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| (Image: Buck @ Flickr) |
Showing posts with label PBL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PBL. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 April 2015
Thursday, 9 October 2014
Adding rigour to project-based learning
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Giving constructive critiques is a significant way to ensure PBL projects are academically rigorous - but what is a critique, and how can you teach students to give one? Find out here.
Of the 8 essential elements of project-based learning, it’s 'reflection and review' that really adds rigour to the process. Students need plenty of structured opportunities throughout the project to give and receive feedback about the quality of their work-in-progress in order to make their final product the best it can be.
'Reflection and review' is really made up of two parts – multiple drafting and constructive critiques. Both components are inextricably interlinked. The student creates a draft, the teacher and peers provide a critique; the student then uses that constructive criticism to redraft, and the process continues over and over...
How many drafts your students complete depends on your time-frame. It’s important you schedule enough time when designing your project. At Matthew Moss High School, teachers timetable eight weeks for the cycle of drafting, critique and redrafting of their family tree project, and the result is some pretty spectacular work, as you can see…
Part of the assessment of the students’ final product should be how well they've used the feedback you and their peers have given to improve and refine it. This is especially beneficial for students with special educational needs and for students whose first language is not English. It’s also a valuable experience for the most able students, who might be less likely to accept criticism and may view it as a failure on their part. They need to see that accepting critiques is part of the process of improving themselves, and part of having a growth mindset.
It’s a useful learning experience for students to critique each other’s work, rather than just handing it in to the teacher. It’s a good idea to schedule regular ‘critiquing sessions’, which will give pupils the chance to share their work and give feedback to others in a safe environment.
This will require students to be taught how to give a critique. Luckily, that’s not as intimidating as it sounds. The Innovation Unit and PBL expert Ron Berger give these three simple rules:
Help your class to understand what critiquing means by breaking it down into these simple two questions:
Other important questions to ask include:
When evaluating a model piece of work, pick one relevant to the project you’re undertaking that demonstrates the standard you are expecting pupils to meet with their own products. If you don’t have any past students’ work, use a real-life product or piece. Even the professionals’ work can be improved!
Gallery walk
Students display their drafts around the classroom. The class are then free to wander around the ‘gallery’ for around 20 minutes or so, making notes on post-its and sticking them to the drafts with positive points and suggestions for improvement. Probably better for more advanced critiquers, as students are pretty much left to their own devices here.
Dilemma protocol
Put students in groups of four. As them to share their draft and tell the others one thing they’re struggling with - their 'dilemma'. The rest of the group then discusses possible solutions. The important part of this approach is that the sharer stays silent for 6-7 minutes as the others converse, taking notes but not participating. After the time is up, the sharer rejoins the conversation to talk over suggestions they liked the sound of, taking the opportunity to ask for any clarification. This process is repeated until all group members have had the chance to pose a dilemma.
Workshop-style critique
Put students in groups of three and give them a list of questions about the product in hand. Students then take turns presenting their product to their group and discuss the questions as a way of improving their product. Each presentation plus feedback should last around 10-15 minutes.
Pair critique
Students work in pairs and spend 15-20 minutes really digging into a product and evaluating the work. The PBL guide suggests this type of critique session as a final critique before the product is turned in for final assessment.
For PBL newbies, as the Innovation Unit says, "it’s probably tempting to regard multiple draft [and] peer critique, as ‘advanced’ project methods – stuff to move on to once you’ve got the basics right... But these are the basics." Reflection and review is such a vital part of PBL. In fact, the process of multiple drafting and critiquing makes up a significant portion of that period between the entry event and the final presentation.
But it’s not the only important component of project-based learning. Picking the perfect final product is something you need to do right at the start of a project. You won’t be able to plan anything else until you know what your students are working towards.
The next article in our PBL series will focus on choosing the best final product for your project and organising that all-important exhibition at the end. Watch this space!
Just discovered our blog? Catch up on our project-based learning series here:
Giving constructive critiques is a significant way to ensure PBL projects are academically rigorous - but what is a critique, and how can you teach students to give one? Find out here.
Of the 8 essential elements of project-based learning, it’s 'reflection and review' that really adds rigour to the process. Students need plenty of structured opportunities throughout the project to give and receive feedback about the quality of their work-in-progress in order to make their final product the best it can be.
'Reflection and review' is really made up of two parts – multiple drafting and constructive critiques. Both components are inextricably interlinked. The student creates a draft, the teacher and peers provide a critique; the student then uses that constructive criticism to redraft, and the process continues over and over...
How many drafts your students complete depends on your time-frame. It’s important you schedule enough time when designing your project. At Matthew Moss High School, teachers timetable eight weeks for the cycle of drafting, critique and redrafting of their family tree project, and the result is some pretty spectacular work, as you can see…
 |
| Top, middle, bottom © Matthew Moss High School |
Personalising assessment through multiple drafts
The Innovation Unit points out how valuable multiple drafting is for personalising assessment, "because they provide you with the means to assess, not only a student’s final product, but also the extent to which they have improved their work since the first draft."Part of the assessment of the students’ final product should be how well they've used the feedback you and their peers have given to improve and refine it. This is especially beneficial for students with special educational needs and for students whose first language is not English. It’s also a valuable experience for the most able students, who might be less likely to accept criticism and may view it as a failure on their part. They need to see that accepting critiques is part of the process of improving themselves, and part of having a growth mindset.
Teaching students to give critiques
According to Monash University, a critique is not about being negative or derogatory, instead it's "a way of approaching other peoples' ideas - to question, to evaluate, to consider the accuracy and validity of ideas and information."
