Week 9: PBL Resources

Week 9 Project-Based Learning Resources

1. Design Your Project

http://pbl-online.org/pathway2.html

This is a great website that assists teachers in planning strong and well thought-out projects.  It helps you to stay standards-focused, while creating projects that engage students in genuine learning activities, teach 21st century skills, and require mastery. The easy-to-follow interactive graphic will help you get started with understanding the process and procedures of PBL. It also provides a search for projects developed by others (small collection) or the ability to contribute projects to the PBL-Online Collaboratory and Project Library. The focus of this site is on the teachers; therefore the NETS-T’s are what are met.  NETS-T 2 a/c is met because it helps to “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” which includes developing “relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools” (2.a).  Furthermore, it allows teachers to “customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles” (2.c).

2. Project-Based Learning from Start to Finish

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-project-based-learning-best-practices-new-tech-video

This 8-minute video will give you insight into a school in Texas whose sole instructional method is Project-Based Learning.  It will show you the process the teachers take when building team-teaching curriculum, as well as show you the student’s insights on the method and their learning.  It is a great way to see all the research in motion and help those of you who are skeptical to see the success of PBL live. The standard met with this site is NETS-T 5.a-c because it allows teachers to “engage in professional growth and leadership.” This is due to the fact that they get to see PBL in motion and see what other teachers are doing with PBL and their process on implementation.

3. Practical PBL: Four Tips for Better Implementation

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/4-practical-pbl-implementation-tips-adrienne-curtis-dickinson

This is blog a written by Adrienne Curtis-Dickinson, a high school social studies teacher in Bellevue, Washington.  It is refreshing to have a first-hand point of view from an actual teacher and not just a researcher.  She does a great job at providing a simple breakdown of four insights she has for the PBL beginning teacher.  It can be overwhelming to try a new teaching method, and it is sometimes helpful to have someone who is an expert give you their “now that I know” personal experiences, so you feel like you are going in already understanding what the do’s and don’ts are and how to handle situations. This site meets NETS-T 5.a-c because it allows teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership.” This is due to the fact that it provides an opportunity for teachers to connect to another teacher and receive professional insight into PBL implementation.

4. Edutopia PBL

http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning

Edutopia defines PBL, “as a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative groups.” This is a site containing wonderful educational content for teachers. This link takes you directly to the section devoted to PBL, where you can find the history of PBL, experts, and research.  It also provides you links to a variety of other PBL resources such as interviews, articles, project examples, etc. NETS-T 2 a/c is met because it provides teachers the opportunity to “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” by looking at project examples, which includes developing “relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools” (2.a).   It also allows for teachers to “customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles” (2.c) because using PBL allows students to engage in their learning. NETS-T 5.a-c is met because it has teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership” by reading articles and research.

5.  BIE Institute for PBL

http://www.bie.org/index.php/site/PBL/overview_pbl/

You should definitely explore this website full of great PBL information.  This is a one-stop shop for everything PBL, including the BIE Project Based Learning Handbook, which gives you the ins and outs of PBL.   You can download documents and forms such as planning forms, student handouts, and rubrics.  There are plenty of links to navigate that takes you to an abundant of resource information that will help support your PBL endeavors! NETS-T 2 a/c is met because the teachers can “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” which includes developing “relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools” (2.a).  This means that teachers can “customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles” (2.c) because using PBL allows students to engage in their learning. Lastly, PBL meets NETS-T 5.a-c because it has teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership” by providing the handbook and downloadable resources.

6. PBL Exemplary Projects

http://www.wested.org/pblnet/exemplary_projects.html

Want practical PBL ideas? This is the place for you! This site is the creation of a group of experienced teachers, educators, and researchers whom you may contact as resources. This people are actively doing and creating new exemplary PBL projects, pre-service and continuing teacher professional development, and integration of technology into the curriculum. There are great ideas, examples, and even rubrics for you to use as is or as starting points for your own ideas for middle school and high school. NETS-T 2 a/c is met because the teachers can use the ideas provided to “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” which includes developing “relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools” (2.a).  Therefore, teachers can “customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles” (2.c) because using PBL allows students to engage in their learning. NETS-T 4.b is addressed as well because PBL allows teachers to “address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.”  Lastly, PBL meets NETS-T 5.a-c because it has teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership.” This is due to the fact that the site offers links to professional development opportunities.

7. 4Teachers.org

http://4teachers.org/projectbased/

This site is a great place to gather more information about PBL, such as how it helps foster motivation and how you can use the multiple-intelligences with PBL.  It is important to make sure that PBL is for you and fits your teaching style, and I think reading this information will help you decide if it matches your current motivational strategies. This PBL site meets NETS-T 5.a-c because it has teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership.” This is due to the fact that it provides learning for teachers on how PBL is motivational as well as how multiple intelligences can be used with PBL.

