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| https://www.emaze.com/@AOLFQOZO/project-and-problem-based-learning.pptx |
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| Middle School Students Support International Peace https://www.whiznews.com/content/news/local/2015/09/21/local-middle-school-students-support-international-peace |
Upon browsing the internet I found another real life example of project based learning that a teacher is using with his elementary school math class. Kris Schwengel does a Ted Talk and details his approach and philosophy on math in his classroom. He is able to incorporate the whole fourth grade math curriculum into two projects! Click the following link to watch Kris Schewengel’s great talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xr8AQWH75M. His talk really makes this approach to pedagogy seem like the natural, most logical way to teach this subject! It has inspired me to ensure that the math I teach is real and fun for students. I think that if I had experienced this type of learning in my own education that I would have really responded to it and may have potentially done better in math or at least be more motivated to try! This approach is hands-on, applicable to real life, and fun. I also appreciate how he utilizes the students’ voice by getting their input to create the criteria for their assignment as this is the opposite approach that is typically taken in traditional pedagogy. I hope to employ this approach to education in my classroom someday thus I am excited to learn more about project based learning and how to go about creating your own projects of this nature!
References
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L. & Koholon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st Century Learner. Oxford University Press. pp. x - 21.
Ferrell, K. (2015, September 21). Local Middle School Students Support International Peace. Retrieved September 23, 2015, from: https://www.whiznews.com/content/news/local/2015/09/21/local-middle-school-students-support-international-peace.
Schwengel, K. (2013, June 14). Project-Based Learning in an Actual Classroom: Kris Schwengel at TEDxHonoluluED. Retrieved September 23, 2015, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xr8AQWH75M.
Great post! I really like the overall look of your blog and the images and videos were very informative. I also wrote about PBL on my blog so I can really relate to this post. Like you, I also have not experienced project-based learning throughout my educational journey. I think this is quite unfortunate because I feel so unprepared for the real world. Even in university when we are required to critical think and ask thoughtful, provocative questions I doubt my ability to do so because we weren’t encouraged or taught how to from our early years in education. I agree with everything you’ve mentioned on how PBL can offer a more meaningful learning experience that engages and motivates students. Furthermore, you mentioned how PBL gives teachers the opportunity to assess students on multiple subjects simultaneously and I didn’t even realize that until I read your post. My only concern as a future teacher is how to put PBL into action in my own classroom. What are your thoughts on implementing PBL in the classroom for primary students? Can you think of any challenges that would arise when working with primary students? Do you have any strategies in mind that you think could make PBL work effectively?
ReplyDeleteSince technology hates me this is my third time writing out this response, lets hope this one doesn't delete… But anyways awesome blog post Nicole, the addition of the photos and the ted talks is a really good addition that highlights your topic! I love the idea of incorporating project based learning into classrooms, and like you I have never experienced it myself throughout school. I too often found myself wondering what the point was of learning certain subjects and I believe that project based learning would help eliminate that. With project based learning it allows students to feel passionate and involved in the learning. I like how you added a real example of a class who made a giant peace sign out of people on Peace Day, it showed how even simple things like that can be included into the lessons at school as project based learning activities. Not only does project based learning help students feel passionate about learning, but it also allows them to feel agency and choice because they can choose how to go about doing their project or what topic they find interesting. With standardized testing many students fall to extrinsic motivations such as getting the best grade. Even I can admit that most of my high school career was focused on getting the grades. However, with project based learning I believe that it can help motivate students intrinsically because they feel passion and agency about the topic and actually want to learn something new rather then get a good grade. Like we were discussing in lecture in our group a good question to ask would be how would new teachers go about implementing project based learning? It seems like a lot of work and the intimidating amount of work and inexperience of new teachers could result in many falling back on traditional ways of testing.
ReplyDeleteNicole,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post about project-based learning was very informative, especially since this is something I hope to implement in my future classroom. I particularly loved how you included the rubric of the project-based assignment for a math class as it helped me to visualize how criteria and assessment for this type of learning could look. The video you added to your blog helped me to fully understand the topic and was a great addition! In my grade 12 data class, I had the opportunity to build a probability game as part of a big probability fair. It was certainly one of my best experiences in high school math as I was able to relate my game to the curriculum but still had creative agency. It gave me the ability to truly understand the concept, I was engaged and motivated during the course of the project, and I had fun while doing it. Unfortunately, this was my only math course throughout high school that used project-based learning; however, I feel that students would have benefited from this type of learning at all grade levels. Given that teachers are now expected to teach in a more constructivist way, I agree that project-based learning is a great way for teachers to assess students on the curriculum, but also allows students to pick a topic that interests them and gives them an opportunity to show their knowledge based on a learning style that is best for them. This way, the teacher can use differentiated assessment suited to the needs of each child in the classroom. I think that teachers typically fall back on more traditional methods of teaching because they are so tightly bound by the huge amount of curriculum that they are required to cover. Because of this, a traditional method seems like the easiest way to get through it all before the end of the year. However, I think your point about including multiple subjects into project-based learning would help with this. During my time as a Tutor in the Classroom for Peel, I had the opportunity to assist with a project-based learning activity. Students were required to create their own countries, which incorporated math, geography, social studies, and language arts. This was a great way for students to be creative and learn about a variety of curricular subjects through one project. I wonder what other ways project-based learning could be implemented so that it incorporates multiple subject areas? How could you implement project-based learning at different age levels?