Introduction PBLKit Rev...! Project!BasedLearning!Kit!! Project(BasedLearning(!!...
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Project Based Learning Kit Project Based Learning “True learning is based on discovery guided by mentoring rather than the transmission of knowledge.” John Dewey Project Based Learning is innovative, but not new. It dates back to the early 20th century when John Dewey, educational theorist and philosopher, challenged the traditional view with his Learning by Doing (doing with understanding, handson, mindson learning). Memorizing meaningless contents has many drawbacks, a lack of knowledge and abilities, that can be made up for this approach to learning. PBL engages students, no matter their learning style, and provides realworld relevance for learning while satisfying the varied interests of the students. Students work collaboratively to suggest solutions for almost any real endeavor. The project development is a guided process outlined by the teacher in which the tasks are accomplished according to an individualized role system. Once the goals are established, the teacher monitors the process, but it is the group of students who is in charge of the project. This way they develop their creativity while taking responsibilities and building selfconfidence. Although projects are suitable to a wide range of contents and levels, they all share some distinctive features. A challenging and focused driving question is the start of every good project. These kind of inquiries cannot be answered using memorized knowledge; they are not “googleable” questions. This approach favors to work closely with active and engaged students doing meaningful work, taking decisions, and constructing their own solutions. PBL benefits the consecution of specific educational objectives for ongoing learning about a dynamic world. Catalán (2005) sets the Golden rules for Project Based Learning: 1. Students must take responsibility for their own learning. 2. The proposed problems follow general, variously named steps and must be framed with open questions. 3. The goal is not overspecialization, but a multidisciplinary solution for a challenge. 4. The acquired knowledge in the autonomous study must be applied to a practical issue. 5. Synthesizing what has been learned along the project is crucial. Before the evaluation, it is necessary to analyze if students have acquired the concepts and ideas, and to work on the strengths and weaknesses resulting of the project. 6. Assessment and selfassessment must be done at the end of every activity and when the project is finished. 7. Individual assessment will always be done according to previously outlined objectives. 8. The topic and activities must be always connected to real world situations and provide moral values. 9. Cooperative work, collaborative learning and responsible autonomy are crucial.
Transcript of Introduction PBLKit Rev...! Project!BasedLearning!Kit!! Project(BasedLearning(!!...
Project Based Learning Kit
Project Based Learning
“True learning is based on discovery guided by mentoring
rather than the transmission of knowledge.” John Dewey
Project Based Learning is innovative, but not new. It dates back to the early 20th century when John Dewey, educational theorist and philosopher, challenged the traditional view with his Learning by Doing (doing with understanding, hands-‐on, minds-‐on learning). Memorizing meaningless contents has many drawbacks, a lack of knowledge and abilities, that can be made up for this approach to learning. PBL engages students, no matter their learning style, and provides real-‐world relevance for learning while satisfying the varied interests of the students. Students work collaboratively to suggest solutions for almost any real endeavor. The project development is a guided process -‐outlined by the teacher-‐ in which the tasks are accomplished according to an individualized role system. Once the goals are established, the teacher monitors the process, but it is the group of students who is in charge of the project. This way they develop their creativity while taking responsibilities and building self-‐confidence. Although projects are suitable to a wide range of contents and levels, they all share some distinctive features. A challenging and focused driving question is the start of every good project. These kind of inquiries cannot be answered using memorized knowledge; they are not “googleable” questions. This approach favors to work closely with active and engaged students doing meaningful work, taking decisions, and constructing their own solutions. PBL benefits the consecution of specific educational objectives for ongoing learning about a dynamic world. Catalán (2005) sets the Golden rules for Project Based Learning:
1. Students must take responsibility for their own learning. 2. The proposed problems follow general, variously named steps and must be framed
with open questions. 3. The goal is not over-‐specialization, but a multi-‐disciplinary solution for a challenge. 4. The acquired knowledge in the autonomous study must be applied to a practical
issue. 5. Synthesizing what has been learned along the project is crucial. Before the
evaluation, it is necessary to analyze if students have acquired the concepts and ideas, and to work on the strengths and weaknesses resulting of the project.
