Project based learning, challenge based learning, emmm maybe Task Based Learning!!!
flickr photo shared by carlaarena under a Creative Commons ( BY-NC ) license
What have I learned this week? I have learned that what I thought I was doing is not project based learning but instead something I have decided to call “task based learning”. Task based learning is when, due to timetable restrictions, curriculum pressures and maybe a lack of ideas and risk tasking, you try and cram the principals of PBL/CBL into a lesson or two!!
The readings I have done this week around project based and challenge based learning have confirmed what I have been trying to enact as a teacher. Firstly and most importantly project based learning motivates students and all teachers, parents and others involved in education is motivated students! As that article points out,
Kids who are excited about what they learn tend to dig more deeply and to expand their interest in learning to a wide array of subjects.
It is that idea that by starting with a project or driving question, the students learning will be carried over into multiple disciplines and topics, which more closely resembles the real world, is what makes PBL so effective. Also using PBL/CBL has been shown to reveal academic potential. When schools stick to traditional methods, there are certain children in a class that are going to shine and certain children that won’t. From my limited experience of using projects in the classroom you are usually surprised by the results. A child you least expect might be the person who figures out a interesting solution to a problem or takes a leadership role. When we go outside the traditional framework, we provide more opportunities for children to show us what they are capable of.
So what is PBL/CBL??
This week I have learned what is needed for effective PBL/CBL in the classroom. There are so many articles that explain what is required but I found these two videos very helpful in giving a clear view of the two pedagogies.
I think from these videos, it is clear that one of the most important elements that teachers need for effective PBL/CBL is TIME!! For any project or challenge to be effective it must be student led and allow time for in depth inquiry. Unfortunately, not all teachers have this time available to them due to curriculum pressures. As Seymour Papert points out, the first things we need to do for effective PBL/CBL is give up the idea of a curriculum. This will free teachers and students up to allow them to explore the topic as deeply as the need to and learn the necessary skills along the way.
flickr photo shared by Ken Whytock under a Creative Commons ( BY-NC ) license
The only issue I can see with this is, at the end of the day, there are a certain set of skills we expect children to have at particular stages in their schooling. For example, before they go to secondary school they should be able to add, subtract, divide, multiply. Therefore, effective project based learning needs a whole school approach so that by careful planning of particular projects in certain year groups will ensure that all the necessary skills will be covered. Unfortunately, and especially at an elementary school stage (outside of IB curriculum schools) I think we are far away from reaching a consistent level of whole school approaches to PBL/CBL.
As I said at the beginning, in my class I have taking on what I call “task-based learning”. This is my way of trying as best as possible to move around the hurdles of time and curriculum pressures. I have completed a couple of tasks this year eg “How long would it take to crawl to your home from the school?” or “Can you plan a dinner party for 5 on a budget?”. These tasks have led to some excellent lessons and although they are not perfect PBL/CBL situations (more teacher led, not real world enough, not enough time for in depth inquiry), it is at least a start on the road and hopefully something that I can get better at integrating in the future. However from these lesson I have still seen some of the benefits of PBL such as increased student engagement, and revealing of academic potential that has only encourage me to use these projects more and more.
Finally, I think when we are using PBL/CBL it is imprortant to keep the opening words of Rebekah’s post in mind,
My kids are failing and struggling and I’ve never been more proud of them.
What is important when working on a project isn’t necessarily the successful completion of a project but the skills you learn along the way!
flickr photo shared by Auntie P under a Creative Commons ( BY-NC-SA ) license
Cheers,
Paul