Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.
When students present their work to a real audience, they care more about its quality. Once again, it's "the more, the better" when it comes to authenticity. Students might replicate the kinds of tasks done by professionals—but even better, they might create real products that people outside school use.
When students present their work to a real audience, they care more about its quality. Once again, it's "the more, the better" when it comes to authenticity. Students might replicate the kinds of tasks done by professionals—but even better, they might create real products that people outside school use.
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What points did Yong make that you feel are important point to remember with PBL?
With just two videos Yong Zhao made me rethink a lot of practices that have been happening in my room, in my school, and in the entire business of education. Everything we do is almost around a 'one size fits all' system, and even our brightest students do not end up becoming the most successful because we are not teaching them to their strengths. Yong is absolutely right when he talks about how many of our classroom projects do not meet the standards, and most importantly, the problems identified are not authentic, they are not coming from our students, and they do not meet world standards. To fix this problem, Yong want us to think about Product Oriented Learning, where students think of an authentic problem relevant to others, and they should be able to create a product that will solve the problem. Next, as teachers, we need to consider if the product goes through a sustained and disciplined process of reviewing…one draft does not work for a product to be of high quality, it is not about a flash of genius, but about disciplined revision. We need to teach our students how to receive and provide feedback, may be even procure professional feedback (if possible). The most important thing is that students need to be proud of their work, and this can happen only when the learning process is aligned to their strengths. |
What will student agency look like in your class one year from now?
Thanks to this entire unit, and two amazing Yong videos, things should look quite different in my classroom. I will choose to work most on the mindset of relevance because that is the first step in making learning relevant, and a student ultimately feel successful. While reading about Student Agency in the beginning of this unit, I seem to remember reading that Project-based learning and real-world connections are ways to foster relevance and help students explore passions, goals, and applications of learning. We can also have students reflect on and write about the relevance of their work, or about a learning experience they’re about to embark on. Later, Yong said the same thing with his ‘Product Oriented Learning’, and I find those ideas really valuable. Students need to come up with an authentic problem on their own, identify unmet needs, and propose a solution to mitigate that problem. With reviewing, redefining the problem, and coming up with a quality, marketable product of worldwide acceptance, students will become entrepreneurs, and that will make them successful. |