Met Sacramento High School Teachers Edition
This handbook is meant to provide an overview of Project-Based Learning (PBL) for teachers. While many details and aspects of PBL are discussed in this handbook, it is not intended to be a comprehensive manual on PBL. Rather, it is intended to expose teachers to the working of PBL and how they might be able to implement it in their classrooms. Most teachers I know are incredibly busy. Hopefully, this manual can give teachers a jump start in the PBL process without being overwhelming. For those looking for more information, the end of the handbook contains links to other resources and readings that might be useful. There is also a link to the Master’s Project associated with this handbook, which provides a literature review and all of the references utilized to create this document. Vince Wolfe March, 2012
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Part I: Introduction
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◦ Description of PBL ◦ 4 Pillars of PBL ◦ What PBL is NOT ◦ Why Use PBL?
Part II: Process
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◦ Anticipatory Set ◦ Driving Question or Problem ◦ Authenticity ◦ Choice ◦ Planning ◦ Product ◦ Sample Products ◦ Assessment
Part III: Best Practices
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◦ Scaffolding ◦ Group Work ◦ Connecting to Standards ◦ Flow of a Project
Resources
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More Information
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Description
of PBL 4 Pillars of PBL ◦ With description of each pillar What
PBL is NOT Why Use PBL?
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While there is no widely accepted exact framework for PBL, there are some clear pieces that should probably be found in every PBL curriculum model. First, projects must be integral to the curriculum, a centerpiece of the learning, as opposed to an application of an already learned topic. This means that they should not be tacked on to the end of a lesson as a way to reinforce the content of that lesson. The project should be the vehicle for the learning. Next, there should be a central question or problem that drives the project and leads to an independent investigation to solve that problem. Ideally, there are several solutions or ways to solve the problem or question at hand, which makes the project open-ended. PBL must be student driven and directed. While the teacher will have to help scaffold the project, in the end, it is the student that will be investigating the topic and seeking solutions. Artifacts or products should be created. These products not only show the culmination of the project, but can initially help drive the student to investigate in pursuit of that product. Finally, the project must be complex. This is important because it ensures challenging, academically rigorous work. For example, while making a garden is a project, it may not be academically rigorous to a student who has already done that at their own house, at least not without supplementing that project with some deeper investigation. 4
Pillars of Project Based Learning
Driving Questions Authenticity or Problems
Student Choice
Product
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Driving Questions or Problems: This is the directions you want the students to go and/or what you want them to learn
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Authenticity: The project/problem topic must be interesting and authentic to the student. PBL will not work effectively unless the students are interested in the topics of the projects.
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Student Choice: There must be an element of student choice so that they can buy into the project and drive it independently. Choice help builds in relevance
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Product: There must be a product at the end that drives the project. 5
There is often confusion about what makes a project a project. Many teachers regularly use projects to supplement their lessons. Usually, these projects are done using material already learned in the previous lessons. The project is an application of that learned material. While these projects can certainly be valuable, they do not necessarily constitute PBL. They especially may not address the requirement that the projects be interesting to the students. In fact, ideally, teachers provide the general direction while the students are the ones generating the projects. PBL is not: ◦ A “dessert” to follow the “main course” of teaching ◦ A supplemental exercise that uses already learned material ◦ A sidebar “project” in a textbook that build off of what was taught in a lecture or a reading Instead, PBL is an investigation, with several possible solutions or products, that is inherently driven by the students. Most of the content the students learn in the project should be learned independent of the teacher. The teacher role may be that of an advisor and manager, once the PBL process has begun. 6
PBL offers the possibility of allowing students to learn more deeply about topics that otherwise might get skimmed over in traditional lesson pacing. Not only that, but according to some researchers, PBL more closely aligns with how people actually learn. PBL can also help motivate students. Since there is built in choice, and the topics should be authentic and interesting to the student, they may be more likely to pursue the goals of the project. This can benefit both low and highachieving students. PBL can also help students be more metacognitive, where they analyze the way that they are thinking about or approaching a problem, how they will solve it, and what that solution will look like. PBL also builds cognitive skills such as critical thinking, organizing, collaborating (especially in group work), and communicating. These skills, while useful in high school, are arguably imperative in most careers, not to mention daily life. PBL gives students the opportunity to practice and refine these cognitive skills.
