I have long lamented the artificial division of learning into subjects. We need to liberate learning from the time-task constraints of the Industrial Age. Too often the bell interrupts learning, or worse, wastes learning time as we await the next bell. Project Based Learning (PBL) not only integrates subjects but has tremendous potential to create critical thinkers and lifelong learners.
As part of my Wilkes University Project Based Learning Course, I watched the three exemplars of project based learning listed below. There were common circumstances and design principles. Each was based on a meaningful and complex question that engaged and required the learner to collaborate with others in critical thinking and authentic problem solving. The question was based in a subject curriculum yet the search and the expression of the solution integrated many subjects. The teachers of the PBLs designed them so well that they were able step off the stage and become guides in student-centric learning. Too often learners become disengaged and discard any assessment of learning at the end of a unit. In PBL, learners were engaged and employed feedback for true learning.
At the Distributed Learning Symposium 2009 in Calgary, I had the privilege of attending an exemplar PBL presented by teacher Amy Park entitled “Engaging ‘Screenagers’ in Academic Rigour”. Park’s shared with us her PBL process for a Grade 8 social studies outcome expressed as a short film to be submitted to an actual film festival. What impressed me about Park’s PBL was her use of learner produced rubrics. This year they created a scale of four from “powerful” to “pathetic”. Parks assured us no teen would ever want to be evaluated as pathetic so the category in and of itself was motivational. By studying examples of “voice”, learners and teacher brainstormed and developed their own rubrics. This meant when Parks was providing feedback, there was a collective understanding of each component within the rubric. This was Parks second year of entries into the film festival and like the Architect and Monarch PBLs, I imagine there is an undocumented benefit to repeating a PBL for a number of years. Although there are very transient learners there are learners who do spend years in a school. To be aware of the interest and excitement in learning generated by a PBL in an upcoming class would be inspiring. It is possible that learners set higher benchmarks each year. On the other hand, a one-time only PBL would also have its benefits as learners would see themselves as unique.
Park’s PBL can be found at http://iostudent.com/2353.
Three PBL exemplars:
- “More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?!” at http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms.
- “Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning” – at http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects.
- “March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies’ Migration” at http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs.