8. Houghton Mifflin’s Project-Based Learning Space

http://college.cengage.com/education/pbl/index.html

This site from publisher Houghton Mifflin contains some good resources for investigating PBL and how the Wisconsin Center For Education Research developed it. There is a link to some comprehensive projects which is always a great way to look for something useful for your own classroom and allows you to not have to “reinvent the wheel.”  Having information from a well-establish publisher of educational materials allows you to know you are obtaining accurate and valuable information about the teaching method. This PBL site meets NETS-T 5.a-c because it has teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership.” This is due to the fact that is provides an opportunity for teachers to learn more about the history of PBL and it’s how it was developed.  It also provides some project ideas that allow teachers to gather ideas.

9. PBL Checklist

http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/index.shtml

If you are anything like me, checklists help you organize your thoughts and the steps you need to complete a task.  This website does so for project-based learning which is a great way to help any teacher get started because it creates a downloadable grade-level appropriate checklist.  You can customize each checklist for each project as well depending upon the type of project and subject you are teaching in your classroom. In addition to knowing you have everything in order, the use of checklists assists in keeping students on track and allows them to take responsibility for their own learning through peer- and self-evaluation. NETS-T 2 a/c is met because the teachers can “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” which includes developing “relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools” (2.a).  Furthermore, the site allows teachers to “customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles” (2.c) because using PBL allows students to engage in their learning. NETS-T 4.b is addressed as well because PBL allows teachers to “address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.”

10. RubiStar-Rubric Creator

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

Though many of the sites above offer rubrics for the created projects, this site allows you to create rubrics perfectly tailored to what you are teaching and what you are wanting the students to learn.  You can search for already published rubrics based on the subject of the project and edit it, or you can create a rubric completely from scratch.  I have used this multiple times and it has been a great way to word a rubric exactly how I want it so it is clear to the students.  Also, I always present the rubric to students and give them access to a copy so they can use it to guide their work. NETS-T 2a is met because the teachers “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” (2.a) by creating rubrics.

Week 9: PBL and High School

A team-teaching model for practicing project-based learning in high school: Collaboration between computer and subject teachers

Ling-Chian Chang a, Greg C. Lee b,*

a Graduate Institute of Information and Computer Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Sec. 1, Hoping E. Road, Taipei, 162, Taiwan

b Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Tingzhou Road, Taipei, 116, Taiwan

Elsevier Computers & Education 55 (2010) 961–969

Article

As discussed in week 8, project-based learning, also known as PBL, is a useful teaching method that can motivate students to engage in learning.  But, as established in A team-teaching model for practicing project-based learning in high school: Collaboration between computer and subject teachers by Chang and Lee, “training or encouraging teachers to practice PBL in their classrooms is challenging, especially if the educational system does not accommodate creative teaching practices” (961).  Furthermore, even if a teacher is wiling to try PBL, it can be time consuming and difficult for “a subject teacher to address the technical needs of students who may have varying proficiency and interest in the use of computers” (962). Due to this, they chose to do a two-year investigation in which they built a team-teaching model to increase teacher experience and comfort level with PBL. They conducted their research with two questions in mind: first, how feasible and effective is the proposed team-teaching model under the current test-driven educational environment? And secondly, how do the participants of the study, both the teachers and the students, embrace PBL in terms of continuing participation in future classes?

The experiment was conducted in Taiwan, though if you did not know that, one would assume it was any common school environment in the United States, as the research model and results translate flawlessly.  The team-teaching model consisted of one computer teacher who was experienced in using PBL and a certified Master Teacher for the Intel Teach Program, paired with two subject teachers, both with at least ten years teaching experience though novice PBL instructors.  The first year the computer teacher would familiarize a group of 10^th grade students with PBL and the technology, and the following year the subject teachers would implement PBL and the technology in their classrooms with the then 11^th graders.  The computer teacher conducted PBL throughout the year.  And the subject teachers conducted a six-week PBL unit at the end of the semester. For the English PBL, “the goal of the project was to have students sharpening their reading skills and to practice writing humanistic reporting essay” (964). This was accomplished through having groups study assigned readings on an animal, and then “expand their knowledge by searching the Web to answer some open-ended questions; finally writing a short report with a set outline” (964).  The geography teacher assigned groups a different South America/Latin-America country.  “Each group was to research and report on the geological terrain, history, culture, and economy of the assigned country,” and even though the textbook covered the material, “students were required to go in more depth in their final group report” (964). The end goal was that students would learn about their assigned country and other countries from other groups’ reports.

Data were collected from multiple sources, including class journals that were kept by the teachers, in-class handouts, interviews with teachers and their transcripts, student progress reports, student questionnaires and student interviews.  There was no pretest, though the students did take a midterm.  The geography and English achievement tests both consisted of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. There was also a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire that students took at the end of the two-year experiment; answers were represented by “strongly agree/agree” and “strongly disagree/disagree.” The data reveled that “students felt good about the overall quality of their work. In particular, the students tended to be more confident about the content and organization of their final reports than they were about the aesthetic aspects of the report” (966). A quote from each of the teachers’ journals summarizes their overall experience:

Computer teacher: “Although the teaching load and responsibility were greater than in the past, it is good to know that I am helping students to become more involved in their studies in other subject areas. We (the other two subject teachers and I) now have a closer working relationship. I am seen not just as a teacher at the school, but as an instrumental colleague who sparked subject teachers’ interest in trying out a new teaching and learning method that uses technology.”

