Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
Overview:
Project Based Learning, or PBL, is defined by PBLWORKS as “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.” With this kind of project, students work with real-world and meanigful topics. Students can work individually but the BC Ministry of Education‟s Early Learning Branch suggests teachers have students work collabortivly. This type of learning promotes critical thinking, creativity, communication, and team work skills. The end goal of the project is to have a product or presentation depending on the topic complete for an audience. The projects can take up to a full term/semester!
Project Example:
Final Interactive Learning Design Project:
PBL both does and doesn’t align with my chossen topic for our final Interactive Learning Design Project. This poroject was set up in a PBL design. We have the freedom of choosing our groups, a topic of intrest or meaning, and designing and creating a usable resourse. This promotes critical thinking, creativity, communication, and team work skills, which are all features of PBL. However, the resource we are designing is not PBL. Our theoretical students will be working thorough the resourse individualy and completeing tasks. They will not be collaborating, communicating, or creating a final product or presentation. That being said, we could adapt our blueprint to incorperate PBL if my group so disiers. I love PBL and will for sure mention it to my group.
Summary:
Although our 335 project fits under the PBL category, the resource my group is creating doesn’t. PBL is a fantastic way to get kids engaged and excited about learning. It supports vital skills such as team work, imagination, and critical thinking. I had the oppertunity to watch this style of learning in action during my recent practicum at St. Micheal’s University School Jounior Campus. The students seemed to LOVE it and each had a topic they were passionite about. The topics ranged from a dog walking buisness to making coolant in cars safer for animals. It was super intresting to see this process!
Thanks for reading my blog! What you think about PBL? Have you ever done PBL and would you consider adding into your classroom?
Refrences:
PBLWorks. (n.d.). What is project based learning? https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pb
Fraser, S. (n.d.). Project-based learning… How does it work and where do I begin? [Presentation slides]. British Columbia Ministry of Education, Early Learning Branch. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/early-learning/teach/selfguided/webcast2_clipall_presentation.pdf
Hi Mady! This is a wonderful post! Your explanation of what Project Based Learning is was clear and easily understandable. As well, the example you included was a great example of PBL in younger grades. Much of the time, when people talk about PBL, it is often in reference to older grades, as it is thought that younger students wouldn’t be able to fully understand / be able to participate in PBL. Thank you for choosing an example illustrating that this is not always the case. That being said, I wonder what the youngest grade would be that PBL could be effectively incorporated. I am having a hard time imagining what this would look like in, say, a kindergarten class. Perhaps more structure? Limited options for topics? Let me know if you have any thoughts on this! Further, I remember PBL being present in our shared practicum! Although they called it “Passion Based Learning,” it was very much the same idea. I loved seeing our students work through their projects– it was so wonderful to see the enthusiasm that they had, and the joy that they were so clearly getting out of their projects. I am so sad that we had to leave before we were able to see their finished products– I bet they were amazing! Thanks for sharing!