6. Assessment and self-‐assessment must be done at the end of every activity and when the project is finished.
7. Individual assessment will always be done according to previously outlined objectives.
8. The topic and activities must be always connected to real world situations and provide moral values.
9. Cooperative work, collaborative learning and responsible autonomy are crucial.
Project Based Learning Kit Project Based Learning implies: Authenticity ! Is the project based on a meaningful and important problem/question for the student? ! Is the problem/question related to the community? ! Does the problem/question offer opportunities to produce something personal and/or social outside school? Academic rigor ! Does the project/question imply a multi-‐disciplinary approach? ! Does the project/question challenge the student to use methods of investigation of one or more areas? (i.e. Does it makes the student think as scientist do?) ! Does the student develop higher order thinking skills? (i.e. Does it lead the student to reach conclusions or look for different perspectives?) Applied Learning ! Does the student work on a problem clearly related to life and work? (i.e. Does the student design a product or organize an event?) ! Does the project/question require organizing and self-‐directing skills? ! Does the project/question require skills typically expected in job performance (problem solving, ICT, group work)? Active exploration ! Does the student need to undertake fieldwork for a significant period of time? ! Does the project/question require the use of a variety of methods, means and resources for the investigation? ! Is the student expected to do a presentation about what he/she learned? MI development ! Which MI are favored by the project? ! Is the project/question expected to be solved from different perspectives? Multidisciplinary skills ! How many disciplines are implied in the project/question development? Are they curricular disciplines? ! Does the student face new disciplines that do not normally appear in the classroom?
Project Based Learning Kit Teacher and Students in Project Based Learning The teacher is not the main source of information anymore. He/she acts as a facilitator, a mentor that offers the students a wide range of resources and counseling for their investigations. The process takes place under the monitoring of the teacher, whose main role is not to give the required knowledge (although he/she can do it, if necessary), but:
-‐ To identify the group necessities and to set the project’s objective. -‐ To set out good projects. -‐ To facilitate the learning plan for each group. -‐ To offer a frequent feedback to each group. -‐ To monitor the process and both individual and group progress.
The teacher favors and acts at the “moments for learning” (Moursound, 1999) that open the possibility to gather all the class together to learn and discuss a specific (and maybe unexpected) situation that a student or group of students may have found. The teacher is responsible for the final product, learning and assessment. He/she uses the tools and methodology for real evaluation and must face the big challenge: each student is constructing his/her own learning instead of studying the same contents than all his/her classmates. Teacher learns along with the students, acting as an example of how the learning process never stops. From the students’ perspective, there are plenty of advantages in PBL. It promotes thinking and acting according to the project’s design, elaborating a plan with defined strategies to get a solution that not only fulfills curricular objectives. It also boosts learning diversity, as students work all together, and stimulates an emotional, intellectual, and personal growth thanks to direct experiences. They learn to learn from one another and helping their classmates improves their knowledge and abilities. This way they gain skills to assess others’ and to give constructive feedback to their partners and themselves. PBL approach encourages students to experiment, discover, and learn from their mistakes, to face difficult and unexpected obstacles. Moursand (1999) states that PBL:
1. Focuses on students and promotes their intrinsic motivation. 2. Stimulates collaborative and cooperative learning. 3. Lets students practice to improve their products and presentations. 4. Is designed for students to get engaged in “doing” things, not only in “learning
about” something. 5. Requires that the students work actively in a product or presentation. 6. Is challenging and focused on higher order mental abilities.
Project Based Learning Kit
Advantages of using Project Based Learning in Second Language Learning Working on a project demands an authentic and contextualized use of language; that is why students’ attention swaps from the form to the meaning. Interaction and work based on meaning favor the communicative competence development. PBL, as well as the communicative approach, are founded on cooperative learning. Languages are acquired by means of meaningful communication and taking the best of the process of interaction and negotiation.
COLABORATIVE SKILLS MACRO-‐AREA KEEPING POSTIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Collaborative skills Useful linguistic functions to express
collaborative skills
To fit in with the group. To greet and introduce yourself. To say goodbye.
To remember classmates’ names. To ask somebody’s name.
To encourage everyone’s participation. To call (politely) someone’s attention.
To share socializing moments. To invite someone. To accept someone’s attention.
To express gratitude. To express gratitude.
To show respect for classmates. To apologize.
To express concern for another. To show interest in somebody’s health.
To give a compliment. To express feelings of affection, gratitude and satisfaction.
To contribute to a positive work atmosphere.
To use indirect verbal acts to soften petitions or to modulate the expression of opinions.
Non-‐verbal acts: -‐ To smile -‐ To respect the different cultural codes for physical contact.
Project Based Learning Kit
WHAT TO DO: COLLABORATIVE SKILLS
HOW YOU CAN SAY IT:
USEFUL LINGUISTIC FUNCTIONS
To listen to and to reflect on
what others say.
To understand others points of view: Let’s see; try to explain your point of view… If I have understood correctly, your point of view is… To ask for clarification: What do you mean exactly? // In other words? // Why do you think that…?
To accept different points of view
To make a proposal: Why don’t … + proposal? // What if … + proposal? To express agreement: That’s right // Yes, indeed // I agree
To accept disagreement and formulate ideas.
