Blog Post #9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

I obtained a great amount of Project Based Learning knowledge from the resources in this post. In Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning, the seven things needed are very realistic and obtainable. They state that good projects must be personally meaningful, and fulfill an educational purpose. Anything a person does in life should be personally meaningful. Whenever I am completing a task that is meaningful to me, I always find myself more invested in the project. This is a project that I want to be proud of. When this project also fulfills an educational experience, it completes the package. This project will be a project that a student will not forget over time. They invest their time and effort into the project because they see a reason to care. This sentence from the article summarizes in opinion Project Based Learning in one sentence: "But it is the process of students' learning and the depth of their cognitive engagement— rather than the resulting product—that distinguishes projects from busywork."
The first element, a need to know, starts the project off. The teacher begins the project with an entry event. This event can be a video, guest speaker, or anything to spark interest in the upcoming project. Once the student is interested, they will realize the reason for needing to know the information for this project: "I need to know this to meet the challenge I've accepted." Second, there is the driving question element. The teacher will spark a brainstorming session with the class. This class started with "How can we reduce number of days Foster's Beach is closed because of poor water quality?" From there they continued discussing this question and starting the path to research by asking more questions. The driving question captures the heart of the project. It gives the students a sense of purpose for this project. These questions being asked should be open-ended and complex. This element should challenge students. Students should understand why they are taking on the project after the brainstorming questions. The third element, student voice and choice, helps projects become meaningful to the students. Whenever students get a choice, it keeps them involved in the project. In 21st century skills, the fourth element, the article explains how Project Based Learning teaches skills that students will apply in their futures. These skills include collaborating, which is crucial to the working world. These students need to start learning these types of skills in the classroom. As a student, I feel that I was not taught these skills, and I wish that I was. Thankfully, I am being taught these skills in EDM 310. In the fifth element, inquiry and innovation, the class creates additional questions that will help drive their projects to go above and beyond the requirements. These students conduct real inquiry. Real inquiry is the process of finding information through real research that ends with more questions. This keeps students constantly learning and researching. In the feedback and revision element, the teacher meets with the groups throughout the steps of the project to assess their progress. The students learn how to critique each other's work, which is tool that they will be using throughout their life. Any job or leadership position requires a person to critique others, as well as be critiqued. The younger people learn this skill, the better. This element also utilizes rubrics. Rubrics are very helpful in organizing work. In feedback, students learn that their first attempts do not usually result in the highest quality results. Revisions and improvements can always be made. With PBL, teachers sometimes arrange for experts or mentors to come in and give feedback to the students. Hearing feedback from a person who dedicates their life to the subject you are learning about drives a student to do better. I personally consider feedback from an expert on that subject more so than feedback from my teacher. The last element, a publicly presented product, is important for students because whenever a student knows that they are presenting a project to an audience. The students gain more knowledge, skills, and pride from having to complete a presentation to more than just their classmates.

In the video series Project-Based Learning for Teachers, PBL is broken down and explained. With Project Based Learning, students work over a long period of time. During this time, students conduct research to answer a driving question. Students learn many skills through PBL. These skills include: communication, collaboration, career, and life skills. PBL empowers students and enables them to take control of their learning. Einstein's quote in the video, "I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." goes hand-in-hand with Project Based Learning.

Project-Based Learning and Physical Education basically explains the same information that the first article I wrote about does. When it comes to PBL, the students get to see why they are learning what they are given. Project Based Learning is a continuous cycle of learning, researching, and revising. The seven elements described in the first article are described in this article, also. The timeline shown here is in the article, and I really enjoyed looking at it because it does an excellent job of breaking down the PBL process.

In PBL: What Motivates Students Today, a handful of students were asked about what motivates them in their classrooms. These students said that they responded well from public praise. This is motivation that I can also relate to. Praise from a teacher, fellow student, or anyone is a motivational tool that kids typically respond well to. Students, even at the elementary age, focus on their futures. Having a well paying job and financial security for themselves and their families motivated a young student in this video. It is crazy to think that students so young are already motivated by this. A common form of motivation with students is not getting grounded. Children do not want to have their favorite things or activities taken away from them, so they make sure they do what they need to in school so they can continue to have those things. This video also stated many rewards that students respond to. These rewards were: behavior charts, candy, food, school supplies, and stickers.

The article Two Students Solve the Case of the Watery Ketchup by Designing a New Cap shows two high school seniors that spent the school year designing a device that would end the problem of watery ketchup. These students used a 3D printer to create the device that they designed. This classroom focuses on something that is relevant to the students. These students ask themselves what really bothers them. Their teacher has them ask themselves "It really bugs me when..." to jump start their imagination and create ideas. The two guy's class time was spent researching potential designs and patents to make sure their invention was not already patented. Once they discovered that it was not, they decided to continue onto the final design. They narrowed the design down from 60 potential designs to a final five. This class was very appealing to me because the students are able to create their own PBL project and go from there. This teacher is learning so much from his students, while they are learning so much more than a normal classroom setting.