Hello educators and parents alike,
I have been offered a teaching position at a school that focuses on project based learning. I'm not sure what to expect, does anyone have experiences working in a school that's focus was to offer PBL?
Thanks!
Project Based Learning?
Re: Project Based Learning?
It can be amazing when it is well done, but if poorly executed it is about as bad as it gets.
Re: Project Based Learning?
thanks for the reply!
How would you go about properly executing a pbl class? I'm asking because I've just "graduated" (or worked for a few years) in a Chinese ran international school. I only did one project this year with my grade 12 students...
So my experience in PBL is quite weak to be frank. Can you elaborate on a situation that would be coined as a "poor" execution of project based learning?
Thanks in advance!
How would you go about properly executing a pbl class? I'm asking because I've just "graduated" (or worked for a few years) in a Chinese ran international school. I only did one project this year with my grade 12 students...
So my experience in PBL is quite weak to be frank. Can you elaborate on a situation that would be coined as a "poor" execution of project based learning?
Thanks in advance!
Re: Project Based Learning?
It can really be a great way to provide authentic learning experiences for students.
If students are coming up with a hypothesis, designing an experiment to test it, executing it, and proving/refuting their hypothesis AND the students are genuinely interested in the topic - this is good.
However, I have seen plenty of less-than-motivated teachers simply say: research this on the internet. It can be an easy excuse for lazy teaching.
If students are coming up with a hypothesis, designing an experiment to test it, executing it, and proving/refuting their hypothesis AND the students are genuinely interested in the topic - this is good.
However, I have seen plenty of less-than-motivated teachers simply say: research this on the internet. It can be an easy excuse for lazy teaching.
Re: Project Based Learning?
PBL is the "in" thing right now, though its been around for years and in my mind is just good teaching. However, if you go to the Buck Institute webpage (http://bie.org/) you can find more information about PBL. There are some very specific strategies and protocols associated with PBL, such as having a genuine audience to present the product to, which separate it from traditional research projects and inquiry based labs. While I think there is value to PBL I don't think its the be all end all and I don't think there is only one way to do PBL, but some would have you believe otherwise.
Re: Project Based Learning?
There are some free training courses from pblu.org. They are affiliated to BIE and - in the past - offered PBL certification. Unfortunately, they don't any more but the courses should give you a good taste of what preparing for a PBL unit is like. If it's done poorly, content can really get lost in PBL so it's something to bear in mind. The previous posters give good advice. PM me for other resources if you like.
Response
While PBL can be highly effective, in many cases it either doesnt work or only "looks" like it works. Students, and ITs can get caught up int he presentation and style of the project over content and the demonstration of content mastery.
What I strongly disagree with is that while certain subjects and teaching fields (studio courses) "appear" to be more project based, a lab experiment, or artistic piece is no more a project than a worksheet or exam. These arent projects. PBL requires 3 essential components:
1) Creation (not production): Both process and product (the outcome or culminating activity) most develop new higher order learning growth. Following an experimental procedure or replicating the movement in creating a coil pot for example do not meet this requirement.
2) Integration: The learner applies increasing complex multiple SKAs to create project outcomes. Most projects as conventionally accepted are too simplistic or procedural to qualify as projects.
3) Learner Directed: The project is not just implemented and designed based on the learners applications of effort and resources, but the entirety of the project from inception and intention to outcome performance and assessment is directed by the learner. At the end of a true project the learner should be the one most capable of determining its level of success. This requires at a certain point the IT assuming the role of mentor and facilitator than that of evaluator. This means that "projects" that include an IT constructed grading rubric are no more true projects than the assessment of an essay or research paper.
There are several atypical issues with PBL, that include:
1) The success of "presentation" of the project is not a deciding factor in determining the success of PBL. A project can "fail" or be "unsuccessful" and still under common conditions meet the learning and mastery objectives. In PBL the process is more critical than outcomes. This is difficult for a variety of stakeholders especially parents to accept, when the inverse is also true in that successful outcomes do not always demonstrate the completion or meeting of the learning and mastery objectives. Just because it "looks good" doesnt mean the student learned anything.
2) Projects are generally far more complex then rudimentary modeling and scripting that takes place in traditional learning approaches (the I say, U say, I do, U do approach), as a result external factors can grow to the point of overwhelming the capacity of the project. This means an IT and learned need to plan for adapted, alternative and contingent options and pathways. At some point in a project that means considering the viability of giving up/quieting as an option.
