How to Design Project-Based Learning Activities

hello and welcome to this topic on project-based learning my name is Angie Lauren and I come from Dublin in Ireland I currently work at the European Schoolnet as pedagogical manager however I've worked all my life in education with the teacher a guidance counselor school principal and even a teacher trainer today I want to explore with you some of the ideas behind project-based learning or PBL for short look at some of the various models of project-based learning and pinpoint some basic considerations which must be taken into account when planning a PBL activity with your students project-based learning is an approach which uses methods such as inquiry based learning and problem-based learning to develop students competences let me explain this little more having decided to explore a topic or concentration and aspect of your curriculum you can decide to use either an inquiry based approach or a problem-based approach or indeed a mixture of the two let's examine the inquiry based learning method first inquiry is a seeking or request for truth information or knowledge inquiry based learning starts with questioning continues with exploration and investigation and ends with finding a solution drawing a reasonable conclusion making substantive decision or applying new knowledge or skills it is often used to explore deep questions such as are all humans born free is democracy the ideal way to organize society inquiry-based learning relies on questioning nuez you may say however that so does traditional learning the difference is however that in the traditional classroom it is the teacher who ask the questions to which answers can easily be found and which usually do not go beyond the immediate available information in an inquiry driven classroom not only the teacher asks the open-ended questions but also the students themselves students are encouraged to question argument information ideas opinions and viewpoints in other words to go deeper and generate new questions which will lead them to new knowledge let's have a look at the type of questions that one should concentrate on and I quote here from the work of John Mayer khandala of the book Institute for education he says that in a PBL or inquiry environment the project should investigate what he describes as non-google driving questions in other words questions that cannot easily be answered by just looking up Google or Bing or Wikipedia or any of those online encyclopedias just like in the pre-internet days students would look up an encyclopedia and slavish ly copy the information providing their answers his example of Google questions are for example who were the first settlers in our city what does it mean to be a healthy ether how our airplane wings constructed of course to quote American dollar he doesn't want to say that these types of questions aren't worth knowing because of course they are and they can lead students to engage in a form of research such research however emphasizes uncovering information and explication concepts rather than critically thinking about the information and the concepts on the other hand non Google book questions would be what was the most important cause of our city's growth for example how can we best convince teenagers to be healthy eaters how can we design an airplane wing that is light and will support 25 pounds without braking answers so these types of questions can't be found on Google without digging deeply the whole purpose of inquiry based learning is to encourage pupils to research and to find answers and solutions to help them to develop higher-order thinking skills analyze the information they find interpreted and compare their findings synthesize the ideas evaluate strengths and weaknesses peer assess and self assess it find solutions and create a new product let's now take a look at problem-based learning method which is more practical students are giving a real-life problem to investigate which can be described as an authentic problem and have to come up with possible solutions it may be widely applied to all kinds of real-life problems the solutions can then be discussed and test to see which will work best in a given situation for example how to provide the best care for elderly people in their own homes how to improve access to public buildings both of these approaches are focused on developing problem-solving critical thinking and information processing skills they also work best when students have to work in small teams or groups the two methods are indeed closely related to each other and they often overlap it's also interesting to note that in this approach there are not necessarily any right or wrong answers each solution has its merits and demerits and the students have to analyze and judge for themselves now this can be a new departure for some teachers who have - up to now no always dealt in factual knowledge I'm sure you were familiar with the phrase tell me and I forget show me and I remember involve me and I understand this is the basic tenet of PBL it is of course more demanding on both students and teachers but it is also more rewarding implementing the PBL approach in your teaching requires you to bear in a few practicalities before you start so here are some pointers that you need to think about which you can consider as a preliminary checklist first what is your project idea what is the time frame proposed is it a year six months is the project idea manageable is it not overly ambitious is it a project just between you and your class or will you collaborate with other teachers in your school or indeed in other countries if it involves partners for under other countries what are the language of the project what language do you propose what subjects could be integrated into this project what technical tools if any will you use how does your project fit with the school planning and the calendar once you have fulfilled these basic points you are ready to start so step 1 involve your students from the very beginning start with a guided exploration of some topics you have in mind the whole class but be prepared to change if better ideas are emerging from the class it is also important to establish certain ground rules with your students regarding behavior with them in advance step 2 having defined the top in your discussion with the class break it down into different tasks discuss which technologies to use and how they will be integrated step 3 can well set goals define outcomes above all be concrete students need concrete goes to work upon and the responsively of tasks in order to achieve them step 4 proceed to break the students into small groups and give them responsibility for a particular class tasks encourage them to ask relevant and significant questions regarding the topics chosen and try to work to the strengths of each pupil step 5 is to create at the end a tangible artifact that addresses the issue or makes answers question and makes the learning and accountable step 6 arrive at a conclusion take a stand take action and the most important document step 7 and present to a wider audience build in our artifacts outcomes and different audiences as part of the project the presentation of ideas to other consolidates the learning for your students when you actively engage the students in their learning activities and find these activities to be meaningful with the tangible outcome their attitude to learning will undoubtedly change for the better learning becomes fun my final point is this PBL can be approached in two ways either you work in your own classroom with your class and the work is kept in there or you decide to collaborative work with other teachers either in your own school your own country or in other countries when you take this broader approach the rewards of collaboration can be of enormous benefit both to you and your students the benefits of exchange and peer learning really does help you to consolidate your approach to changing teaching practice through discussion with other teachers you are no longer alone if you are interested in developing projects in a national European or international context I advise you to check out the project eat winning WWE twinning net here you will find a professional community of over 260 thousand teachers interested in you and your ideas I wish you every enjoyment of this course I'm sure you will learn a lot and also apply what you learn widely and I look forward maybe meeting you one day in our connected world you

Channel: European Schoolnet Academy

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Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 26 2014