.jpg) |
| Image: primas.mathshell.org.uk |
This will require students to be taught how to give a critique. Luckily, that’s not as intimidating as it sounds. The Innovation Unit and PBL expert Ron Berger give these three simple rules:
- Be kind – Realise that sharing work for critiques puts people in a vulnerable position. It’s easy to get carried away critiquing others’ work, but try and balance out criticisms with positives.
- Be specific – Describing something as ‘good’ doesn't cut it. Don’t be vague; pick out exactly what is good and why.
- Be helpful – A critique has to be more than saying what is strong or weak about a piece; it has to include how to go about improving the work.
Modelling critiques
A good way to introduce critiquing is to critique a model piece of work as a class. That way, students will know the kinds of questions to ask themselves about a piece of work and the level of specificity they should be aiming for..jpg) |
| Image: Frank Baron (The Guardian) |
- What is the product's purpose?
- How well does it meet that purpose?
Other important questions to ask include:
- What stands out about this piece?
- What strengths do you see?
- What suggestions would you offer for the next draft?
When evaluating a model piece of work, pick one relevant to the project you’re undertaking that demonstrates the standard you are expecting pupils to meet with their own products. If you don’t have any past students’ work, use a real-life product or piece. Even the professionals’ work can be improved!
Types of peer-assessment sessions
The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL includes a list of four peer critique activities:Gallery walk
Students display their drafts around the classroom. The class are then free to wander around the ‘gallery’ for around 20 minutes or so, making notes on post-its and sticking them to the drafts with positive points and suggestions for improvement. Probably better for more advanced critiquers, as students are pretty much left to their own devices here.
Dilemma protocol
Put students in groups of four. As them to share their draft and tell the others one thing they’re struggling with - their 'dilemma'. The rest of the group then discusses possible solutions. The important part of this approach is that the sharer stays silent for 6-7 minutes as the others converse, taking notes but not participating. After the time is up, the sharer rejoins the conversation to talk over suggestions they liked the sound of, taking the opportunity to ask for any clarification. This process is repeated until all group members have had the chance to pose a dilemma.
Workshop-style critique
Put students in groups of three and give them a list of questions about the product in hand. Students then take turns presenting their product to their group and discuss the questions as a way of improving their product. Each presentation plus feedback should last around 10-15 minutes.
Pair critique
Students work in pairs and spend 15-20 minutes really digging into a product and evaluating the work. The PBL guide suggests this type of critique session as a final critique before the product is turned in for final assessment.
.jpg) |
| Image: oer.educ.cam.ac.uk |
For PBL newbies, as the Innovation Unit says, "it’s probably tempting to regard multiple draft [and] peer critique, as ‘advanced’ project methods – stuff to move on to once you’ve got the basics right... But these are the basics." Reflection and review is such a vital part of PBL. In fact, the process of multiple drafting and critiquing makes up a significant portion of that period between the entry event and the final presentation.
But it’s not the only important component of project-based learning. Picking the perfect final product is something you need to do right at the start of a project. You won’t be able to plan anything else until you know what your students are working towards.
The next article in our PBL series will focus on choosing the best final product for your project and organising that all-important exhibition at the end. Watch this space!
* * *
Just discovered our blog? Catch up on our project-based learning series here:
- The 8 essential elements of project-based learning - What makes a good PBL project? There are 8 components. Find out what they are here.
- Top 4 project-based learning websites - Four of what we think are the best websites to turn to for PBL advice and resources.
- A crash course in writing good driving questions - Everything you need to know about choosing the best possible driving question for your project.
- How to plan for project-based learning - Information on designing your PBL unit and also on the logistics of running a 'big' project.
- Building support for project-based learning - How to get your headteacher, colleagues and pupils' parents on board with PBL.
- Launch your PBL unit with a bang! - A range of ideas for a memorable and exciting PBL entry event.
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
Launch your PBL unit with a bang!
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The Year 7 students wait outside the school hall. They’re all clutching flight boarding passes and the corridor is alive with the buzz of excited conversation as they wonder what’s going to happen.
Suddenly, the door opens! The murmuring stops as a Year 10 student steps into the corridor, and the younger pupils wait expectantly for their instructions.
“Your flight to Fiji is now ready to board,” the Year 10 student says with a professional smile. “Please follow me.”
The Year 7 kids follow eagerly, filing into the hall. They see that the chairs in the hall have all been set up in rows of six, with an aisle cutting down the middle – it’s a plane!
Thoroughly thrilled now, the young students take their assigned seats, as directed by the Year 10 flight attendants. They sit for a few minutes, shuffling through the magazines and safety leaflets they found on their seats, before one of the air hostesses plays a real flight safety video and the pilot (a member of staff, dressed the part of course!) announces they’re ready to take off.
The students cheer as he informs them they are now air-borne and on their way to exotic Fiji!
That is, until disaster strikes. The plane suddenly loses one of its engines, and then another. The pilot keeps the passengers informed as yet another engine fails, and the children listen with anxious (but still rather excited) expressions.
“I’m taking us down on the ocean,” the pilot announces grimly.
With great skill (oddly, this pilot has crashed a plane into the ocean a few times before…) the pilot brings the plane down on the sea.
It’s a perfect landing, and the flight crew begin evacuating their young passengers.
“There’s an island nearby!” the pilot calls as Year 7s leap into the ‘ocean’. “You’ll have to swim. Watch out for the sharks."
And thus begins Matthew Moss High School’s project-based learning unit ‘The Island’. Now stranded on a desert island, the Year 7s will have to work out how they’re going to survive and then begin to explore how their islander community might evolve.
The kids are completely engaged in the story, the very convincing plane crash setting the precedent for a dynamic and absorbing project.
And that’s the trick to successfully launching a project-based learning unit – an exciting, memorable entry event.
According to the Buck Institute for Education, an entry event has two basic purposes:
The whole point of the entry event is to introduce the driving question and establish a ‘need to know’. The students should be hooked – they should want to get on with exploring the driving question right away!
An entry event also has to stimulating and unforgettable. Suzie Boss suggests novelty, so your students aren’t quite sure what to expect.
So what kind of events make for a good PBL introduction?
Understandably, many teachers opt for the dramatic when it comes to introducing their project – and why not? It’s a chance to have some fun and get involved in a bit of make-believe. It also makes for a memorable launch to the project – which of the Year 7s at Matthew Moss High School are going to forget the day their teacher crashed a plane into the ocean?
Simulations like this work well because they involve the kids in the action. They also give students a role to play in the project. In the case of the plane crash for example, the kids were survivors, stranded on a desert island, and they stuck with and developed that role throughout the rest of the unit.
Other projects use the entry event to set students up in the role of an ‘expert’. Depending on the curriculum content you’re covering, your kids may be archaeologists working on a dig, rescuers at the scene of a disaster, scientists in a laboratory, astronauts in a space station, or rebel fighters in a civil war.
This type of project is made for a dramatic introduction. Start yours by gathering your students together for an in-role team meeting or briefing. Remember to let them know who they are. Use presentations, photographs, video clips and sound to get them into role and then to introduce them to their challenge. The more dramatic, the better!
Alternatively, see if you can get a visitor to come into school and play what Suzie Boss terms ‘a stranger from another century’. In her Edutopia blog post, Boss tells of a school who launched their project based on the Epic of Gilgamesh with ‘footage of swords clashing and bare feet running on a grassy battlefield. There were whoops and cries from cheering warriors, but no narrative to explain what was happening.’
As the video ended, the stranger from the past (a local classics professor in full costume) entered the classroom and challenged the students to find out ‘why his army had been vanquished by superior forces.’
If you can’t get someone local to come in and play a historic or fictional character, try a search online. There are plenty of companies, charities and actors who will be happy to Skype you and your class for a small fee. Imagine! Your students could have a chat with a real live Viking! (You know what we mean...)
When it comes to dramatic entry events, the only limit is your imagination. Rope in a few teachers and older students to play any extra characters you need (GCSE drama students are always a good bet) and see what you can come up with.
Another way to introduce a PBL unit is through the use of interesting objects. Appeal to your students’ curiosity and imagination by arranging for a surprise invitation or parcel to be delivered to the class, asking for help with a particular problem, or orchestrate an exciting discovery on school grounds such as a time capsule, an ancient map or a box of secret letters.
Children at a primary school in West Lothian arrived one morning to find a paper trail of animal tracks leading into the classroom. At the end of them, a toy fox and its cub were sitting in the centre of the floor with a letter next to them. The letter explained how the foxes’ home – the enchanted woodland – had been destroyed and so they no longer had anywhere to live. It asked the children if they could help the foxes create a new home.
Other potential project hooks to appeal to the senses and engage students in their driving question include:
For example, The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL tells of a teacher who began a project on peaceful protest by inviting in a local musician who performed for the students and then answered their questions about why, and how, he wrote protest songs.
Combining field trips with guest speakers, one school in Stockport took their students on a visit to a local archaeological site, where the students were introduced to a legendary story about a Celtic tribal leader. Developing this story as an epic battle movie became the students’ project.
In another project at Matthew Moss High School, the children were carted off to the local history centre to meet real historians and genealogists. Their task during this unit would be to research their family history and create a beautiful family tree, and experts from the history centre would be on hand throughout the project to assist.
The model can be something you created yourself, exemplary work from the previous year group’s project (though this is only possible if you’ve done the project before), or work by a professional.
The biggest advantage of using a model as an entry event is that it provides the perfect introduction to ‘critiquing’ – an important part of PBL (see our first blog post in this series, The 8 essential elements of project-based learning).
Work with your class to critique the model. Help your class to understand what critiquing means by breaking it down into questions:
Get them to consider the work they will be undertaking. Look at the model and consider:
The model you show will give students something to base their standards on, and spark discussion as to what the students’ own models will need to have, do or be. The ensuing discussion and your kids’ decision on what a ‘good’ final product will look like will be something for you to base your assessment criteria on.
No matter what you choose to do, your PBL unit should begin with a bang. The kids should be engaged, excited and raring to go. After all, all that planning will be for nothing if your students are not invested in the project.
Of course, a good entry event doesn’t guarantee a successful project. It’s an important factor in getting the kids on board, but it’s where you go from here that will determine how much they get out of it.
A major element of PBL is the multiple drafting and critiquing process. Our next blog post will consider what this means in practice and how you can help your students develop the skills they need to be successful in this area. Watch this space!
The first session of your project is one of the most important, as this is what hooks your learners and gets them excited about exploring that juicy driving question. But how can you make it a day to remember?
.jpg) |
| Image: williambrookes.com |
Suddenly, the door opens! The murmuring stops as a Year 10 student steps into the corridor, and the younger pupils wait expectantly for their instructions.
“Your flight to Fiji is now ready to board,” the Year 10 student says with a professional smile. “Please follow me.”
The Year 7 kids follow eagerly, filing into the hall. They see that the chairs in the hall have all been set up in rows of six, with an aisle cutting down the middle – it’s a plane!
Thoroughly thrilled now, the young students take their assigned seats, as directed by the Year 10 flight attendants. They sit for a few minutes, shuffling through the magazines and safety leaflets they found on their seats, before one of the air hostesses plays a real flight safety video and the pilot (a member of staff, dressed the part of course!) announces they’re ready to take off.
The students cheer as he informs them they are now air-borne and on their way to exotic Fiji!
That is, until disaster strikes. The plane suddenly loses one of its engines, and then another. The pilot keeps the passengers informed as yet another engine fails, and the children listen with anxious (but still rather excited) expressions.
