Project-Based Learning

Differentiating Instruction for the 21st Century

William N. Bender

• Editorial: Corwin
• Año: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781452283760
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Pedagogía
• Categoría: Teoría y práctica de la educación

Increase achievement and engagement for all students in 21st century classrooms!

Project-based learning has emerged as one of today’s most effective instructional practices. In PBL, students confront real-world issues and problems, collaborate to create solutions, and present their results. This exciting new book describes how PBL fosters 21st century skills and innovative thinking. The author provides instructional strategies, assessment methods, and detailed instruction on how to:

• Design projects for various content areas across all grade levels
• Integrate technology throughout the learning process
• Use Khan Academy, webquests, wikis, and more to foster deeper conceptual learning
• Build social learning networks
• Differentiate instruction by scaffolding supports for the learning process

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1

Engaging Students Through Project-Based Learning

What Is Project-Based Learning?

Project-based learning (PBL) is one of the most effective ways available to engage students with their learning content, and for that reason, PBL is now recommended by many educational leaders as a best instructional practice (Barell, 2010; Baron, 2011; Cole & Wasburn-Moses, 2010; Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010). PBL is an exciting, innovative instructional format in which students select many aspects of their assignment and are motivated by real-world problems that can, and in many cases will, contribute to their community.

PBL may be defined as using authentic, real-world projects, based on a highly motivating and engaging question, task, or problem, to teach students academic content in the context of working cooperatively to solve the problem (Barell, 2007, 2010; Baron, 2011; Grant, 2010). Student inquiry is heavily integrated into project-based learning, and because students typically have some choice in selecting their group’s project, and the methods they would use to solve that project, they tend to be more highly motivated to work diligently toward a solution to the problem (Drake & Long, 2009; Maloney, 2010). This typically results in high levels of engagement with the academic content involved in solving the problem or completing the project, as well as higher levels of academic achievement (Grant, 2010; Larner & Mergendoller, 2010; Marzano, 2007).

PBL may be defined as using authentic, real-world projects, based on a highly motivating and engaging question, task, or problem, to teach students academic content in the context of working cooperatively to solve the problem.

PBL has been used in virtually every subject area and grade level, up through adult learning situations (Levstik & Barton, 2001; Marx, Blumenfeld, Krajcik, & Soloway, 1997; Scott, 1994). However, overall, PBL has been implemented more often in science and mathematics, and many of the instructional examples one finds involve one or both of those curricular areas (Fortus, Krajcikb, Dershimerb, Marx, & Mamlok-Naamand, 2005; Satchwell & Loepp, 2003).

Because PBL increases motivation to learn, teamwork, and collaborative skills, it is now recommended as a 21st-century teaching technique (Cole & Wasburn-Moses, 2010; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004, 2009). In fact, some proponents of project-based learning view modern instructional technologies and communications/networking technologies as essential in project-based learning (Boss & Krauss, 2007). An excellent pair of brief introductory videos on PBL is available at the website www.edutopia.org/
project-based-learning, and the first of those videos is strongly recommended as a quick introduction to PBL.

Of course, through the years, many other terms have been used for this instructional approach, including problem-based learning, inquiry learning, authentic learning, and discovery learning. However, the general instructional approach remains the same: students identifying and seeking to solve real-world problems that they consider important and developing various projects (sometimes called “artifacts”) that may be used to demonstrate their knowledge and communicate their problem solution to others (Bender & Crane, 2011; Fleischner & Manheimer, 1997; Knowlton, 2003; Marzano, 2007).

As various proponents of PBL have described different types of projects for different grade levels, a PBL language has arisen within the educational literature. While different proponents of PBL use these terms in slightly different ways, an understanding of this terminology will help teachers understand the basis of PBL as an instructional approach. Box 1.1 presents several of these commonly used terms and their definitions, and as teachers move into PBL applications, they will need to understand these terms.

Box 1.1 The Lingo of PBL

Anchor. This is the basis for posing a question. An anchor serves to ground the instruction in a real-world scenario, and it might be a newspaper article, an interesting video, a problem posed by a political or advocacy group, or a multimedia presentation designed to “set the stage” for the project (Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1992a, 1992b; Grant, 2010).

Artifacts. Items created within the course of a project that represent possible solutions to the problem or aspects of the solution to the problem. The term artifact is used in order to emphasize that not all projects result in a written report or a presentation. Artifacts might include these, but they might also include digital videos, portfolios, podcasts, websites, poems, songs, or chants that illustrate content; art projects resulting from the project; role-play scenarios or one-act plays that represent problem solutions; newspaper articles for school or local newspapers; reports presented orally to various government bodies or other organizations; and recommendations or guidelines for actions on certain issues. In short, an artifact may be virtually anything that the project requires, given the overall expectation that the artifacts represent things required by and used in the real world (Grant, 2010). Also, in most PBL instruction, there is a heavy emphasis on 21st-century skills, so many artifacts do involve development or creation using modern digital technologies.

Authentic achievement. Represents the emphasis that the learning stemming from these projects should stem from real-world scenarios and represent the types of things adults might be expected to do in the real world (Barell, 2007).

Brainstorming. The brainstorming process students undergo to formulate a plan for project tasks is similar to other brainstorming activities, in that the goal is to get down as many ideas for possible task solution as possible, without ruling out any ideas initially. In many cases, this process needs to be directly taught to students, since some students will immediately find problems in the ideas of others, unless specifically instructed in the brainstorming process (Grant, 2010).

Driving question. The primary question that provides the overall task or stated goal for the PBL project. This should be specifically stated to be highly motivational; something that the students might find meaningful and feel passionately about (Grant, 2010; Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010).

