A Project-Based Learning Cheat Sheet For Authentic Learning A Project-Based Learning Cheat Sheet by TeachThought Staff Like most buzzwords in education, “authenticity” isn’t a new idea. For decades, teachers have sought to make student learning “authentic” by looking to the “real world”–the challenges, technology, and communities that students care about and connect with daily. You’ve probably been encouraged in the past to design work that “leaves the classroom.” Reach beyond the school walls. We’re going to take a closer look at progressive approaches to teacher planning whenever Terry Heick can be convinced to finish that series. The function of this image is to act as a kind of brainstorm–to help you get your own creative juices going to decide what’s most important when designing an authentic project-based learning unit–audiences, technology, habits, purposes, and so on. You obviously don’t even have to use these categories; they are just a sampling of the kinds of thinking that can help you make the shift from academic to authentic learning.
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8 Switches To Update Project-Based Learning In The 21st Century - 8 Switches To Update Project-Based Learning In The 21st Century by Thom Markham Here’s some simple math: 1.8 billion youth need to be educated for 21st Century life. What’s ‘good’ education? It’s important to understand that this is a global movement. This provides educators with a window of opportunity to share best practices around PBL and contribute to a worldwide, collaborative conversation on personalized learning, inquiry, and the way educators ‘hold’ students in their minds eye. This opportunity to help shape—not drive or direct, but shape—the outcome for PBL across the globe applies to U.S. educators as well, of course. Call it the NCLB hangover, but the end result is watered-down PBL, often supported by trainers and consultants, that isn’t designed to doesn’t change the equation between teaching and learning. It’s beyond time for U.S. schools engaged in PBL to shift their emphasis. How can U.S. 1. This is far too complex to reduce to a simple series of steps on a great graphic.
Assessment Assessment "Assessment is the process of collecting information on student achievement and performance. Assessment information provides the basis for sound decision making regarding teaching and learning." "The assessment process reveals what a student understands, knows and can do. What is Assessment? Evaluation "Evaluation is a judgment regarding the quality, value or worth of a response, product, or performance, based on established criteria and curriculum standards" "The evaluation process indicates the quality of performance based on the curriculum (learner outcomes)." What is Evaluation? Reporting "According to McTighe, reporting documents should distinguish between the following factors: "... each of these factors should be reported separately. Source- A Framework for Communicating Student Learning, (AAC) 1999. p.21" Reporting How are assessment and evaluation related?
30 Of The Best Apps For Group Project-Based Learning 30 Of The Best Apps For Group Project-Based Learning Project-based learning is a matter of identifying needs and opportunities (using an app like flipboard), gathering potential resources (using an app like pinterest), collecting notes and artifacts (with an app like Evernote), concept-mapping potential scale or angles for the project (using an app like simplemind), assigning roles (with an appp like Trello), scheduling deadlines (with apps like Google Calendar), and sharing it all (with apps like OneDrive or Google Drive). With that in mind, below are 30 of the best apps for getting this kind of work done in the classroom, with an emphasis on group project-based learning apps for both Android and iPad (and even a few for plain old browsers). 30 Of The Best Apps For Group Project-Based Learning
Resources | Global Digital Citizen Foundation Put Your Plans Into Action Experience the new Solution Fluency Activity Planner. It’s your new best friend for project-based learning in the classroom. Start Planning Now! Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Verbs Poster This is a giant 18″X30″ PDF poster version of our popular Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Verbs infographic. Download Now The Critical Thinking Workbook Check out the activities and games featured in The Critical Thinking Workbook—a guide for making critical thinking fun and engaging. Download Now The EQ Guide: Essential Questions What makes an essential question “essential?” Download Now Classroom Motivational Posters Share some inspiration and motivation with these colourful 11″ x 17″ classroom motivational poster files. Download Now Fluency Posters The skills of all the Fluencies, put together into one neat package! Download Now Solution Fluency QuickStart Guide This guide will help you get to know Solution Fluency skillsets so that you can develop them with students. Download Now Download Now
Resources for Getting Started with Project-Based Learning Just getting started with project-based learning (PBL)? Our curated list of resources for educators new to PBL should help you. Before you get started, be sure to check out Edutopia's PBL page, including information about the research behind effective PBL practices. You can also connect with Edutopia's community to learn and share PBL tips. PBL Defined and Clarified What the Heck is PBL? video What Should "Gold Standard" PBL Include? Stories and Examples My PBL Failure: 4 Tips for Planning Successful PBL, by Katie Spear (2015) Here are four lessons learned from a failed PBL unit: align with the school calendar, allow planning time, carefully create the topic and guiding question, and collaborate with peers. Other Tips From Teachers and Experts Bookmark this page to reference it for updates.