“I’m taking us down on the ocean,” the pilot announces grimly.
With great skill (oddly, this pilot has crashed a plane into the ocean a few times before…) the pilot brings the plane down on the sea.
It’s a perfect landing, and the flight crew begin evacuating their young passengers.
“There’s an island nearby!” the pilot calls as Year 7s leap into the ‘ocean’. “You’ll have to swim. Watch out for the sharks."
And thus begins Matthew Moss High School’s project-based learning unit ‘The Island’. Now stranded on a desert island, the Year 7s will have to work out how they’re going to survive and then begin to explore how their islander community might evolve.
The kids are completely engaged in the story, the very convincing plane crash setting the precedent for a dynamic and absorbing project.
And that’s the trick to successfully launching a project-based learning unit – an exciting, memorable entry event.
What is an entry event?
Your entry event is exactly what it sounds like – the first session of your unit and your students’ introduction to the project.According to the Buck Institute for Education, an entry event has two basic purposes:
- to spark student interest and curiosity
- to begin the inquiry process by leading students to ask questions.
The whole point of the entry event is to introduce the driving question and establish a ‘need to know’. The students should be hooked – they should want to get on with exploring the driving question right away!
An entry event also has to stimulating and unforgettable. Suzie Boss suggests novelty, so your students aren’t quite sure what to expect.
So what kind of events make for a good PBL introduction?
Drama and simulations
.jpg) |
| Kids as scientists on a spaceship (Image:mantleoftheexpert.com) |
Simulations like this work well because they involve the kids in the action. They also give students a role to play in the project. In the case of the plane crash for example, the kids were survivors, stranded on a desert island, and they stuck with and developed that role throughout the rest of the unit.
Other projects use the entry event to set students up in the role of an ‘expert’. Depending on the curriculum content you’re covering, your kids may be archaeologists working on a dig, rescuers at the scene of a disaster, scientists in a laboratory, astronauts in a space station, or rebel fighters in a civil war.
This type of project is made for a dramatic introduction. Start yours by gathering your students together for an in-role team meeting or briefing. Remember to let them know who they are. Use presentations, photographs, video clips and sound to get them into role and then to introduce them to their challenge. The more dramatic, the better!
Alternatively, see if you can get a visitor to come into school and play what Suzie Boss terms ‘a stranger from another century’. In her Edutopia blog post, Boss tells of a school who launched their project based on the Epic of Gilgamesh with ‘footage of swords clashing and bare feet running on a grassy battlefield. There were whoops and cries from cheering warriors, but no narrative to explain what was happening.’
As the video ended, the stranger from the past (a local classics professor in full costume) entered the classroom and challenged the students to find out ‘why his army had been vanquished by superior forces.’
If you can’t get someone local to come in and play a historic or fictional character, try a search online. There are plenty of companies, charities and actors who will be happy to Skype you and your class for a small fee. Imagine! Your students could have a chat with a real live Viking! (You know what we mean...)
When it comes to dramatic entry events, the only limit is your imagination. Rope in a few teachers and older students to play any extra characters you need (GCSE drama students are always a good bet) and see what you can come up with.
Interesting objects
.jpg) |
| Image: interfaithhousing.org |
Children at a primary school in West Lothian arrived one morning to find a paper trail of animal tracks leading into the classroom. At the end of them, a toy fox and its cub were sitting in the centre of the floor with a letter next to them. The letter explained how the foxes’ home – the enchanted woodland – had been destroyed and so they no longer had anywhere to live. It asked the children if they could help the foxes create a new home.
Other potential project hooks to appeal to the senses and engage students in their driving question include:
- a display of historical artefacts
- a provocative reading or poem
- ‘mysterious’ or unusual photographs
- film clips
- sound bites
- a song
- a piece of art
- shocking statistics.
Field trips and guest speakers
School outings and guest speakers - whether speaking in school, via Skype, or out on a field trip - are another exciting way to introduce a project. We’ve touched on this briefly, but guest speakers don’t always have to be in-role as a character from history or a work of fiction. Visitors from charities, museums, zoos, aquariums, local businesses, even local celebrities, can all provide thought-provoking talks to launch a project.For example, The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL tells of a teacher who began a project on peaceful protest by inviting in a local musician who performed for the students and then answered their questions about why, and how, he wrote protest songs.
Combining field trips with guest speakers, one school in Stockport took their students on a visit to a local archaeological site, where the students were introduced to a legendary story about a Celtic tribal leader. Developing this story as an epic battle movie became the students’ project.
In another project at Matthew Moss High School, the children were carted off to the local history centre to meet real historians and genealogists. Their task during this unit would be to research their family history and create a beautiful family tree, and experts from the history centre would be on hand throughout the project to assist.
Examining a model response
The Innovation Unit also suggests showing your students a model of the type of product they will be creating as the project’s entry event. There’s no reason you can’t do this as well as a flashy hook, but a careful, full-class examination of a model will show students exactly what you expect from them and what they should aim for.The model can be something you created yourself, exemplary work from the previous year group’s project (though this is only possible if you’ve done the project before), or work by a professional.
 |
| Image: Matthew Moss High School |
The biggest advantage of using a model as an entry event is that it provides the perfect introduction to ‘critiquing’ – an important part of PBL (see our first blog post in this series, The 8 essential elements of project-based learning).
Work with your class to critique the model. Help your class to understand what critiquing means by breaking it down into questions:
- What is its purpose?
- How well does it meet that purpose?
Get them to consider the work they will be undertaking. Look at the model and consider:
- What looks most difficult to do?
- What looks easiest to do?
- What aspects are most important?
- What are least important?
The model you show will give students something to base their standards on, and spark discussion as to what the students’ own models will need to have, do or be. The ensuing discussion and your kids’ decision on what a ‘good’ final product will look like will be something for you to base your assessment criteria on.
 |
| Image: Matthew Moss High School |
No matter what you choose to do, your PBL unit should begin with a bang. The kids should be engaged, excited and raring to go. After all, all that planning will be for nothing if your students are not invested in the project.
Of course, a good entry event doesn’t guarantee a successful project. It’s an important factor in getting the kids on board, but it’s where you go from here that will determine how much they get out of it.
A major element of PBL is the multiple drafting and critiquing process. Our next blog post will consider what this means in practice and how you can help your students develop the skills they need to be successful in this area. Watch this space!
Monday, 2 June 2014
Building support for project-based learning
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One of the key determinants of project-based learning success is the support from other teachers, the headteacher and your students’ parents.
After all, you’ll need your head’s consent to get started and you’ll need the support of your colleagues to develop and implement a high-quality project, especially if it’s your first time.
But how can you convince everyone of the value of PBL? And even if you can, how can you prove to them that it’s all going to go according to your carefully made plans?
Well, chances are it’s not all going to go according to plan, but there are a number of things you can do to get everyone on board and keep them there.
Getting the nod from your head
You know what your headteacher is like and what concerns them. The Innovation Unit’s guide to project-based learning suggests pre-empting what might worry them about PBL and what they're likely to bring up as a reason for not giving your project the go-ahead, and then planning how you’re going to prove them wrong.
For example, if your head is worried that PBL won’t be academically rigorous enough, prepare a detailed outline of the curriculum content you’re going to cover and how you’re going to do it. If perhaps, your head is worried that PBL won’t suit all students (i.e. those with special educational needs), make sure you've got thorough plans for how you're going to differentiate.
It’s worth reading up on project-based learning in order to build up a strong case for it. This fantastic Edutopia blog post by Bob Lenz highlights three concerns about PBL – basically, reasons people will give for not going for it – and explains why they’re just not true. In this post, also from Edutopia, John Larmer of the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) does something similar.
If your head won’t agree to a full-scale, whole school extravaganza, see if you can carry out a small-scale project with your class or even just a target group (i.e. more able learners). It’s probably best to start small anyway – and the mind-blowing success of your mini project will no doubt convince your head that it could work on a much larger level!
Remember to invite your headteacher to your culminating exhibition, as well as other members of staff with clout (the deputy head, department heads, governors etc.) – your students will be able to tell them first-hand what an amazing experience they've had and demonstrate the skills they learned during the project.
Convincing your colleagues
Perhaps you’re the headteacher and you’re hoping to persuade the rest of your staff that PBL is the way forward. Or perhaps you’re a Year 7 class teacher with a brilliant whole-year project idea in mind, but the other Year 7 teachers aren't so sure. Whatever your situation, there are ways to convert other teachers to your cause.
First, make sure to be sensitive to their fears – PBL can be scary! Teachers are trained to be in charge – they plan lessons and they deliver lessons. In PBL, this is taken away from them; they are supposed to ensure students succeed and now they have to watch them fail.
To counter this fear, make sure they know exactly what PBL is and what will be expected of them. A whole-staff inset event that explains the philosophy behind PBL (along with some concrete examples), why you want to do it and how every member of staff is going to supported throughout the project will work wonders. It will also give you a chance to gather ideas and consider logistics ahead of planning.
Visiting other schools that have successfully implemented project-based learning is also a good idea – perhaps you could attend another school’s final exhibition with your colleagues. This is a great opportunity to talk to other teachers who've just completed a (hopefully!) successful PBL unit and convince other staff members from your own school that it’s a great experience and worth it at the end.
Persuading suspicious parents
Another group to get on board is your students' parents. The Innovation Unit suggests giving all parents and students a copy of your project sheet before the start of your PBL unit. This should include:
This will reassure parents that the work their children will be doing is structured, well thought-out and rigorous. Alternatively, send out a letter, pre-empting and placating any possible concerns parents might have and encouraging them to get involved. You can download a great example of a letter from BIE here.
It’s also a good idea to hold an entry event for parents. If you’ve not done a project in your school before and don’t have any previous projects to use as an example (photos, testimonies and student work are all great ways to emphasise the project's success), you might like to use a video to explain to parents what PBL is and how it’ll benefit their kids. We recommend this one from BIE.
Also, try and explain PBL to parents with concrete examples and avoid educational jargon. One huge barrier to parental involvement is parents thinking they’re not smart enough to do anything useful. If they don’t understand PBL, they won’t want to get involved and giving them this opportunity to play some part in their children’s learning journey is a brilliant way to get them enthusiastic and supportive!
You can see if any of your students’ parents have special expertise, interests, hobbies, or skills that connect to your project, but even if they don’t, encourage them to do something small to help – maybe see if they can come in and help set up the final exhibition, or even watch students’ final presentations and judge their speaking and listening skills.
Remember to keep parents updated throughout the project. Information can be sent home via email or uploaded to the school’s website. Another idea is to allow parents to view project work via Edmodo or class blogs.
But the best way of convincing parents of the value of PBL is, as with your head and other teachers, seeing its success first-hand. Make sure you give parents the date, time, and location of your final exhibition as early as possible. They’ll be so proud of what their children have accomplished and will be completely on board next time round.
So, you’ve got the go-ahead from your headteacher, your colleagues are raring to go, as are your students’ parents… but what about the students themselves? In the next blog post in this series, we explore how to introduce your students to the project, and what makes a brilliant entry event.
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| Image: nga.org |
After all, you’ll need your head’s consent to get started and you’ll need the support of your colleagues to develop and implement a high-quality project, especially if it’s your first time.
But how can you convince everyone of the value of PBL? And even if you can, how can you prove to them that it’s all going to go according to your carefully made plans?
