Engagement, collaboration, interaction, exploration, ownership, evaluation, authority, research and a lot more that you will notice your students “DOING” when you switch to project based learning.
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a great way to get students started. When involved in a project, students collaborate and learn things by working together on an extended period of time that not only helps them gain knowledge but also helps them refine their real life skills such as collaboration and communication. This teaching method is engaging for kids. It helps them understand the subjects in depth as they get to understand topics from multiple angles. In this process of learning, students participate actively and explore real world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.
Practiced widely by educators around the globe, Project Based Teaching is one approach with benefits that are simply rewarding and amazing. Pointers below will help you understand about PBL better.
– Planning project based learning is time taking. Coming up with new ways to present information and showcase student learning can be a challenge. And in addition to this, things can always fall out of place with students as all students are different. Luckily, there are a lot of resources available to get elementary, middle, and high school teachers thinking about what their students can accomplish.
– With project-based learning, students are driving a lot of their own learning. But that doesn’t mean they don’t require the teachers. Teachers are there to facilitate learning and guide students toward answers to their question, just not to answer the question themselves.
– “One of the major advantages of project work is that it makes school more like real life. In real life, we don’t spend several hours at a time listening to authorities who know more than we do and who tell us exactly what to do and how to do it. We need to be able to ask questions of a person we’re learning from. We need to be able to link what the person is telling us with what we already know. And we need to be able to bring what we already know and experiences we’ve had that are relevant to the topic to the front of our minds and say something about them.”, said by Sylvia Chard directs how PBL helps students in identifying learning as a basic thing that they do in their real life and not as a different deed otherwise considered burden or boring by kids.
– Project-based learning creates opportunities for groups of students to investigate meaningful questions that require them to gather information and think critically. Typical projects present a problem to solve (How can we reduce the pollution in the schoolyard pond?); a phenomenon to investigate (Why do you stay on your skateboard?); a model to design (Create a scale model of an ideal high school); or a decision to make (Should the school board vote to build a new school?).
– PBL must prove itself in the classroom before it can be adopted on a broader scale — and it has. According to a PBL research review conducted by The Autodesk Foundation, studies have shown that project-based learning is linked to “significant” improvements in student test scores, attendance and classroom engagement. Intel reports that PBL has also been linked to improved higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills, and speaks to a broader range of learners.
– Perhaps one of the most notable benefits of PBL is its transformative effect on a student’s thought processes. According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, when students’ primary objective is to overcome conflict, rather than avoid it entirely, skills like memory and reading comprehension soar. Likewise, Intel reports that “brain research underscores the value” of “meaningful problem-solving activities” as a means of developing natural inquiry, higher-level thinking and creativity.
What do you think about PBL? What are your observations on incorporating it in your classroom?
