resources

What the Heck is Project-Based Learning?
Buck Institute for Education: PBLWorks

Guest Blogger
Raina Burditt

Project-Based Learning Through a Maker’s Lens


“A Maker is an individual who communicates, collaborates, tinkers, fixes, breaks, rebuilds, and constructs projects for the world around him or her. A Maker, re-cast into a classroom, has a name that we all love: a learner. A Maker, just like a true learner, values the process of making as much as the product.

“Making holds a number of opportunities and challenges for a teacher. Making, especially to educators and administrators unfamiliar with it, can seem to lack the academic rigor needed for a full-fledged place in an educational ecosystem. However, project-based learning has already created a framework for Making in the classroom. Let’s see how Making could work when placed inside a PBL curriculum unit.” — Patrick Waters

Source: Edutopia.org

Shhh!!! The Students Are Learning

Facilitating Learning: Part 1

I was invited to be the speaker at the Arkansas Christian Educators Association Conference recently. Since I had more than 3 hours of time allotted, I was able to design a series of activities and discussions around the topics of facilitated learning and technology integration. I’m going to share some of the resources in a series of posts. This is the first entry in the series.

The information below is part of what I shared with the leaders of the various faculty groups participating in the conference ahead of time. This gave them a chance to consider some of the broad ideas prior to participating in the workshop. This was important as we ended the day by allowing attendees to breakout into their faculty groups. The goal was for the administrators to facilitate conversation about how the information presented during the day might fit into their schools, discuss some of the barriers and benefits, and to identify ways to support implementation. Flipping the instruction allowed the administrators to be exposed to the information ahead of time, reflect on it, and have the chance to better prepare to guide their faculty’s conversation.

Shhh

Shhh!!! The Students Are Learning:
Being an Effective Classroom Facilitator

Description

We often hear that teachers need to be facilitators of learning rather than deliverers of information. Through this workshop, we will begin to develop strategies for managing a classroom where students have a leading role in learning and the teacher becomes an engaged classroom coach. Strategies for designing and practical tips for implementing units will be shared.

Before You Begin

  • Please reflect on your experiences designing and implementing facilitated learning activities and units.
  • What worked well and what would you do differently next time?
  • What advice can you share with teachers preparing to facilitate learning?

Screencast

This screencast will provide you with an overview of the big ideas that we will be discussing. We will dive much deeper during the workshops and explore application across grade levels and curricular areas, strategies for implementation, benefits and barriers, and more. This video is simply intended to provide you with an early frame of reference as you participate in the upcoming workshops and as you prepare to facilitate the afternoon discussion with your individual school or division.

Shhh!!! The Students Are Learning: Being an Effective Classroom Facilitator from Clif Mims on Vimeo.

Project-Based Learning Spotlight: PBL Success Start to Finish

This video from Edutopia spotlights Manor New Technology High School, “where an unwavering commitment to an effective school-wide project-based learning model keeps both students and teachers motivated and achieving their best” (Source). It is “a public high school just outside of Austin in Manor, Texas. It is an entirely project-based learning school that has consistently achieved outstanding results since opening. We followed a project there for three weeks to find out what makes their model so effective” (Source).

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Introduction to Project-Based Learning

Speaking at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference, Pat Bassett, NAIS President, highlighted Edutopia‘s project-based learning resources. The George Lucas Educational Foundation has touted PBL’s merits for many years. I decided to revisit the PBL section at Edutopia and thought I’d share this video. It provides a good introduction to project-based learning.

The following quote from Seymour Papert about PBL especially stood out to me. This sort of flies in the face of what we are currently seeing in many of the test-focused schools.

“The first thing you have to do is give up the idea of curriculum. Curriculum meaning you have to learn this on a given day. Replace it by a system where you learn this where you need it. So, that means you are going to put kids in a position where they’re going to use the knowledge that they get.

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Paper Airplane World Record

Former Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob sets world distance record for throwing a paper airplane. I saw this during SportsCenter and I instantly started thinking about all the learning and fun that could be generated with this video clip. The STEM teacher in me just loves this sort of thing.

 

Educational Connections

Use friendly competition as a motivational strategy and challenge teams of learners to design the paper airplane that will travel the greatest distance. We are seeing greater emphasis placed on design and engineering in STEM areas on a number of fronts (Common Core Standards, recent grant RFPs, etc.). This would be a way to provide students with practical experience with design, project management, and more.

Consider cranking the discovery learning up a notch by providing non-traditional materials available, too. Will an airplane made of an entire sheet of newspaper travel a greater distance? Does the addition of paperclips to a plane’s design impact results?

Think way outside the box and challenge teams to work together using only non-verbal communication. This can really spice things up and promote creativity and higher-order thinking. My students always enjoy this and usually astound me with their creative communication strategies.

Let’s not overlook some of the more traditional connections. This can be an organic way to provide students with practice with measurement using both standard and non-standards units. This could be coupled with data collection, data anlaysis and the presentation of results through graphs and tables.

Those are just a few connections. Please share your ideas in the comments.

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