3) PBL tends to be very resource heavy both in effort, cost and time. Projects possess and develop momentum and will continue to test the boundaries of their design and threaten to grow outside the learners capability and reach. There is always "more" that can or could be done. This is not something to fear, but a continual focus on the intent, design, and process can keep the project manageable.
While I cant deny the value of earlier contributors post, I would direct you too Pintrest and search for IB/PYP/UI (Unit of Inquiry)/Portfolio/Themes in regards to source material for PBL and various projects, it will be far more practical then conceptual in terms of what PBL can look like at varying degrees of resources and complexity.
What I strongly disagree with is that while certain subjects and teaching fields (studio courses) "appear" to be more project based, a lab experiment, or artistic piece is no more a project than a worksheet or exam. These arent projects. PBL requires 3 essential components:
1) Creation (not production): Both process and product (the outcome or culminating activity) most develop new higher order learning growth. Following an experimental procedure or replicating the movement in creating a coil pot for example do not meet this requirement.
2) Integration: The learner applies increasing complex multiple SKAs to create project outcomes. Most projects as conventionally accepted are too simplistic or procedural to qualify as projects.
3) Learner Directed: The project is not just implemented and designed based on the learners applications of effort and resources, but the entirety of the project from inception and intention to outcome performance and assessment is directed by the learner. At the end of a true project the learner should be the one most capable of determining its level of success. This requires at a certain point the IT assuming the role of mentor and facilitator than that of evaluator. This means that "projects" that include an IT constructed grading rubric are no more true projects than the assessment of an essay or research paper.
There are several atypical issues with PBL, that include:
1) The success of "presentation" of the project is not a deciding factor in determining the success of PBL. A project can "fail" or be "unsuccessful" and still under common conditions meet the learning and mastery objectives. In PBL the process is more critical than outcomes. This is difficult for a variety of stakeholders especially parents to accept, when the inverse is also true in that successful outcomes do not always demonstrate the completion or meeting of the learning and mastery objectives. Just because it "looks good" doesnt mean the student learned anything.
2) Projects are generally far more complex then rudimentary modeling and scripting that takes place in traditional learning approaches (the I say, U say, I do, U do approach), as a result external factors can grow to the point of overwhelming the capacity of the project. This means an IT and learned need to plan for adapted, alternative and contingent options and pathways. At some point in a project that means considering the viability of giving up/quieting as an option.
3) PBL tends to be very resource heavy both in effort, cost and time. Projects possess and develop momentum and will continue to test the boundaries of their design and threaten to grow outside the learners capability and reach. There is always "more" that can or could be done. This is not something to fear, but a continual focus on the intent, design, and process can keep the project manageable.
While I cant deny the value of earlier contributors post, I would direct you too Pintrest and search for IB/PYP/UI (Unit of Inquiry)/Portfolio/Themes in regards to source material for PBL and various projects, it will be far more practical then conceptual in terms of what PBL can look like at varying degrees of resources and complexity.
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Dredge
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Re: Project Based Learning?
I helped start and was the head of a PBL Charter school for three years in the States. My take is that there are many different methods to project based learning. I found that what you can do with 6th graders and what you can do with 12th graders is completely opposite. Younger students need months of coaching to even begin to design and direct a project. I read something somewhere that said it takes one month of PBL instruction for every year of traditional education for students to be truly successful, however I feel it depends on how much a student has already developed independent learning skills. For me, that was truly the life skill that we were teaching.
That being said, as we are all educators we know that differentiation is necessary. PBL would claim that because the ideas come from the students, they are more motivated to learn at a deeper level. I did not see much evidence of this. Most, if not all students who were successful at my school were already independent learners and thinkers who basically did not like being told what to do. It is not for everyone, just like lectures are not for everyone, worksheets are not for everyone, tests are not for everyone. If I was a parent who knew that my child was independently driven, I would not hesitate to send my kid to a PBL school. The problem is, you have many parents who have children who haven't been successful elsewhere so they try the PBL schools and then those kids are not successful there either. These kids abuse the 'free' time and do not produce much, just like they would anywhere at that point in their lives. Time can change many a thing.
That being said, as we are all educators we know that differentiation is necessary. PBL would claim that because the ideas come from the students, they are more motivated to learn at a deeper level. I did not see much evidence of this. Most, if not all students who were successful at my school were already independent learners and thinkers who basically did not like being told what to do. It is not for everyone, just like lectures are not for everyone, worksheets are not for everyone, tests are not for everyone. If I was a parent who knew that my child was independently driven, I would not hesitate to send my kid to a PBL school. The problem is, you have many parents who have children who haven't been successful elsewhere so they try the PBL schools and then those kids are not successful there either. These kids abuse the 'free' time and do not produce much, just like they would anywhere at that point in their lives. Time can change many a thing.