Expeditionary learning. Expeditionary learning is one form of project-based learning that involves taking actual trips or expeditions to various locations in the community related to the project itself. In the sample project presented later in this chapter, an expedition might be taken to the actual plantation, the setting for the cedar tree harvest, in order to actually obtain a count of cedar trees that will allow completion of the project. Alternatively, the sample project could be accomplished without such an expedition, which would represent a more typical PBL experience. In fact, teachers should note that the vast majority of PBL examples are not expeditionary learning projects.

Student voice and choice. This phrase is used to represent the fact that students should have some say (some proponents of PBL would say exclusive say) in project selection and statement of the essential question (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010).

Web 2.0. The term web 2.0 has recently been used to represent the fact that technology-based instruction has moved far beyond merely accessing information using the Internet (Ferriter & Garry, 2010). Rather, web 2.0 tools stress the fact that students, working collaboratively in modern instructional technology environments, are actually creating knowledge rather than merely using technology to passively gain knowledge. Thus, web 2.0 is not a collection of new technology applications but, rather, a way of using current applications to help students solve problems and become contributors to knowledge.

As this PBL language suggests, there are many common elements to PBL projects. First, while the project assignments themselves vary considerably, nearly all PBL projects are focused on authentic problems or issues from the real world (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010). This focus on authentic learning experiences that students might well be required to accomplish in the real world is a hallmark of virtually all PBL experiences and typically increases students’ motivations to actively participate in the projects.

Next, most PBL assignments require extensive collaborative work (Grant, 2010). Students have to collaboratively plan their team’s actions as they move toward problem solution, by developing a plan of action and beginning to develop a description or guidelines for development of their products or artifacts (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2010). Research and development of those products or artifacts may take many days and typically involves the creation of multimedia presentations, hands-on demonstrations, perhaps a working model, a portfolio, a podcast, digital videos, or a test model for the project or problem (Cote, 2007; Land & Green, 2000; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004, 2009). PBL projects might be focused toward only one subject, or they might be interdisciplinary. The sample PBL project that follows illustrates these aspects of PBL.

PBL projects might be focused toward only one subject, or they might be interdisciplinary.

A Sample PBL Project

A PBL project dealing with harvesting a specific type of wood for furniture production is presented in Box 1.2. This project is a relatively simple one that would be appropriate for a variety of upper elementary and middle school classes, including science, ecology, and perhaps mathematics, or in a combination of those classes, as an interdisciplinary project facilitated by several teachers. This example is very basic in the sense that much more technology can be, and typically is, incorporated into most PBL projects. Also, most projects involve longer time frames than does this example. Still, this does demonstrate many aspects of what any simple PBL project might involve, and it serves to illustrate that, even in educational environments that are not rich in technology, PBL provides a viable, dynamic instructional option.

Box 1.2 PBL Project Example: Cedar Tree Harvest

Anchor: How Many Cedar Trees Can We Harvest?

A plantation home in Virginia, the Cedar Plantation, is owned by the descendents of the family that originally owned the plantation home but is operated as a state historic site in conjunction with the State of Virginia. The family wants to allow a family-owned furniture company to harvest a selected allotment of white and red cedar trees each year for furniture production. On this plantation property, cedar trees occupy all of the 49 acres of woods, but the family is not sure how many trees are on the property, and they want to be assured that selected harvesting does not deplete their entire supply of cedar trees. Of the 49-acre property, approximately 12 acres, give or take, are visible from the plantation. Also, approximately 21 acres are believed to be swampland, but all of the low-lying land is on the distant side of the woods that is not visible from the house.

The family invited a fifth-grade class at the local middle school to undertake a project to determine how many trees might be selectively harvested each year, on an acre-by-acre basis. The family wants to harvest no more than 50 percent of the cedar trees in any given year, and they instructed the class to use the following data in their project, based on growth norms.

The teacher and the students discussed this project and decided to undertake it using three teams of students working independently in the classroom. Together, the teacher and the students decided that each of the three teams would devote a minimum of 20 hours to this project, spending a minimum of 30 minutes on this project daily in either their science or mathematics class. Of course, on some days, the class will spend up to an hour on this work.

Information on Cedar Growth and Family Guidelines

From seedling to maturity	Takes approximately 45 years
Average number of mature red cedars per acre	53 (based on cedar count on only one acre of the higher-ground property)
Average number of mature white cedars per acre	48 (based on cedar count on only one acre of the low-lying swampland on the property)

Tasks to Be Accomplished

Students will work in groups to accomplish several tasks:

1. Classify the types of cedar trees on the plantation. For the most part, white cedars grow in the lower-land swamps on the plantation, whereas red cedars grow on the higher ground.
   Verify the average number of trees on each acre and the total number owned by the plantation. A webquest will be completed to guide the research on cedar tree growth in various terrains, and all students are expected to complete that webquest, either working individually or in pairs. The family requested, if possible, an actual count of trees on at least four additional acres, scattered across the property in order to accurately extrapolate the number of cedar trees (complet ing this task will change this from a PBL example to an expeditionary-learning PBL example). These data on the extrapolated cedar tree count should be summarized on a spreadsheet.
2. Determine the life span for cedar trees in upstate Virginia to ascertain how many trees naturally expire in a given year. If possible, provide some guidance on “worst case” scenarios (e.g., a two-year drought, late snowfall that kills new-growth seedlings in a given year) that might limit the number of trees that should be harvested yearly. Determine the number of trees available for harvest each year, based on average tree count on the four acres and other guidelines.
3. Determine a reasonable plan for selective harvest of the cedar trees that will not deplete any single s...