The
mediocre teacher tells.
The
good teacher explains.
The
superior teacher demonstrates.
The
great teacher inspires.
-William A. Ward
How many people can remember their favourite
teacher? Whether they did not give as much homework, never underestimated your
abilities, assigned fun projects etc., each person will remember all the
wonderful traits of this teacher. However, so often when we think back to our
schooling, the stories we all tell are the bad stories. The teachers that were
awful, the teachers that made us cry and left a bad impression on us, or the
teachers that were rude. It is those teachers who have shaped peoples
perspective on education. So, the question is, how do we engage students in
education to make them appreciate learning and gain an in-depth understanding of
the 21st century?
The answer lies in project-based learning. Project-based
learning is a more comprehensive approach that is grounded in constructivist
learning, content mastery, and critical thinking (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid, 2014). Students will gain the skills and knowledge for real world applications. PBL follows the guidelines of 21st century skills such as inquiry, research, critical thinking and problem
solving, organization, collaboration, and communication. How would our classrooms look if each one was centred around PBL? The teachers role shifts from from a director to a facilitator. In
doing so, students become critical thinkers, problem solvers and social,
physical and cognitive learners. This student-centered approach, which includes small group work,
student collaboration and teamwork, will ultimately present students with a more holistic and
educative experience. With this meaningful, purposeful and authentic learning
model, students will gain a more comprehensive experience in their education classes.
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMCZvGesRz8
Here are the key elements of PBL:
- Key Knowledge, Understanding, and Success Skills
- Challenging Problem or Question
- Sustained Inquiry
- Authenticity
- Student Voice & Choice
- Reflection
- Critique & Revision
- Public Product
 |
| Retrieved from: https://21centuryedtech.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/pbl.jpg |
I would love to hear your thoughts about this 21st century way of teaching. Do you think we should be implementing this into all classrooms? Will it work for all students?
References
Drake, S., Kolohon, W., & Reid, J. (2014) Interweaving
curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st Century
Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Jha, R. (n.d.). 23 Defining Traits Of Your Favorite Teacher.
Retrieved October 6, 2015
Parker, I. (n.d.). How a TEDx Mission Makes Learning Relevant To
Students' Lives. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
Why Project Based Learning (PBL)? (n.d.). Retrieved
October 6, 2015.
Take care,
EJD
Miss Danielson,
ReplyDeleteWow- I love how you began this blog with a quote- aesthetically it captures my attention, as well as it kick-starts my brain into thinking about your topic.
I couldn’t possibly agree more that unfortunately it is the few bad apples that shape many people’s perception of education- I couldn’t tell you how many people have told me “I would’ve loved to go into French, but I had a horrible teacher in grade x that ruined it for me”. Why is it that way? This has inspired me personally to be the complete opposite of that. And yes- we need to engage students to care about their LEARNING, not just their marks!
I love that you chose to talk about PBL, because after my experience with this type of learning in EDUC 8P50 last year, I fell in love with it! I think it is so conductive to learning, and the development of all the values in a student that you have mentioned in your post! By no means was it easy- it was definitely a learning process- but I came out of it with a genuine understanding, and, furthermore, appreciation, of what I was learning. Did you have a great experience with this type of learning as well?
To answer your concluding questions: YES! I think we should definitely be implementing PBL into our classrooms! Also, I would like to believe that it would work for all students, as it constitutes a variety of different activities, roles, and responsibilities; in my experience last year, everyone I know thrived in this environment.
Great exploration of a concept that has such potential in the future world of education, one in which we will find ourselves.
Best,
Miss Colella
It appears that project-based learning is a very new approach to having students gain the skills of critical thinking, problem solving and even communication. Which for some may feel that project based learning is disorganized, creates nose in the classroom and ultimately takes away the traditional role of a teacher being the content director. In your blog post you reflected a lot on how changing the role of the teacher to become the facilitator, can actually aid in students ability to become problem solvers and cognitive leaners. Moreover, the video you provided helps to put PBL into a classroom setting so that it can be easily seen how the key elements of PBL can be used in the class. I also found that your blog post on project based learning really reflects my own experiences with peer collaboration especially in studio. I have in my previous years at Brock the opportunity to be a part of collaborative assignments and even helped to organize art projects outside of the classroom due to the successful nature of PBL.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever experienced PBL?
- Nicola
Miss Danielson,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post on PBL was very insightful. I too have experienced teachers that have left me feeling discouraged and self-conscious of my learning. In your post, you discussed that one approach to allowing students to become 21st century learners was through the implementation of PBL, which I completely agree with. I have come to realize that the majority of my courses that I have taken at university have been collaborative and involved PBL, which I have found to be more beneficial to my learning that just having teachers lecture to me. As a result, I believe that PBL should be implemented into classrooms and that it is possible for it to work for all students because each student is given a chance to explore a topic that suits their learning style.
When you mentioned in your post the key elements of PBL, I felt that that truly represented the value and importance of implementing PBL into classrooms as many of the element can be transformed into 21st century skills that students can use outside of a classroom.
Your blog post provides a great reference page for the value and importance of project-based learning and I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
Miss Chong