5+-+Project-Based+Learning

Project-Based Learning
In this session teachers will be introduced to Project-Based Learning. Education is changing and the way our students learn has changed. Project-Based Learning provides an environment where the learning is student-centered. The teacher's role is to not just teach to the book and have students read, review, and memorize, but to get them actively involved in their learning. Teachers will begin to develop lessons using the skills they have developed over the past seven days to create project-based lessons that give the student the opportunity to search for the answer using clues provided by the teacher. The student must also be able to apply the learned skills to an actual real world problem, using technology.
 * Overview**:


 * Objectives**:
 * 1) To be able to apply Project-based Learning in class
 * 2) To understand why Project_Based Learning is used in education
 * 3) To create Project-Based Learning activities using technology

Rigorous and in-depth Project Based Learning: > > (BIE, 2011)
 * What is Project-Based Learning?**
 * **is organized around an open-ended Driving Question or Challenge.** These focus students’ work and deepen their learning by centering on significant issues, debates, questions and/or problems.
 * **creates a need to know essential content and skills.** Typical projects (and most instruction) begin by presenting students with knowledge and concepts and then, once learned, give them the opportunity to apply them. PBL begins with the vision of an end product or presentation which requires learning specific knowledge and concepts, thus creating a context and reason to learn and understand the information and concepts.
 * **requires inquiry to learn and/or create something new.** Not all learning has to be based on inquiry, but some should. And this inquiry should lead students to construct something new – an idea, an interpretation, a new way of displaying what they have learned.
 * **requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication.** Students need to do much more than remember information—they need to use higher-order thinking skills. They also have to learn to work as a team and contribute to a group effort. They must listen to others and make their own ideas clear when speaking, be able to read a variety of material, write or otherwise express themselves in various modes, and make effective presentations. These skills, competencies and habits of mind are often known as "21st Century Skills".
 * **allows some degree of student voice and choice.** Students learn to work independently and take responsibility when they are asked to make choices. The opportunity to make choices, and to express their learning in their own voice, also helps to increase students’ educational engagement.
 * **incorporates feedback and revision.** Students use peer critique to improve their work to create higher quality products.
 * **results in a publicly presented product or performance.** What you know is demonstrated by what you do, and what you do must be open to public scrutiny and critique.


 * Training Activities**:
 * 1) We will begin with a brief introduction to [|Project-Based Learning]. This video was made to introduce the idea, so please view it as just that, an introduction to the idea of Project-Based Learning.
 * 2) The teachers will then be divided onto groups: K-5 and 6-12. Each group will go through 3 stations and view PBL lessons that have already been created. Once they have viewed them they will come up with 2 things they would change or add to the project, and explain how technology was used. If technology wasn't used, how could it be integrated into he project?
 * [|Then & Now (3rd Grade)] - A project that has students take a current item or activity and research how it was used originally. They must then create a video using Kidspiration.
 * [|The Egg Drop Experiment (6-12 grades)] - Students must design a container that will keep a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a various heights.
 * [|The Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway] - A Student-Created Google Lit trip
 * 1) Once the group has gone through each session, they will get back together and create a Project-Based Learning activity. Once they have created that activity they will post it to the wiki page titled "5b - PBL Activities."
 * The group may use any of the technology tools they have learned about in this workshop or they may use one that they have used before.
 * The activity does not have to be active, it can be implied, but it must be original. This will be a work in progress.

[|Project Based Learning | BIE] A wonderful resource on the web for Project Based Learning [|GLT READ ME.pdf] - A quick overview of Google Lit Trips [|Internet 4 Classrooms] - A list of PBL activities and ideas [|Edutopia: Project Based Learning] - more examples of PBL lessons and activities [|Free Project Based Learning Resources That Will Place Students At The Center Of Learning by Michael Gorman] media type="youtube" key="v8I8Gw9EZpE" height="283" width="378"
 * Additional Materials**:
 * Technology Empowers Student Fieldwork** - Video

Teachers will have created a successful PBL activity that they can take back to their classrooms and apply. They will be asked for feedback at the next workshop.
 * Evaluation**: