What Keeps Students Motivated to Learn? Educators have lots of ideas about how to improve education, to better reach learners and to give students the skills they’ll need in college and beyond the classroom. But often those conversations remain between adults. The real test of any idea is in the classroom, though students are rarely asked about what they think about their education. A panel of seven students attending schools that are part of the “deeper learning” movement gave their perspective on what it means for them to learn and how educators can work to create a school culture that fosters creativity, collaboration, trust, the ability to fail, and perhaps most importantly, one in which students want to participate. Project-based learning is the norm among these students, but they also have a lot of ideas about what makes a good project work.
Students want projects to be integrated across subjects, not separated by discipline. “Treat students like adults. Related. How To Use Project-Based Learning To Redefine Learning. It almost seems too good to be true… Students asking for more work? Using emoticons to describe an assignment? Taking pride in their work? But it’s not a just a dream, it’s reality. The following are real comments from my eighth grade English Language Arts students when I asked for their feedback about the project they had just completed: “This was the best project I ever did! “It was the best project I have ever done” – Patrick G. “We should have more projects like this” – Giselle G. “:D” – Jack M. These were the results when I completely redesigned a unit to incorporate Project Based Learning using technology. “It helped me understand how to take information from research and apply it to a real life product.” – Julia K. “I knew I had to get good information because other people were going to be looking at the website, so if it wasn’t good, people wouldn’t want to look at our website.” – Erin M.
A Case Study in Your Own Classroom Technology is a natural fit for Project Based Learning. Excellent Poster Featuring The 7 Essentials of Project Based Learning. Hi everybody, I am sorry I am very late in posting my articles today as I have been very busy preparing my PhD research plan and a paper for a conference I participated in this morning. The paper was on the use of digital technologies to facilitate project based learning. I will share with you the slideshow together with an attached Google Doc probably tomorrow or the day after. One of the things I talked about in my presentation are the 7 essentials of project based learning as advanced by the folks in BIE. These are things that every teacher keen on integrating PBL approach into his/her class should think about. This graphic is created by Davidleeedtech. A Detailed Visual Guide To Distributed Project-Based Learning. Project-based Learning is a passion of ours at Edudemic. We’ve seen how effective it can be in and out of the classroom.
Quite simply, it provides the opportunity for students to learn from each other, get their hands dirty, work in an active learning environment, and to simply have fun at school. What could be better than that? PBL teachers are typically on the lookout for PBL-aligned apps and web tools that can bolster their powerful learning environment. In an effort to help those teachers out, Katie and I found a fabulous new visual diagram that’s all about which apps and tools go with the different parts of distributed project-based learning.
This chart reminds me a bit of the popular ‘Padagogy Chart’ by Allan Carrington we shared here on Edudemic. This diagram breaks down the different phases and goals of PBL into bite-size chunks. As you can see, the tools and apps are all organized quite neatly into each phase. Want a bigger version of this incredible diagram? Source: Visual.ly. 10 Apps For More Organized Project-Based Learning. Project-Based Learning, by definition, is flexible. It encourages learner-centeredness, provides the possibility of more authentic work, and allows learners to self-manage and self-direct in places they used to have their hands held. But this has its drawbacks. Learning is a capacity-building endeavor that seeks to, well, build capacity will ironically depending on that same capacity to progress, There are a variety of ways to support students in project-based learning, including organized digital learning spaces that support creative thinking, collaboration, and ultimately project management.
Below are 10 apps for more organized project-based learning. 1. Platform: iOS How It Can Help: Pure overkill for most classrooms, but if an extremely powerful productivity and project management is what you need and you’ve got a $50 iTunes card burning a hole in your pocket, this could be just what the doctor ordered. 2. Platform: iOS 3. Platform: Android & iOS How It Can Help: 4. Platform: iOS 5. 6. 7. Project-Based Learning Research: Evidence-Based Components of Success. What boosts PBL from a fun and engaging exercise to a rigorous and powerful real-world learning experience? Researchers have identified four key components that are critical to teaching successfully with PBL (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008; Ertmer & Simons, 2005; Mergendoller & Thomas, 2005; Hung, 2008).
All of these play a role in the curriculum-design process. Schools That Work: Every student at Maine's King Middle School is issued a laptop to support the school-wide project-based learning (left). Students work together on cross-curricular projects in every class (right). Learn more about this school. Carefully Calibrated Project Design In general, PBL projects begin by presenting a driving question, one that focuses on intended learning objectives, aligns with students' skills, and appeals to students' interests. If you are new to PBL, it's best to start with smaller projects that are already part of the curriculum (Ertmer & Simons, 2005). Define the Content. A Great Project Based Learning Checklist for Teachers. The 8 Elements Project-Based Learning Must Have. If you’re contemplating using Project-Based Learning or are already trying out the latest craze to hit the modern classroom, you should know about this checklist.
It details if you’re actually doing it correctly. For example, does your project focus on significant content, develop 21st century skills, and engage students in in-depth inquirty (just to name a few)? If not, you might want to reconsider your PBL approach. See Also: What Is Project-Based Learning? The checklist is by the PBL masters over at BIE and they’ve outlined 8 different ‘essential elements’ that must be present in a project in order for it to be considered PBL.
While you may agree, disagree, or think there should be some additional elements, this checklist is phenomenal. These elements are actually useful for even more than PBL. What do you think about this PBL Checklist? Via TeachBytes and BIE.org. 15 Tools For Better Project-Based Learning.