Integration Strategies for PBL This series is about taking your PBL projects "up a notch." I wrote a blog about how to get started, but after you get started and are familiar with the benefits of keeping it small and focused, what are some of your next steps? One area where I see teachers taking their PBL projects up a notch is through integration. However, integration is actually quite complicated and includes many levels of implementation. Here are some tips to consider for integrating content areas into your next PBL project. Know Your Level of Integration When you plan your integrated PBL project, consider the following definitions and levels of integration articulated in Integrated Curriculum, an ASCD book edited by Heidi Hayes Jacob. Know Content that Isn't Your Own Teachers of the Blood Project at High Tech High really articulate this well. It's Gotta Fit This one is crucial. Limit Products to Target ALL Content Standards Meet Frequently As a Team How do you approach integration with your PBL projects?
20+ Tips and Resources to Help Learners with Their Presentation Skills Teaching Presentation Skills to English Learners “At a funeral, people are five times more likely to want to be in the casket than giving the eulogy.”~ Jerry Seinfeld Public speaking is the number one phobia. People are more afraid of speaking in public than death which is why Jerry Seinfeld made the remark above. Tips for Preparing Their Presentations Before your students present, they will need to prepare what they want to say. Have them observe famous speakers and speeches! Tips for Designing Their Presentations Now that your learners have determined what they are saying, it is time to get them to support these ideas with multimedia and visual aids. Instruct them to support concepts and main points with multimedia, images, and videos. Tips for Dealing with the Nonverbal Communication Once the presentation is prepared, students should work on their nonverbal cues. To deal with pitch, pace, volume, and enunciation problems, students can practice the speech with a marker in their mouth.
Learning By Design at newlearningonline Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis (eds). 2015. A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Learning By Design. Palgrave: London. | link Introducing the Learning by Design Project Welcome to the Learning by Design Project website. This site is a resource for participants in the Learning by Design project, or for those who want to find out more about the project. But the story of Learning by Design really begins with a conceptualisation of The New School — a place where learners are actively engaged as knowledge producers and in which teachers have assumed a transformed professional role as designers of hybrid online and face-to-face learning environments. The next part of the website is practical and goes into more detail about how to implement Learning by Design. This project is supported by a grant to Common Ground Publishing by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Next
Integrated Projects = Deeper Learning Here's how one school designs rigorous projects that blend STEM with other core subjects. See how this strategy might work for you. MC2 STEM High School has fabrication laboratories ("fab labs") where students learn to use advanced equipment such as the "shop-bot" (left) that they can use for their interdisciplinary project-based-learning assignments. Credit: Zachary Fink MC2 (Metropolitan Cleveland Consortium) STEM High School is a year-round public school in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was created through a public-private partnership among a number of organizations (PDF), with the intention of providing students with an integrated curriculum that is informed by real-world experiences. The MC2 STEM curriculum was designed to meet three important criteria: aligned with Ohio Academic Content Standards connected to higher-education courses relevant and responsive to industry needs What is Transdisciplinary Project-Based Learning? Importantly, all capstones have real-world relevance (PDF).
Resources for Project-Based Learning Free materials and downloads for building rigorous projects for all grade levels. In this section, you will find materials and resources for teaching about project-based learning, whether you are conducting a two-hour session or class or can spend a day or two on the topic. We believe you will find much here from which you can build a set of experiences tailored to class participants for the purpose of exploring PBL: More Edutopia.org Resources on Project-Based Learning: Top Edutopia.org Case Study Videos on Project-Based Learning: Lower ElementaryUpper ElementaryMiddle SchoolHigh School Back to Top Additional Resources Elsewhere on the Web: The sample schedule provides ideas for one- and two-day sessions. This PowerPoint presentation introduces PBL, based on research and case studies, and discusses why the method should be used, what it is, and how to begin, touching on the process of questioning, planning, scheduling, monitoring, assessing, and evaluating.
A not so modest proposal: My new fully research based school! It’s about time we all suck it up and realize that the best of economic research on factors associated with test score gains not only can, but must absolutely drive the redesign of our obviously dreadful American public education system! [despite substantial evidence to the contrary!] With that in mind, I have selectively mined some of my own favorite studies and summaries of studies in order to develop a framework for the absolutely awesomest school ever! I’ve chosen to focus on only economic studies of measurable stuff that is actually associated with measured test score gains. After all, that’s what matters – that’s all that matters! Mind you that this school will be awesomest not merely in terms of overall effectiveness, but also in terms of bang for the buck, because I’m not messin’ around with expensive curriculum or elaborate facilities… or high priced consultants… or really expensive strategies like class size reduction. I’m goin’ for low hangin’ fruit here. This is a no brainer!