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Anticipatory
Set Driving Question/Problem Authenticity Choice Planning Product ◦ Sample Products Assessment
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The goal of the anticipatory set is to get students engaged with the content that will form the foundation of the project. Think of the student who has a hard time getting engaged and make the anticipatory set for him or her. The anticipatory set can be used to: 1. Scaffold the students’ interests and/or 2. Build schema (content knowledge) for the project that is to come Examples of Anticipatory Sets: ◦ Striking picture or video ◦ Discussions or Debates ◦ Readings or Documentaries ◦ News clips ◦ Writing prompt (please make sure it’s ENGAGING) Don’t be afraid to use humor! Or horror! Or drama! Notice that the examples of anticipatory sets are fairly involved and may take more time than the anticipatory sets in traditional lessons. This is because you are trying to build motivation and even some content to support the whole project. 9
Driving Questions frame the direction of the project. These questions get the students going in the direction you need them to go to get the academic content you want them to deliver. The question should be open-ended, with multiple possible solutions possible. Do not be too specific! For example, in a biology class, a question on a test might be: How do bacteria and viruses spread among humans? This questions is too specific for PBL, since there is really only one answer. It may be a complicated answer, but it is still one answer. Instead, an open-ended question might be, “why do so many students get sick at the same time of the year and what can you do about it?” This second question could lead in many directions; seasonal factors, the way viruses spread, the role of schools in packing students together, the effectiveness of hand-washing, or the role of the flu shot. As students move through the project, other questions can be added. These questions will eventually generate reflection, as students seek to answer the driving question and create a product. Some questions are metacognitive, such as; why didn’t that work?, or, what is the best way to do this?, or which of these will lead to the best result? Other questions will be predictive, such as how will people react to what I’ve discovered? These questions will help the student understand what they are learning and will also provide some formative assessment for the teacher. 10
PBL relies on having meaningful projects that relate to the real world. In this way, PBL needs to be authentic. There are at least two ways that PBL can be authentic. ◦ Authentic to Self Student is interested in outcome Student has personal investment in content of project Project and/or products of project directly affect student ◦ Authentic to someone else Project benefits a mentor Project has utility in the “real world” Project is linked to other information in the real world Obviously, the best projects would have both, but often one or the other is fine, especially for smaller projects. While developing a project (or the guidelines for the project), it is really important to reflect on the authenticity piece. Does this project have the capacity for many directions? Will students find something they can buy into? Will this benefit someone? Does the student have some kind of personal investment in the project? Obviously, you cannot always answer every answer with a yes within a project, but it does help ensure that students have every possibility to engage in an authentic project and process. 11
Part of the authenticity piece is that students have choices throughout the project process. This is essential in order to help motivate and empower the student throughout the project. Choices can happen in several elements of the project: Choice of the initial project and investigation What should I explore? Can I modify the project guidelines to suit what I want to learn about? Choice in how to research or investigate the problem Library Research Interviews Documentaries Surveys Choice in the product or artifacts that are created As a teacher, you can even give students the power to develop the driving questions that frame the project. Having student choice will also help secure openendedness from the beginning of the project, since students can take the project in different directions.
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Once the student or students have decided how what project to pursue, the teacher can help them plan how to move forward with the project towards the product. The planning that goes into a project can be extensive. Especially during their first project, it is important that students have support and/or scaffolding around how to plan a project. This can be the a difficult piece for both students and teachers, especially during the first few projects. It is really helpful to have some planning tools. Planning Tools: ◦ Project Proposal (click for link) ◦ Timelines (click for link) ◦ Research tips Interviewing a professional to get some primary data about a topic How to research using search engines How to skim web pages for ideas How to decide between a good source and a questionable source
One important thing to remember about planning is that spending a lot of time doing it on the first project will pay dividends later, since students will be able to apply planning skills to future projects with much less support. 13
The product can both drive the project as well as be the culmination of the project. The product or artifacts should essentially “capture� and fuel the learning. The product is the vehicle that allows the student to reflect on all of the knowledge they gained in pursuit of creating the project. The product does not always have to be a an actual item. A product can be a teaching demonstration or a presentation. The idea is that the product is the authentic expression of what was learned. It is not just the goal of the project; it is also the way for the student to discuss what they learned. The learning captured by the project is not only academic learning. Most likely, in order to complete the project, the student also learned other important skills they learned, such as communication, collaboration, organization, perseverance, and independence. Some sample products/artifacts can be found on the next page. Additional projects, with their corresponding products, can be found in the resources listed at the end of this handbook.