Project Based Learning: Involving Students Project Based Learning has the potential to increase a student's feeling of responsibility for, and control over, her own learning. Students who are allowed to define their own learning goals will be more engaged in learning. You can involve students in this process by helping them create their project assignment or project checklist. By working with learners to create individual project checklists, you and your students engage in a valuable discussion of learning goals, student interests, student and teacher expectations, personal strengths and weaknesses, and problem solving strategies. Individualizing Project Based Learning may be used with all learners: to give structure to those who desire it, flexibility to those who crave it, or to allow time for building skills that are personally challenging. Individualized checklists not only help learners target certain skills, but they also help improve metacognition, self-regulation, and motivation.
Integrated PBL Projects: A Full-Course Meal! In the project-based learning field, we use the metaphor that projects are the "main course, not the dessert" (as coined in an article from the Buck Institute for Education). Projects are intended to create the need-to-know content and skills, and the opportunity for students to learn them in an authentic context. When teachers first design PBL projects, they are often limited. In fact, I recommend that. Teachers and students must learn to become better PBL practitioners, so limited projects can lead to more ambitious projects. One of the criteria for a more ambitious project is to integrate the disciplines. Teachers develop PBL curriculum for the coming year. Photo Credit: Andrew Miller Use a Variety of Planning Strategies I wrote about many of these strategies in a previous blog post. Larger Part of the Meal Not all integrated projects are equal when it comes to the disciplines. Many "Courses" in the Project
Want Better Project-Based Learning? Use Social and Emotional Learning Today's guest blogger is Thom Markham, a psychologist, educator, and president of Global Redesigns, an international consulting organization focused on project-based learning, social-emotional learning, youth development, and 21st-century school design. An unfortunate legacy of the cognitive model that dominates education is the belief that everything important in life takes place from the neck up. This belief is the primary reason that many teachers struggle with project-based learning (PBL). At its best, PBL taps into intangibles that make learning effortless and engaging: Drive, passion, purpose, and peak performance. Outside of education, the success of PBL is no mystery. These factors can be condensed into three bullet points: Caring relationships People perform better when they feel attended to. Organizational experts tell us to "search upstream in time and place" to identify the barriers to solving a problem. Step 1: Redefine rigor Step 2: Establish a "drive and thrive" culture
Differentiating Instruction For the Gifted How to Think About Differentiating Instruction There are many ways to shake up the classroom to create a better fit for more learners-including those who are advanced. In general, interest-based adjustments allow students to have a voice in deciding whether they will apply key principles being studied to math-oriented, literature-based, hobby-related, science-oriented, or history-associated areas. For example, in studying the American Revolution, one student might opt to write a short story about the life of a teenager during the Revolutionary period. Adjustments based on learning profile encourage students to understand their own learning preferences. Readiness-based adjustments can be created by teachers offering students a range of learning tasks developed along one or more of the following continua: Concrete to abstract. Strategies for Managing a Differentiated Classroom Final Thoughts Back to the Table of Contents References Tomlinson, C. (1995a). Tomlinson, C. (1995b). Credits
12 Timeless Project-Based Learning Resources 12 Timeless Project-Based Learning Resources by Shannon Dauphin Project-based learning is becoming increasingly popular as teachers look for a way to make lessons stick in the minds of their students. According to Edutopia, studies have shown that students who use project-based learning remember the material much longer and have healthier attitudes toward education. Project-based learning is based on the idea that students learn best by tackling and solving real world problems. Ready to try project-based learning in your classroom? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. From integrating technology into the classroom to teaching science by hands-on experimentation, project-based learning is not only educational, but often entertaining as well. Shannon Dauphin Lee has been writing professionally for two decades on a wide variety of topics, including education; this article was written by onlineschools for TeachThought
Building Parent Support for Project-Based Learning When a teacher, school or district tells parents, "We're going to do project-based learning," the response may vary. You're lucky if some say, "Great news! Students need to be taught differently these days!" But a more typical response might be: What's project-based learning?That's not how I was taught. Basically, they're asking for the what, why and how. What Schools and Districts Can Do Rather than begin by explaining what PBL is, start with the "why." Ken Kay, CEO of EdLeader21, made a good point about this when he spoke at BIE's PBL World conference in June 2013. To help make the case, have parents reflect on their own work. Another argument you could make has to do with student engagement. Technology is also an angle. Now that you've established the need, you can introduce the way to meet it: PBL. Explain what PBL is using concrete examples, not educational jargon. BIE's PBL Toolkit series and other books on PBL describe many different projects. What Classroom Teachers Can Do