Well, chances are it’s not all going to go according to plan, but there are a number of things you can do to get everyone on board and keep them there.
Getting the nod from your head
You know what your headteacher is like and what concerns them. The Innovation Unit’s guide to project-based learning suggests pre-empting what might worry them about PBL and what they're likely to bring up as a reason for not giving your project the go-ahead, and then planning how you’re going to prove them wrong.
For example, if your head is worried that PBL won’t be academically rigorous enough, prepare a detailed outline of the curriculum content you’re going to cover and how you’re going to do it. If perhaps, your head is worried that PBL won’t suit all students (i.e. those with special educational needs), make sure you've got thorough plans for how you're going to differentiate.
It’s worth reading up on project-based learning in order to build up a strong case for it. This fantastic Edutopia blog post by Bob Lenz highlights three concerns about PBL – basically, reasons people will give for not going for it – and explains why they’re just not true. In this post, also from Edutopia, John Larmer of the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) does something similar.
If your head won’t agree to a full-scale, whole school extravaganza, see if you can carry out a small-scale project with your class or even just a target group (i.e. more able learners). It’s probably best to start small anyway – and the mind-blowing success of your mini project will no doubt convince your head that it could work on a much larger level!
Remember to invite your headteacher to your culminating exhibition, as well as other members of staff with clout (the deputy head, department heads, governors etc.) – your students will be able to tell them first-hand what an amazing experience they've had and demonstrate the skills they learned during the project.
Convincing your colleagues
Perhaps you’re the headteacher and you’re hoping to persuade the rest of your staff that PBL is the way forward. Or perhaps you’re a Year 7 class teacher with a brilliant whole-year project idea in mind, but the other Year 7 teachers aren't so sure. Whatever your situation, there are ways to convert other teachers to your cause.
First, make sure to be sensitive to their fears – PBL can be scary! Teachers are trained to be in charge – they plan lessons and they deliver lessons. In PBL, this is taken away from them; they are supposed to ensure students succeed and now they have to watch them fail.
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| Image: lphs.school.net |
Visiting other schools that have successfully implemented project-based learning is also a good idea – perhaps you could attend another school’s final exhibition with your colleagues. This is a great opportunity to talk to other teachers who've just completed a (hopefully!) successful PBL unit and convince other staff members from your own school that it’s a great experience and worth it at the end.
Persuading suspicious parents
Another group to get on board is your students' parents. The Innovation Unit suggests giving all parents and students a copy of your project sheet before the start of your PBL unit. This should include:
- the project title
- length of the project (i.e. 8 weeks)
- main teachers involved (plus their contact details)
- the project’s driving question
- the final product(s) students will work towards
- expected outcomes (i.e. By the end of the project, students will know…/students will be able to…)
- a project timeline.
This will reassure parents that the work their children will be doing is structured, well thought-out and rigorous. Alternatively, send out a letter, pre-empting and placating any possible concerns parents might have and encouraging them to get involved. You can download a great example of a letter from BIE here.
It’s also a good idea to hold an entry event for parents. If you’ve not done a project in your school before and don’t have any previous projects to use as an example (photos, testimonies and student work are all great ways to emphasise the project's success), you might like to use a video to explain to parents what PBL is and how it’ll benefit their kids. We recommend this one from BIE.
Also, try and explain PBL to parents with concrete examples and avoid educational jargon. One huge barrier to parental involvement is parents thinking they’re not smart enough to do anything useful. If they don’t understand PBL, they won’t want to get involved and giving them this opportunity to play some part in their children’s learning journey is a brilliant way to get them enthusiastic and supportive!
You can see if any of your students’ parents have special expertise, interests, hobbies, or skills that connect to your project, but even if they don’t, encourage them to do something small to help – maybe see if they can come in and help set up the final exhibition, or even watch students’ final presentations and judge their speaking and listening skills.
Remember to keep parents updated throughout the project. Information can be sent home via email or uploaded to the school’s website. Another idea is to allow parents to view project work via Edmodo or class blogs.
But the best way of convincing parents of the value of PBL is, as with your head and other teachers, seeing its success first-hand. Make sure you give parents the date, time, and location of your final exhibition as early as possible. They’ll be so proud of what their children have accomplished and will be completely on board next time round.
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| Image: room1beckenham.blogspot.com |
Monday, 12 May 2014
How to plan for project-based learning
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Setting up your first project-based learning unit can be an intimidating task – especially for first-timers. There’s just so much to consider!
Setting up your first project-based learning unit can be an intimidating task – especially for first-timers. There’s just so much to consider!
The first blog post in this series provided an overview of the 8 elements that must be incorporated into your project for it to be successful. Each of these elements require planning for – but how?
There are 2 broad areas you’ll need to take into consideration. The first is the exciting part – the project itself. This is all about planning the learning experience and making the project interesting but educational.
The second is the not-so-exciting practical stuff – time scale, funding, resources needed etc. It’s what you’ll need to think about to make sure the learning experience runs smoothly and students get the most out of it that they can.
This blog post will consider both of these areas.
Planning the learning experience
First off, you’ll need to identify the curriculum content you want to cover, as well as the 21st century skills you want your students to develop.
Then you need to decide how you’re going to go about covering the content and developing your students' skills. You will need to consider:
1. The driving question
This is the stimulus that leads the entire project. For advice on creating your DQ, see the previous post in this series.
2. The final, publicly-presented product
What your students are working towards will shape the entire project, so you need to settle on this early on. There are endless possibilities for their final product depending on the skills you want them to develop – a film, a museum exhibition, a sales pitch, a blueprint, a sculpture, possibly even a garden.
The public presentation aspect of this is also very important. You’ll need to decide who your audience is. It could comprise of:
- Other students in the school
- Other adults in the school
- Other adults who visit the school (parents, experts, teachers from local schools etc. who come into the school to view the final product)
- People in the community or online (requires displaying students’ final products off site).
