Blog Assignment #9

What can teachers and students teach us about project based learning?

"Project Based Learning is creating projects over extended periods of time to answer driving questions." As stated in the video, Project Based Learning For Teachers.

According to the article, Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning, teachers need to follow seven guidelines when using project based learning in their classroom.

These seven essentials are:

• A need to know
• Have a driving question
• Hear student voice and choice
• Use 21st century skills
• Inquire and innovate
• Provide feedback and revisions
• Present products publicly

As Dr. Strange says, we are just scratching the surface. In my opinion this is very true. When reading and viewing the different resources on project based learning I came to the realization that I may have not had a clear understanding of how project based learning works.  And, that even now after reviewing the articles, I understand it will take time to fully understand the process and by using and doing project based learning in my own classroom will I become proficient in its use. I think what is important about using project based learning is that if you use it correctly you will know you have achieved your goals for yourself and for your students. It is so important to engage the students, thereby providing them with the drive to complete their tasks. It is also important to give students the chance to voice their opinions and make choices that can improve their lives. Collaborating is so valuable, it will give students the chance to value each others opinions and communicate about ways of working together where they can achieve goals and make a difference. When we use project based learning in our classroom, we can create an environment where students will communicate and have discussions, that can provoke new questions allowing students to gain new ideas and perspectives. For any project, it is so important that we get feedback from peers, this way we can enhance our own learning and we can revise and reflect upon what we can and should do differently for future projects. Providing a presentation of students participation and projects through project based learning to an audience gives them a sense of purpose and leads them to do better in all of their endeavors.

I also enjoyed reading the articles about using project based learning in physical education. PE is something I never valued much as a youngster, but it has become much more important to me now as I now understand that it is a key to good health. Generally, unless a student is physically gifted, PE has little meaning.  By using project based learning in physical education it will cause the students to interact and will involve them in all aspects of physical education learning while they are young, and could possibly instill the desire to be physically active later in life. The project presented in the article, Project Based Learning in PE, is for high school students to design a personal program for middle school students, thus enhancing the learning and importance of physical education to both high school students and middle school students. The project creates a way for students of different ages to collaborate together, and provide feedback and reflection about the project.

The final article which I also found interesting was Project Based Learning in Kindergarten. Being that Kindergarten is the grade I would like to teach, I was excited to find an article that was keyed toward the use of project based learning in kindergarten classes.  I feel it is important for me to learn as much as I can about incorporating project based learning into my lesson plans. I was sad to see the authors of the article was not able to find as many projects using project based learning geared toward Kindergarten.  In the absence of resources, the teachers collaborated to create four projects that they could use in a Kindergarten classroom. The bulk of these projects were geared toward meeting science standards that relate to community parks, nocturnal animals, patriotic symbols, and protecting marine life.  As limited project based learning lesson plans for kindergarteners are available, this is an area that new teachers can collaborate on to fill an obvious void in available resources.

 I am excited to learn more about project based learning and am anxious about using it in my future classroom. I think it is amazing the amount of resources we have available and think that collaborating with other teachers can help us to take learning to a whole new level.

Additional Resource:
Project Based Learning and Physical Education