1. Project-Based Learning:
why, what, how
Jonathan E. Martin
@JonathanEMartin
www.21k12blog.net
Education in a Changing World Conference, August 8, 2013
7. 7 Survival Skills
• critical thinking & problem solving
• effective oral & written
communication
• accessing & analyzing information
-
• curiosity and imagination
• collaboration across networks &
leading by influence
-
• agility and adaptability
• initiative and entrepreneurship
11. What could we do to make the
biggest impact for students and
teachers?
Deeper Learning:
• Mastery of core academic content
• Critical thinking and problem-solving
• Working collaboratively in groups
• Communicating clearly and effectively
• Learning how to learn
• Barbara Chow, ED, Hewlett Deeper Learning, EdWeek
16. What if?
• At least half of the time
they spend on
schoolwork must be on
stuff that can’t end up in
a folder we put away.
• It should be because
their work is something
they create on their
own, or with others, that
has real value in the real
world.
23. Essential Ed. Elements
1.Hands on projects solving
real problems
2.Collaboration: Working in
Teams
3.Creating
4.Multi-disciplinary
learning
5.Design Thinking
6.Trial and Error
27. A design view of PBL
“a systematic teaching method that
engages students in learning essential
knowledge and life-enhancing skills
through an extended, student-
influenced inquiry process that is
structured around complex, authentic
questions and carefully designed
products and tasks”
Mergendoller, et al., 2006
28. Critique
Web Literacies & Digital Citizenship
Broad-Based
Assessment
Real-World Relevance
Scaffolding & Teaching as necessary
31. Reviewing the Research Regarding PBL Efficacy
-- several slides borrowed from Jason Ravitz, former Director of Research,
BIE, available here: http://www.slideshare.net/biepbl/metasynthesis-3slides
32.
33.
34.
35.
36. My argument
This model of PBL– inquiry driven, student-centered,
technologically accelerated, networked-connected,
skill developing, real-world informed and applied—
is essential, most of all
because it develops, supports, and assesses the skills
and mindsets of self-directed and self-empowered
learning,
and there’s nothing more important for our students’,
our society’s, and our planet’s future.
43. Develop Project Concept
Online Archives
Textbook Suggestions
News and Events
Collaborative Design
How would a professional use this knowledge
and skill set?
47. A Good DQ should
• Be provocative and relevant
• Drive the project
• Capture a project theme or a "big idea“
• Arise from real world dilemmas
• Point students toward mastering content and skills that
enable them to answer the question
• Not be easily solved or answered
49. From: Was Truman’s decision to drop the
bomb justified?
To: How might we prepare a message to
our Senator advising how to vote on a
nuclear weapons elimination treaty?
Adapted from BIE handbook
50. What have been the most popular novels
among teenagers in the last 30 years?
To: How can we communicate effectively to
the Library board how reading interests have
changed over the last 30 years so that they
will revise their purchasing strategy?
Adapted from BIE handbook
51. • Ignite Sessions/ Pecha Kucha
• Blogging: Quadblogging
• Websites & Wikis
• Videos
• Teaching younger students
• Books for grandparents/family members
• Letters to Newspapers, Public Officials
• Pamphlets and handbooks
Going beyond powerpoint
52. • Assess knowledge and skills discretely
• Design exhibitions of learning in which students
demonstrate knowledge and skills
• Use Multiple Measures; Don’t require
“culminating product” to hold all accountability
• Use rubrics for ILO’s, not tasks
• Use self, peer, and expert assessments
• Employ frequent formative assessment