3. Structured activities
The next thing to decide is how you will assess your students’ work and development. You will need to consider both formative assessment (during the project) and summative assessment (after the project).
You should now consider what activities your students need to undertake in order to complete their product. Obviously, the whole point of PBL is to let students take the lead in directing their own learning, so some fluidity is necessary. However, it's also important to expose students to new experiences and give them the knowledge and skills they need to fulfil their brief.
Structured activities can include presentations by guest speakers, educational visits, critiquing sessions (see 'Assessment and reflection' below), mini-research tasks, skills workshops and more.
4. Assessment and reflection
The next thing to decide is how you will assess your students’ work and development. You will need to consider both formative assessment (during the project) and summative assessment (after the project).
Formative assessment will involve assessing and providing feedback on the students’ work-in-progress. Students will need to complete multiple drafts of their work (or rehearsals in the case of an orally presented product) and learn how to produce formal critiques of each other’s work. Regular formal critiquing sessions throughout the project are vital, as critiquing involves a range of skills and concepts that students will need to be taught and practise.
Summative assessment will involve the assessment of the students’ product and how well they've answered the question/fulfilled the brief and how fully they understand the curriculum content covered. However, you’ll also need to assess the extent to which they’ve improved their product since the first draft and how well they’ve taken feedback on board.
You’ll also need to find a way to assess the 21st century skills you identified at the outset. Self and peer evaluation, as well as whole-class discussion and focus groups, will be useful for this. Students will need to demonstrate they’ve understood the enquiry process – getting them to complete a learning log during the project, culminating in a final write-up of knowledge gained/skills developed, will make this easier to assess.
5. Entry event
Now you know where the project is headed and how you’re hoping the students will get there, you can consider how to introduce them to the project. According to the Buck Institute of Education (BIE), an entry event has two basic purposes:
- To spark students’ interest and curiosity
- to begin the inquiry process by leading students to ask questions
Examples of entry events include:
- a film clip
- a dramatic performance (adult-in-role, though you could use older students)
- guest speaker
- presentation of a puzzling problem
- an activity or simulation
And if you need anywhere to store all this information, the BIE provides this brilliant interactive project planner tool. Definitely worth a look - even if only for inspiration.
Making sure it all runs smoothly
This is all about ensuring the project is sustainable and minimising the risk of things going hugely wrong i.e. nowhere to hold your final exhibition.
You will need to think about:
1. Resources
This area can be split into 3 sub-sections:
- Facilities – Where will students work during the project? Where will the final product be presented? Are there any other events which might clash? Will we need off-site facilities? How much will these cost? Can we make a deal with these off-site resources to reduce costs? How will students get there?
- Materials and equipment – What will students need to make the products? What technology will we need? Do we have enough or will we need to buy more in? Are any specialist resources needed? What safety measures do we need to consider?
- Human resources – Who will be involved in school? Do we need the help/input of anyone outside of the school? The BIE provides a list of potential human resources to consider:
- Older students
- Parents with special expertise, interests, hobbies, or skills that connect to your project
- Other teachers, administrators or staff members with special expertise
- School or local specialists in art, music, drama, technology, physical education
- Experts from local (or distant, reached online) non-profit organisations
- People from local businesses and industry
- Local government officials and agency representatives, police and fire departments
- Technical school, college and university faculties
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| Source: disneytheatricallicensing.com |
2. Time scale
And if you can’t get it for free, see if you can negotiate a deal. The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL reveals that one teacher held a premier of student-produced films in a local cinema by guaranteeing that the audience would spend at least £250 on food and drink.
Make sure to plan and allocate time for your project. Projects can be run across consecutive weeks with a suspended timetable; however, an alternative is to run the same project throughout the school year in dedicated curriculum slots. Both options have benefits and drawbacks – decide what’s right for you. You can always try a different approach next time!
You will also need to schedule time to train staff to become more prepared to deal with the type of learning taking place and the philosophy behind PBL - especially if this is your school's first PBL project!
To help with your time management, you might like to download this brilliant project calendar from the BIE. This can be used to plan your project events, but may also come in handy during the project, as a record of activities and events for later scrutiny.
3. Funding
Ensure the project is supported by some allocated funding. The budget doesn’t have to be big but some money helps – especially for buying resources for the exhibition and facilitating trips for students whose families can’t afford it.
Make contact with people and organisations outside the school to sponsor the project or get involved in some way. The more high profile your project is, the more likely they are to invest in you! Use your connections in the community and promote the benefits to the students and local businesses/organisations should they get involved.
And if you can’t get it for free, see if you can negotiate a deal. The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL reveals that one teacher held a premier of student-produced films in a local cinema by guaranteeing that the audience would spend at least £250 on food and drink.
Of course, convincing people to get involved, planning time off timetables and sourcing adequate funding is going to require the cooperation and consent of other teachers, the headteacher and students’ parents.
Getting people on board will be the theme of our next post in this series. Stick around – it’s due out next week!
Keep up with this blog by following us on Twitter @TeachingTimes or liking us on Facebook.
Even more advice on planning for PBL from our archives...
Busting the myths of project-based learning - Bob Lenz
A longer version of the blog post cited in this post, in which Bob tackles three major myths about PBL, proving them wrong with his own school's successful PBL unit.
PBL for beginners - Alyson Boustead
Plenty of advice in here, as Alyson explains everything she needed to think about when preparing and implementing her first project-based learning unit.
Project inspire - Geraldine Norman
Lots in this one about planning PBL - Geraldine explains the process she and other members of staff went through before coming to the conclusion that PBL was the best way forward!