To express an opinion: In my opinion… // According to my point of view… I think (that)… // I don’t think (that) … To justify opinions: I think … + because // I don’t think …+ because… To express disagreement: Well, as you can see // It depends // Possibly I do not entirely agree with you because… Showing agreement + but / however … (for instance: The proposal is not bad but we must bear in mind that…)
To identify common ideas to intercede on a conflict.
To seek other’s opinions to confirm an agreement. So you…+ conclusion + don’t you? Would you agree + proposal – conclusion? To reach an agreement, harmonizing different points of view: To summarize, we all agree that… In short, the most important point/fact/idea is that…
To keep emotional balance during discussions.
To control others’ emotions: I realize that… // I understand very well that… To minimize stress: Among all these aspects, which one do you consider most important?
Adaptado de ELENA LANDONE. El aprendizaje cooperativo del ELE: propuestas para integrar las funciones de la lengua y las destrezas colaborativas. http://www.educacion.es/redele/revista/landone.shtml
Project Based Learning Kit Requirements to Design a Good Project ! To define the project’s objectives. We should take in mind two aspects: The subject contents and the language contents. In addition to Bloom’s taxonomy, there are five more elements to take into account when setting out learning objectives:
" Which important cognitive skills will students develop? " Which social and affective skills will students develop? " Which metacognitive skills are going to be improved with this project? " What kind of problems will students be able to solve? " What concepts and notions should students be able to apply?
It is convenient to be very exhaustive because, that way, both the teacher and the student will understand what is going to be learnt. That is why we have to give a concise explanation about the main project’s objective and in what way it addresses the problem. ! To define the real context and formulate the question or problem. The projects are born from challenging questions that cannot be answered through a memorized based learning system; on the contrary, they place the student in a problem solving active position, turning students into decision-‐makers and researchers. Projects are used to get significant and specific educational objectives; they are not an addition to the “real” curriculum or a simple entertainment. ! To define requirements and resources. A good project must have a list of criteria or quality standards; besides, it has to have a range of instructions in order to fulfill it, such as timing and goals. Moreover, we must specify all the steps and tasks we need to reach the problem solution, that is, the final product. Furthermore, it is also important to define the support in which tasks will be presented: poster, web quest, PowerPoint, video, interview…if it is necessary to make an outline for presentations or interviews… ! Classroom management. How many sessions will be spent on the project? Will students need to work at home? How are teams going to be organized? Will deadlines be stated? PBL is a good way to work emotional management with students due to the fact that this will make them feel that they can really fulfill the task that has been appointed to them. ! Continuous assessment. In the same way that PBL is focused on real context and brings up authentic problems, in continuous assessment, it is expected that students will solve complex problems and tasks. The emphasis is made on higher level thinking skills. Evaluation is a direct measure of students’ abilities and knowledge of a given content. Students understand clearly the assessment’s rules, which are focused on the final product, the presentation or the production/representation.
Project Based Learning Kit References Anthony, E. M. (2010) Language Learning: Collaboration in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Problem-‐Based Learning (PBL) Classroom. Applied Linguistics, Global and Local. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics 9-‐11 September 2010 University of Aberdeen. http://www.baal.org.uk/proceedings_10.pdf
Bottoms & Webb, (1988) APRENDIZAJE POR PROYECTOS. NorthWest Regional Educational Laboratory. Eduteka. http://www.eduteka.org/AprendizajePorProyectos.php
García Bernardino, R. y de la Calle, C. Trabajando por proyectos en las aulas de infantil. Escuala Infantil Los Gorriones. http://www.eeilosgorriones.es/material/proyectos.pdf
Lee, M. & Carrington, A. Promoting Problem-‐Based Learning for English as a Second Language Learners. Purdue University, Amy, Tuttle Middle School. http://www.discover.education.purdue.edu/challenge/.../TLT_monica_esl.ppt
Moursund, D. (1999) Project-‐Based Learning Using Information Technology. ISTE. Traducción de los capítulos 1 y 2 realizada por EDUTEKA y disponible en http://www.eduteka.org/APPMoursund2.php.
Project Based Learning. Edutopia. http://www.edutopia.org/project-‐based-‐learning Project Based Learning for the 21st Century. Buck Institute for Education. http://www.bie.org/
Roldan Tapia, A. (1997) El trabajo por proyectos en el sistema educativo español: revisión y propuestas de realización. Revista de Investigación e Innovación en la clase de idiomas, 9. http://www.encuentrojournal.org/textos/9.9.pdf
Landone, E. (2004) “El aprendizaje cooperativo del ELE: propuestas para integrar las funciones de la lengua y las destrezas colaborativas”. Università degli Studi di Milano Dip. Scienze del linguaggio e letterature straniere comparate. Revista electrónica redELE, Marzo 2004. http://www.educacion.es/redele/revista/landone.pdf