Re: Project Based Learning?
Interesting advice everyone, and as always, "guy" thanks for your honest opinions. No I'm not being sarcastic, I know some peeps on here hate you, but your posts always make me laugh.
Project Based Learning schools must include some sort of STEM for youth and children as well right? I'm excited to start teaching in a school that's main focus is PBL, I really think it aligns well with who I am as a teacher. I'm moving on from a third tier "testing mill" school, so it'll be a nice change, and hopefully I spend more time prepping, and less assessing the death out of my students.
Since I feel like I'm moving up in the world, I hod have a question about workload in better developed, better equipped, non tier 3 schools. At my old school I was asked to be in the office by 730, ad by 740 I already had to be in homeroom for silent reading. I then taught 4 blocks of classes, from 730-340. You were not allowed to leave the school until 430, and you were expected to run a club once a week from 4-5, and a tutorial from 4-5.
I'm not trying to belly ache about teacher workload, but these hours seem a bit long. I was also teaching linear courses, which means I'd see one group of kids on Monday, another group of kids on Tuesday, and then the same kids on wed, tuesday's kids on thursday etc etc. So if I took in an assessment, I was actually expected to mark 150 essays over the weekend and have them turned over by Monday. It was doable, but I didn't have a life.
My new school starts me at 8:00 and lets me go at 330. I understand that teachers have to work, and I understand that SOME DAYS you will be in your office until 9:00pm, or at home marking. But everyday???
Thanks for your tips all!
Project Based Learning schools must include some sort of STEM for youth and children as well right? I'm excited to start teaching in a school that's main focus is PBL, I really think it aligns well with who I am as a teacher. I'm moving on from a third tier "testing mill" school, so it'll be a nice change, and hopefully I spend more time prepping, and less assessing the death out of my students.
Since I feel like I'm moving up in the world, I hod have a question about workload in better developed, better equipped, non tier 3 schools. At my old school I was asked to be in the office by 730, ad by 740 I already had to be in homeroom for silent reading. I then taught 4 blocks of classes, from 730-340. You were not allowed to leave the school until 430, and you were expected to run a club once a week from 4-5, and a tutorial from 4-5.
I'm not trying to belly ache about teacher workload, but these hours seem a bit long. I was also teaching linear courses, which means I'd see one group of kids on Monday, another group of kids on Tuesday, and then the same kids on wed, tuesday's kids on thursday etc etc. So if I took in an assessment, I was actually expected to mark 150 essays over the weekend and have them turned over by Monday. It was doable, but I didn't have a life.
My new school starts me at 8:00 and lets me go at 330. I understand that teachers have to work, and I understand that SOME DAYS you will be in your office until 9:00pm, or at home marking. But everyday???
Thanks for your tips all!
Reply
@whoamI?
STEM doesnt have to be PBL based, many ISs and municipal schools teach STEM as a sequence of traditional courses, and the individual instructor approach can be direct teach. STEM is expensive when done right, and ISs without those resources just want to advertise they ahve a STEM program.
You may very well have been happier at your current IS. There are elite tier ISs (like ASL) that maintain longer and harder work schedules. While there are ISs and municipal schools with short days, your work schedule is a bit longer than average being (8:00-16:00) but 7:00-17:00 isnt unusual, especially in Asian ISs that are locally operated/managed.
Even with your new ISs schedule you will probably be in early (when is your first period) and will often stay late, even if its just marking or prep. Does your new IS not have or require ASPs?
Your blocking schedule isnt unusual, most ISs expect marking to be turned around within a week, if not a few days.
STEM doesnt have to be PBL based, many ISs and municipal schools teach STEM as a sequence of traditional courses, and the individual instructor approach can be direct teach. STEM is expensive when done right, and ISs without those resources just want to advertise they ahve a STEM program.
You may very well have been happier at your current IS. There are elite tier ISs (like ASL) that maintain longer and harder work schedules. While there are ISs and municipal schools with short days, your work schedule is a bit longer than average being (8:00-16:00) but 7:00-17:00 isnt unusual, especially in Asian ISs that are locally operated/managed.
Even with your new ISs schedule you will probably be in early (when is your first period) and will often stay late, even if its just marking or prep. Does your new IS not have or require ASPs?
Your blocking schedule isnt unusual, most ISs expect marking to be turned around within a week, if not a few days.