English teacher: “I didn’t know how to integrate technology into my teaching. After this experiment, I now know what to do and am willing to try teaching with technology in the future.  I was surprised to see that students can actually focus on the project topic. The depth and breadth of their research work are much greater than I had anticipated.”

Geography teacher: “The extra preparation time before the project start was manageable. During the six-week experiment, going around and helping each group with their project was actually easy and fun.  It’s good that students are already familiar with the (PBL) process and already possess the necessary technical skills.”

In conclusion, having an experienced PBL teacher who was also a computer teacher allowed for the students to be well versed in the structure of PBL as well as the operations of the technology.  This meant that the following year, the novice PBL teachers, could implement PBL into the classroom and not worry about having to teach the “ground work.”  The result was that “no class time was lost, and the subject teacher successfully conducted PBL activities” (961).  In addition to the success of the teachers’ instruction and experience, a tests and a survey conducted after the research indicated that the students enjoyed and learned from the PBL activities both years.

Connections to NETS

The focus of this article was on the teachers; therefore the NETS-T’s are what are met most.  NETS-T 2 a-c is met because the teachers had to “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” which includes developing “relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools” (2.a).  Furthermore, the study discusses how they chose to use multimedia tools which also allows teachers to “develop technology-enriched learning environments” (2.b), and “customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles” (2.c) because using PBL allows students to engage in their learning. NETS-T 4.b is addressed as well because PBL allows teachers to “address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.”  Lastly, PBL meets NETS-T 5.a-c because it has teachers “engage in professional growth and leadership.” This is due to the fact that they worked together to team-teach with a colleague and therefore learn and grow from one another’s strengths.

Though the student portion is not very in-depth in this article, we know enough to establish that some NETS-S’s are met.  NETS-S 3a-d “research and information fluency” is met because students plan, locate, evaluate, and process data.  NETS-S 4a-d is also met because students use “critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making” skills in PBL.  “Digital citizenship” NETS-S 5a is met due to the fact that students need to practice safe and responsible use of the technology they are using.  And lastly, NETS-S 6 is met because students have to “demonstrate understanding of technology concepts.”

Connections to students:

Page 961 of the article establishes that “the literature has shown that PBL enables students to become interactive learners (Blumentfeld et al.,1991; Lin & Hsieh, 2001; Synteta & Schneider, 2002) and to construct knowledge through exploration (Edward, 1995; Jang, 2006a; Johnson & Aragon, 2003; Prince & Felder, 2007).”  We are well aware that every student learns differently, and PBL provides students with an opportunity to connect to material in a variety of ways with both individual effort and group support.  This particular experiment found great success because it allowed students to spend a year focusing on learning the technology and structure of PBL, which means it set the students up for success from the beginning.  It is ideal to be able to spend time to ensure your students understand the structure and tools you plan to implement during your PBL unit, and doing so will save much frustration for the student and much time for you as the teacher.

Connections to school and the classroom:

Teachers and administrators can be incredibly skeptical of PBL, as many see it as more “fun” than teaching and therefore learning, especially with the amount of “teaching to the test” that exists now.  But “upon completion of this study, the two subject teachers, who were initially skeptical about the learning outcome and had expressed concerns about lost class time, became believers in PBL and expressed newfound interest in the use of technology to improve student learning” (967). Also, most teachers are hesitant to integrate technology into the classroom as it can be time consuming.  Therefore the conclusion was that “pre-training the students in PBL in separate classes not only ensured that the subject teachers were not burdened with the need to train students in the technologies that were required for PBL activities, but also actually motivated the subject teachers to conduct PBL (967).

The foundation of this experiment was team-teaching.  I have seen in schools first-hand, as well as this article establishes, that team-teaching success depends upon experienced teachers either in PBL or in overall teaching.  If you plan to use a team-teaching approach, one of you needs to be an expert PBL instructor, as well as you should have a hand full of years of overall teaching experience.  This is because if you are a novice in both areas, you become unsure of yourself and can become overwhelmed, as well as lack the experience to problem solve and manage appropriately.  It is also important to know that you as the teacher need to closely monitor the students’ progress to ensure the project is on track and of high quality.  Some teachers fail in this area as they wrongly assume that once they assign a PBL assignment they can then just sit back and watch.

Overall, if you are a motivated, creative, and involved teacher, PBL and you would be a great fit.  Project-based learning is a great way to allow students to see your classroom as an interactive environment where they are allowed ownership of their education.  And as I have found, and as you will undoubtedly see, your classroom will come to life as students research, use their creativity, and produce a high quality project that exhibits their knowledge.