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A museum day where all students bring their artifacts (this works especially well for social science classes) An item that has utility (a tool, machine, database, etc.)
A presentation for an audience outside the classroom (a fair, event, marketing, etc.)
A pamphlet or handbook
A recommendation or report, in writing, based on what was learned (via surveys, interviews, etc). This works best when it can actually be used by someone. A travel brochure for each student’s neighborhood (this could be funny or serious)
Making a classroom into a plant cell, each person is a part of the cell
A video/mini-documentary about an issue A persuasive PowerPoint, with music, about an issue
A letter to a politician
An automotive workshop for parents and students Bringing a presenter to speak to students about an issue, based on a student’s research around that issue. Digital Storytelling presentation (see the link in the resources section for more info.)
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One effective way of measuring how well the student did on their project is to ask them to demonstrate that they have become an expert in that topic or sub-topic. Formative Formative assessment is crucial in PBL. Students should regularly be giving feedback about how they are doing, through formal presentations, journals, or pair-shares. This will help them develop their metacognitive skills while giving the teacher a chance to assess how well they are doing. Summative Instead of a traditional test or exam, assessing PBL usually involves a some
qualitative analysis. Examples include: ◦ Presenting to a Panel ◦ Using Rubrics ◦ Student self-evaluations ◦ Writing requirement ◦ Group Assessment (see below) Group Assessment Another effective assessment method is to use small groups to grade each other’s work. This works particularly well for individual projects within a subject area. For example, the teacher can group 4 students, each who did their own project. All the group members can present their project while the other 3 assess the presenter using a common rubric 16
Scaffolding
◦ Problem-Based Learning with examples ◦ Discussions, Debates, Documentaries, and Readings ◦ Building Skills and Metacognition Group Work Connecting
to Standards Flow of a Project
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Problem-Based Learning: Teachers should scaffold the actual process of PBL, including the skills students need to be able to get the most out of a project. One way to do this is to start doing ProblemBased Learning before even attempting PBL. Teachers can introduce small problem-based exercises to help students practice the skills they will need to do well in PBL, using a scaffolding chart or other means to record progress. These skills include organization, problem solving, and making decisions about how to solve a problem. Once students are able to use those skills, they will be more able to work independently on PBL. Another way to use problem-based learning is to give students the information they needed to solve the problems, but not the method they should use, and then allow them to solve those problems. Eventually, Problem Based Learning could be expanded so that students go and find information on their own, without being given all of the information up front. Please see the links on the resources page for more detail and examples. Discussion/Debate/Documentaries/Readings: Another way to scaffold to build content before embarking on a project is to have discussions on the topic and/ or show videos, documentaries. Readings can also be used. 18
Building Skills and Metacognition: Another way to scaffold is to build skills, such as planning and organizing, into the daily lessons. There were several planning tools mentioned in the planning section of this document. Those tools can be used to help a student stay organized as they work their way through their project. Also, an added benefit is that once students have begun using these planning tools, they tend to employ them more independently as they move through the school year and into new projects. Metacognition, or the ability to analyze one’s own way of thinking, is a key component to being successful in PBL and, arguably, in life. Teachers can help students improve their metacognition skills both formally and informally, by asking them questions throughout the process, having them reflect in journals or small presentations, small group exercises, or any other reflective exercise. Some example questions are: How well am I organizing my work? What questions do I still need to answer to move forward on my project? How will I find out about…? Who can help me learn about…? How can I be more responsible for…? What parts of this project do I find difficult? What can I try to deal with…? Have I seen a problem similar to this one before? Is my solution a good solution to this problem? 19
PBL is often utilized best in the context of group work. Group work allows students to focus more deeply on one aspect of the project and essentially become experts in that aspect, rather than having to cover all the information contained in that project. Additionally, students often learn a lot by teaching each other and/or discussing the content. Collaboration can be a key part of project based learning, and working in groups can facilitate that process. There are some guidelines to make group work effective. One guideline is that groups should be small enough for everyone to work face-to-face (two to four people). There also should be individual accountability to avoid certain members doing work for other members. When that accountability is there, and when groups are small enough for everyone in that group to participate, group learning can be a powerful tool. Groups can also be used for to help with assessment, as was mentioned in a previous section.
