B.A. Social Studies
After planning for weeks regarding scope and sequence for my government course with the focus on the Project Based Learning (PBL) model, it was time to execute my plan of action. I had the basic course plan in place, but still had to iron out the details for the first unit, “The Principles and Origins of American Government.” I had outlined the essential question and determined that I would put together a panel of local community leaders to provide an authentic audience to evaluate their findings, so the basic layout for the project was there. Now it was time to plan for the most challenging part for me: letting the students go and allowing them to take control of their own learning. I think this the most significant challenge for most teachers who take on the task of creating a student-centered classroom. I would argue that my classes were more student-centered than most in my district coming into this year. I used the flipped classroom model over the previous two years and feel that I was successful implementing that it, but wanted to take a stab at something different to see what it could do for the learning environment in my classroom.
By being open with them from day one that I was trying something new and by outlining the fact that I had high and clear expectations for their work, my students stepped up and learned what was expected plus, in many cases, more content than I would have provided them with in a teacher-centered, traditional classroom. The most significant factor that got students to buy in was providing them with choice in how they showed what they learned through research and a voice for presenting that material to an authentic audience. Pressure was added (for myself and my students) as I began getting RSVP’s from those who were going to participate on the interview panel. The students got nervous, but I think that forced them to step up. The fact that they were being provided with the opportunity to earn their grades from an outside source didn’t give them the option of turning in subpar work to only their teacher. My expectations in turn became my students’ expectations. For my students to be successful, I had to focus on teaching them the process for self-guided learning. On the first day of the unit, students chose their groups for the project and were provided with the essential question. They participated in an exercise (in the Know-Want to Know-Learned or “KWL” format) where they were expected to list what they knew in regard to that question and what they needed to know in order to answer it completely. All questions were put into their group notepad (which they were provided with by myself) and after a designated amount of time, each group presented their questions to the class where they were ALL written down, word for word, for the class to work off of. They were displayed throughout the project on the board for students to reference if they ran into a roadblock in their research while providing them with a voice in the process. I built and created a set of research questions for students to focus on from their list to guide them through their research. The next challenge was providing students with the guidelines and teaching them how to accomplish research and learning over a longer period of time than they are typically accustomed to. In order to answer each research question, students had to relearn the process of using Internet search tools properly while finding resources that helped them to understand the content. Instead of being provided with resources, students could use whatever worked best for them. Over time, I instituted the rule that students could not ask me “Googleable” questions. Instead, they had to provide me with an answer to their question for me to guide them to another one. This created an atmosphere of “sustained inquiry,” one of the key elements in the PBL model (Buck Institute for Education). Students never completely answered their research questions, because each answer they found led to another question that they could use to better understand the content that they were expected to present in their end-product. Collaborative Inquiry--What Do We Need to Know?" Activity Next, students were provided with structure throughout the process with a set of tasks that they had to complete over a designated period of time. Students struggle, as most of us do, with time management and procrastination. The key to teaching students to use the time provided is to provide them with regular deadlines. Throughout each day, I provided time for students to accomplish a task in a given amount of time before having another task added on. Note that I did not grade students based on whether they achieved that task, but added another one at that point. This was done with the purpose of allowing students to pursue content that they may have spent more time researching because they took an interest in it, or found multiple resources that they needed to search through. Because the groups were assigned with each task, members could delegate the work however they pleased, again providing them with freedom in choosing how to accomplish the tasks at the end. The general purpose of the tasks are to provide students with structure that allows them to see how the research process is done. It provides a framework, but not the exact process for accomplishing each task--that was left to the students and their groups to determine on their own, providing another opportunity to incorporate student choice into the process.
Throughout the research phase of the project, I also wanted to be sure to establish and support the fact that the end-goal was for students to learn the material, not simply to create a project for a grade. One of our key battles as teachers is getting students to understand that the purpose of education is to learn the content and skills, not to only attain a certain grade. In general, grades should measure the content and skills that students have learned, not simply whether they can jump through the hoops. In order for students to understand the value of learning and research, I kept the details of the final product and assignment away from them. They knew that they were doing the research in order to create something, but they did not know the direction that they would be expected go with it until they were adequately prepared with the content to be successful. The only grades put in the gradebook at this stage were for simple record keeping tasks and for self-reflection assignments (again, using KWL format). The focus on the process of research and the motivation to learn from that process allowed the projects to meet and exceed the expectations outlined to students in the end. Looking back on my first experience putting Project Based Learning into action, I found a number of challenges listed over the last two blog posts both during the planning and execution phases. Reflecting on the first project, there are very few things that I will do differently next semester, because I feel that my students were successful in learning the material at a higher level than they have in the past. Through this process, students have proven that they can answer the essential questions in essay format and prove depth of knowledge better than they would have been able to in previous semesters. Until this point, I was not confident enough in my students’ learning ability to evaluate them on an essay test, because I don’t think they learned enough through the process to be successful. Project Based Learning has changed this perspective, and my students have performed at a high level on essay tests in general. All in all, my first experience with Project Based Learning has been a positive one where I have encountered major challenges, but my students have risen to the occasion, in most cases exceeding expectations on their evaluations from outside evaluators as well as through traditional objective and subjective assessments. The data that I have gathered has proven that it is successful and I would encourage other teachers to look at PBL as a method to incorporate into our classrooms. It’s not the only way to do it, but is an option in terms of providing a student-centered, individualized learning environment. Be sure to take a look at the data and project examples that I have collected over the coming weeks in future posts and on the “Project Based Learning” page on this website. As always, please comment or question anything here. Any feedback or questions are appreciated. I would enjoy hearing other experiences from teachers who have incorporated Project Based Learning or another student-centered method for their classrooms. What has worked best for you and what challenges have you encountered? Leave a Reply. |
AuthorBrian Anton currently serves the Purdy R-II (Missouri) School District as the 7-12 Principal after working in the PK-12 Assistant Principal and Athletic Director roles for two years. In the 12 years prior to moving into administration, he served as an award-winning high school social studies teacher. Archives
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