Re-Imagining the Comprehensive High School Students at Sammamish High School. Photo credit: Gabriel Miller Sammamish High School is a comprehensive high school that is on the cutting edge of public education. In 2010, we applied for and received an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant from the Department of Education that allowed us to embark on an ambitious project to fundamentally shift the learning experience in our school. STEM and PBL At Sammamish, STEM literacy includes but also goes beyond STEM content. The Seven Key Elements It is important for our school to design PBL in a way that would be authentic across disciplines, grades and courses. Authentic problemsAuthentic assessmentStudent voiceCollaborationUse of expertiseCulturally responsive instructionAcademic discourse Once we identified the elements, we defined them by accessing a wide range of literature around best practice. Professional Learning A major use of i3 grant funding at Sammamish supports professional learning in multiple forms.
How Does Project-Based Learning Work? Tools for understanding the process of planning and building projects. Project-based learning, as with all lessons, requires much preparation and planning. It begins with an idea and an essential question. When you are designing the project and the essential question that will launch the activities, it is important to remember that many content standards will be addressed. With these standards in mind, devise a plan that will integrate as many subjects as possible into the project. Have in mind what materials and resources will be accessible to the students. Teacher Eeva Reeder developed and implemented an architecture project for her geometry students. Here are steps for implementing PBL, which are detailed below: Start with the Essential Question The question that will launch a PBL lesson must be one that will engage your students. "Questions may be the most powerful technology we have ever created. Take a real-world topic and begin an in-depth investigation. Design a Plan for the Project
The Benefits of Taking Kids Outside to Inspire Writing I originally wrote this piece in 2009, when I was blogging for Edutopia in the U.S. It elaborates on one of the ideas that I presented in yesterday’s blog about designing programs with both introverts and extroverts in mind. I present it here to generate some additional conversation about attending to all learners in our class. The following quote is one of the first things my eighth-grade students see when they walk into their classroom in September: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.– T.S. It occasionally shows up on a handout or an assignment sheet, and we will reference the quote frequently in the discussions that we have that center on questions about our purpose for doing particular things as part of our program. This year, though, for the first time, I actually built an ongoing, optional assignment for students around the quote. Mary’s work was thoughtful and deep. Fence Rocks
Defining Authenticity in Historical Problem Solving Representing historical actors, students vote on what should happen to the land under Germany's control in China after World War I. Photo credit: Adrienne Curtis Dickinson At Sammamish High School, we've identified seven key elements of problem-based learning, an approach that drives our comprehensive curriculum. I teach tenth grade history, which puts me in a unique position to describe the key element of authentic problems. What is an authentic problem in world history? We consulted a number of sources in research. We arrived at two ways to think about authentic problems. Living the Decisions The work of historians involves creating and debating the frameworks for the historical narratives our students use to interpret history. It was exciting to consider that our students would engage in such high-level and rigorous academic thinking. Our approach to authentic problems came from a different perspective: that of the historical actor and decision-makers. Challenge Cycles
What Is Project-Based Learning About? A description of what teachers can accomplish in the classroom using project-based learning. PBL Is Curriculum Fueled and Standards Based Project-based learning addresses the required content standards. In PBL, the inquiry process starts with a guiding question and lends itself to collaborative projects that integrate various subjects within the curriculum. Questions are asked that direct students to encounter the major elements and principles of a discipline. PBL Asks a Question or Poses a Problem That Each Student Can Answer In PBL, the teacher or the students pose a guiding, or essential, question: "What is cystic fibrosis, and how is it caused?" "The classroom is a place where people can live a fulfilling life together as a community of learners if needs and concerns are appropriately expressed. There is more information about crafting essential questions in the How Does PBL Work? PBL Allows Students to Delve into Content in a More Direct and Meaningful Way
Joel Klein, Sal Khan And Sebastian Thrun On Inventing The Future Of Education, At Disrupt SF Three trailblazing figures in educational technology are showcasing the future of learning at our upcoming annual conference, Disrupt San Francisco. Former New York education Chancellor, Joel Klein, will get into more of the details about the recently announced Amplify project, News Corp’s ambitious venture to create tailored, digital learning for the American education system. Bill Gates’ “favorite teacher”, Sal Khan, who founded the Youtube-based Khan Academy, will speak about his pioneering work in the “flipped classroom” and launch a new feature to his site. And Google fellow and CEO of Udacity, Sebastian Thrun, will discuss how he opened the walled garden of American higher education free of charge to students around the world. These education leaders will join an all-star lineup at Disrupt SF Sept 8-12, including Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Marc Benioff, Ron Conway, Kevin Rose, Matt Cohler, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Vinod Khosla and many others. In January 2011, Joel I.