Busting the myths of project-based learning - Bob Lenz
A longer version of the blog post cited in this post, in which Bob tackles three major myths about PBL, proving them wrong with his own school's successful PBL unit.
PBL for beginners - Alyson Boustead
Plenty of advice in here, as Alyson explains everything she needed to think about when preparing and implementing her first project-based learning unit.
Project inspire - Geraldine Norman
Lots in this one about planning PBL - Geraldine explains the process she and other members of staff went through before coming to the conclusion that PBL was the best way forward!
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
A crash course in writing good driving questions
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One of the most difficult things about planning a project-based learning unit is writing the driving question (DQ).
You can use the table below to practice writing driving questions by framing initial words, people or entities, actions or challenges, and audience/purpose. It’s also available to download as a tubric template from BIE.
Don't forget to come back for the next post in this series! Due out next week, it will focus on the main things you need to consider when planning your project.
Keep up with this blog by following us on Twitter @TeachingTimes or liking us on Facebook.
And no wonder! According to the Innovation Unit’s guide to project-based learning, a good driving question is a question that:
- people ask in the ‘real world’
- has no single, easy answer, and stretches students’ intellectual muscles
- ignites students’ imaginations.
Add all that to the fact that the whole project hinges on a good driving question, and you can understand why DQs are not only very important, but very challenging to create. There’s a lot of pressure to get it right!
But let’s start with the basics. First, a reminder of what a driving question is:
A driving question is the ‘big’ question that provides the stimulus for a project.
According to the Buck Institute of Education (BIE), there are 2 basic types of driving question:
1) A DQ that specifies a product to be created, a task to be done, or a problem to be solved.
2) A DQ that focuses on a philosophical or debatable issue, or an intriguing topic.
A driving question is the ‘big’ question that provides the stimulus for a project.
1) A DQ that specifies a product to be created, a task to be done, or a problem to be solved.
2) A DQ that focuses on a philosophical or debatable issue, or an intriguing topic.
Where can we find inspiration?
Creating a question that fulfils the criteria listed at the outset and has enough power to drive the project as far as you want it to go is not easy. It’ll take time, trial and error, and lots of discussion with your colleagues.
Some of the best DQs come from the students themselves. Do this by introducing your class to the topic you’d like to be the focus of your project – it should be presented in a relevant, thought-provoking manner, perhaps through a current news article.
For example, in recent news, we’re heard that doctors are rapidly running out of medicines to treat infections, as certain strains of bacteria are growing increasingly resistant to antibiotics. This could mean that in the very near future, a minor scratch or infection after a routine operation could kill. Think of the implications of this! By discussing the issue and doing some relevant research, students can come up a question that will guide a project along this theme. For instance, ‘How might running out of antibiotics affect our daily lives here in the UK?’ or ‘How did past civilisations cope without medicines for infections and other common ailments?’
Driving questions that are specific to your local area can also be very effective. Recently, one science teacher at a school in the San Francisco Bay Area teamed up with art and government teachers to implement a project on the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. They chose the driving question: ‘Who is to blame for the oil spill?’ Because the students lived in the area of the spill, and could remember it happening, there was an immediacy and a connection to the people most affected by the disaster that helped engage them in the topic.
And there can be more than one driving question! As the project develops, you may find that other questions need to be asked and answered before the final, overarching question can be explored to its fullest extent, or for the desired curriculum content to be fully covered.
For example, in the oil spill project cited above, the teachers realised their students needed a greater understanding of the impact of the disaster and also the clean up efforts afterwards before they could take part in the final exhibition - a simulated town meeting in which students played the various roles of residents and other stakeholders deciding how to deal with the oil spill. Thus, students also investigated the best strategies for cleaning up oil through scientific experiments, and explored the impact of the spill on the Bay’s wildlife through art and sculpture.
And there can be more than one driving question! As the project develops, you may find that other questions need to be asked and answered before the final, overarching question can be explored to its fullest extent, or for the desired curriculum content to be fully covered.
For example, in the oil spill project cited above, the teachers realised their students needed a greater understanding of the impact of the disaster and also the clean up efforts afterwards before they could take part in the final exhibition - a simulated town meeting in which students played the various roles of residents and other stakeholders deciding how to deal with the oil spill. Thus, students also investigated the best strategies for cleaning up oil through scientific experiments, and explored the impact of the spill on the Bay’s wildlife through art and sculpture.
Creating your driving question
You can find a raft of driving questions on the internet to be adapted according to your needs. Some of the best example questions we found include:
- Is war ever justified?
- Should present governments apologise for the wrongs of past governments?
- How do communities evolve over time?
- Should we allow for genetic engineering to prevent diseases and illnesses?
- What is the impact of climate on civilisation?
- How do maths and science influence artistic expression?
- How can an idea be transformed into a product that could make us millions?
- Are we and our technologies a product of our ancestors?
- Why do humans need to protect the earth, and how can we as 12-year-olds play a role in this?
You can use the table below to practice writing driving questions by framing initial words, people or entities, actions or challenges, and audience/purpose. It’s also available to download as a tubric template from BIE.
Framing words
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Person or entity
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Action or challenge
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Audience or purpose
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How can…
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I, We
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Build… Create… Make…
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Real-world problem
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How should…
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We as (roles/occupations)
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Design… Plan…
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For a public audience
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Should…
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Town, City, County
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Solve…
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For a school
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Could…
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State, Nation
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Write…
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For a classroom
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What…
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Community, Organisation
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Propose… Decide…
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For an online audience
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So there you have it! A basic guide to writing a good, solid driving question. For more information, follow the links embedded in this post – there are some really brilliant resources out there to make use of.
What driving questions have you come up with? Share your examples by commenting below.
Keep up with this blog by following us on Twitter @TeachingTimes or liking us on Facebook.
Image source: xpotentialselling.com
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