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PBL has the capacity to deeply meet educational standards. However, because the emphasis in PBL is usually on depth of content rather than scope of content, it is sometimes hard to meet all the academic standards in one project. To deal with this, it is helpful to think of academic standards as non-linear. In other words, think of the standards as a checklist. A student may meet the first, fifth, and ninth standard in one project and the second, third, and seventh in the next project. The collective learning that happens, often across subject areas, can meet most of the content required by the standards. If necessary, supplemental instruction can be done to fill in the gaps. There are two ways of addressing standards in PBL: 1.  Start with the Project, then find the standards that it meets: This is probably the better method. Let the project drive the work and see what standards are met in the process. 2.  Start with the standards, create a project to meet them: This can be done as well, especially within a subject area, such as history or science. In this case, it is nice to have students help you craft the projects. Give them the standards and see what they come up with. 21
The PBL process is often not linear. When first engaging the driving questions, a student may decide their product, which will drive all of the other elements. Other students will investigate deeply into the topic, based on their interest, and will eventually realize a product that fits what they have learned. Still others will modify and change their products, research questions, or topics throughout the process. The next page has a detailed flow chart, which is useful conceptually, but it may not actually represent how a project “flows.� The chart below may be a more accurate depiction of how a project cycles:
Defining the Problem/Project
Planning
Assessment
Investigation 22
Anticipatory Set Find a way to get students engaged
Pick something dramatic that will make them have questions around your topic
Driving Question/Problem What do you want the students to Learn?
How can you create an open-ended question?
What solutions (products) can they create?
Choice and Authenticity How can you ensure student choice in the project?
Is the project authentic to the student?
Is the project authentic to someone in the real world?
Planning and Investigating What solutions have they thought of that might work?
What do they need to research or investigate?
What planning tools will they need to be successful?
Product Creation What is being created at the end?
How does it answer the driving question(s)?
Does it have some kind of real value?
Assessment What academic content are you looking to assess?
How will you non-content related skills?
Rubrics, panel feedback, exams
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Project-Based Learning http://pbl-online.org/ ◦ Helps with crafting driving questions, products, and other parts of the process http://www.bie.org/ ◦ Videos, project ideas, overview http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guideresources ◦ Case study videos on PBL, free tools and materials http://scithon.terc.edu/marbleroll/ ◦ Sample Science Project https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F %2Fwww.innovationunit.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles %2FTeacher%2527s%2520Guide%2520to%2520Projectbased%2520Learning.pdf ◦ Comprehensive, well-rounded PBL K-12 http://electronicportfolios.com/digistory/ ◦ Digital Storytelling (overview, links) Problem-Based Learning http://ldt.stanford.edu/~jeepark/jeepark+portfolio/PBL/ example2.htm http://www.cotf.edu/ete/teacher/teacherout.html http://capewest.ca/pbl.html (in biology)
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Recommended Articles: http://web.archive.org/web/20030812124529/ www.k12reform.org/foundation/pbl/research/* http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/ 10.1080/00461520.1991.9653139 http://173.226.50.98/sites/default/files/news/ pbl_research2.pdf http://www.springerlink.com/content/j360715xw085866r/ http://college.cengage.com/education/resources/ res_project/students/c2007/background.html http://www.motivation-tools.com/youth/ project_education.html Link to the MA Project:
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