Category: Content

Q: How do I get started?

12/8/2011

Ain't nuthin' to it but to do it!

Ok, that's not entirely true. We suggest you read over these FAQ's, read over the rest of this website, look at the sample cards, buy some of the cards, hire us to come visit you (or come to a learning studio here), use Google search liberally, read the Edutopia articles on PBL, check out the Buck Institute website.

Yep. That will get you started.

Honestly, the work is in the planning. Sure, you're busy as a bee once the project starts too, but the planning is what makes it happen. To get started, you need to know...

your standards,
your timeline for implementation,
who your experts might be,
what content and what skills you want your students to learn/experience,
how you'll be grouping the students,
what the students will be producing,
how you will be assessing their learning,
which experts might be helpful as resources,
what you will be "hooking" the kids with in your driving questions/challenge,
that the parents and admin know what you're doing. Or at least know you're doing something different than traditional schooling.

Yep, that's a lot of stuff. PBL isn't for the weak of heart and they never taught us how to do this in our preservice classes.

No kidding. Contact us for more information if you would like some help. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

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Q: How can you fit in differentiated instruction?

12/8/2011

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We're glad to see others making the connection between PBL and differentiated instruction because we don't think you can successfully implement PBL without a pretty decent working knowledge of differentiated instruction. It's simply that PBL takes the differentiated classroom to the next level of authenticity and relevance.

Let's go back to some DI 101 for this. Differentiated instruction has some basics we need to understand.
1) Our lessons should be differentiated in terms of Content, Process, and Product. Teachers need to be flexible with expectations regarding what kids learn, how they learn it, and how they show you they've learned it.
2) Our classes need to utilize flexible grouping based on student interest, ability, and readiness. Students should be grouped not only based on ability (high with high, medium with medium, and low with low) but also we should embrace heterogenous grouping based on student interests. And students should see themselves working in a variety of groups on a regular basis.
3) Our students should begin the class period as a community and end as a community, but that we may be doing very different types of work that's suited to what students need during the rest of the time. However, all students are all working toward the same ending learning goals at all times. They're simply doing it in different ways.

Once a teacher has internalized these approaches, she can begin to see that PBL embraces all of those concepts. To move from a fully differentiated environment to a PBL environment is an easy move. Now we simply begin to plan our lessons with challenges, scenarios, problems, and help students to move from traditional content alone to more practice with real life application of that content.

The difference between a PBL and DI classroom is subtle, but still there. PBL doesn't work without a DI base.

But DI can work without PBL, although we believe that the class may not always be exposed to the relevancy of the work beyond traditional classroom content application.

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Q: What's the difference between PBL and “doing projects”?

12/8/2011

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Sometimes we'll meet educators or parents who think that because their child is bringing projects home that they're doing PBL in their classes. This may not necessarily be true.

Projects are usually presented in the following fashion:
Students learn specific material by reading, finishing study guides, quizzes, or any number of approaches. At the culmination of their learning, they then select, or are assigned, a product or deliverable that they create to show what they learned. This deliverable could be a diorama, a speech, a newspaper, a video, or any number of wonderful things.

Project Based Learning is different because instead of learning and then doing, the students learn by doing.

Project Based Learning work is usually presented in the following fashion:
A teacher provides a challenge or scenario for the students to "hook" into. The challenge or scenario is presented in such a way that the student feels compelled to learn more about the topic. The students then set themselves to work to meet the challenge or solve the scenario, but must learn things in order to complete the challenge/scenario. For instance, a group might be challenged to create a Viking Ship museum display. As they set about creating that display, they find that they have to learn about the Vikings in order to create an accurate display.
Projects are learning and then doing, while Project Based Learning is learning by doing.

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Q: What’s the difference between Problem- and Project- Based Learning?

12/8/2011

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This is a wonderful question. The debate rages hotly among educators and PBL-advocates, so when you feel that my explanation doesn't suffice, please do comment and leave your own ideas as well.

Problem Based Learning is a way of learning that stresses a real-world scenario or challenge for the learner that may or may not have a solid solution at this time. Learners are presented with a problem to solve or a challenge to meet. Often educators find this PBL more challenging to implement because the ending isn't set with right/wrong. Sometimes the Problem can be so complex that it take a lot of time to solve and it may never be completely solved. The very nature of Problem Based Learning is that they're a problem that relates to real life, asking the students to think, research, plan, and solve.

Project Based Learning often seems a little more traditional-school minded than Problem Based Learning. The project may be centered around content or standards, rather than a challenge or a question, where students demonstrate mastery of a particular knowledge base. While the Project may still be presented as a problem or a challenge, it usually it has a distinct right or wrong response. Students can find this type of learning to be "neater" and less ambiguous at the closing of the project.

Both types of learning still focus authentic learning, collaboration, time management, and project management skills. And some educators use the terms interchangeably.

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Q: Can PBL occur in all content areas?

12/8/2011

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As far as we know it can. We can't think of any learning that can be done that can't be applied to real world scenarios, challenges, or simulations.

If anyone finds a traditional content area that can NOT be supported with Project/Problem Based Learning, please do comment to let us know! We'll take that challenge on!

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Frequently in workshops and conferences, we get asked questions that are great and deserve to be answered.

We've decided to compile some of those Frequently Asked Questions here to help those educators who'd like to learn more about PBL.

If you have a question we've not answered, please do contact us to ask your question. You may find the answer here soon!

Q: How do I get started?

Q: How can you fit in differentiated instruction?

Q: What's the difference between PBL and “doing projects”?

Q: What’s the difference between Problem- and Project- Based Learning?

Q: Can PBL occur in all content areas?

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