Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands: Project-Based Learning

At some point or other, a teacher is bound to hear the dreaded student comment “What good is this? When will I ever need this in life?” When students don’t see how subject matter applies to their personal lives – either now or in the future – they often become disengaged from the material and tune out. It’s a frustrating experience for both teachers and students, and a problem that’s plagued educators for centuries. How can teachers demonstrate the importance and relevance of subject matter to their students?

Project-based learning (PBL) is one approach that can be an effective part of a teacher’s pedagogical arsenal. PBL is a method of instruction that allows students to take charge of the material, using their own decision-making, problem-solving, and research skills. While teachers certainly assist students with the process, the overall management of the learning experience is left to the students. Faced with a guiding question, students engage in tasks that require them to tackle complex ideas and explore the fundamental concepts of the subject at hand. PBL can be an effective way for students to demonstrate ownership of their learning process, and apply the concepts to everyday life. Students can engage in a variety of activities, such as creating videos, designing brochures, conducting experiments, and the like in support of their endeavors. Activities such as these reflect projects and products that occur in real life, and can thus promote a more authentic learning experience than lectures or similar classroom activities. The hands-on nature of these types of learning activities tends to capture students’ interest, and provides increased motivation and buy-in. Project-based learning can also be used in any subject area, and for all grade levels. Please see Peggy’s column for further ideas on incorporating PBL into your curriculum.

Below are three project-based learning resources for various grade levels. All week long we’ll be featuring many additional PBL resources on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so be sure to check those pages frequently.

Community Building
Subjects: Math (Geometry)
Grade: 5-12
In this long-term assignment, students make accurate measurements of a building. They will also use Google SketchUp to create 3-dimensional computer models of buildings and upload them to Google Earth. One of the things that I like about this resource is that it’s a great, hands-on exercise that allows students to create 3D models the way architects and urban planners do. Although each student works on his/her own individual building, the project nonetheless requires a great deal of communication among students, as they will undoubtedly run into challenges that require them to work as a team. This resource is a product of Real World Math, a blog created by Thomas J. Petra for teachers who want to extend the concepts of the math curriculum beyond textbooks. In addition to lesson plans, Real World Math also offers a forum for educators to collaborate, respond to, and submit lesson ideas.

The Vietnam Experience
Subjects: World History
Grade: 11
Was the conflict in Vietnam a selfish, colonial move on the part of the United States or was it a general effort to make the world safe from Communism or something in between? Students will research the Vietnam War and pose an essential question once they have been introduced to the historical time period through lectures, readings, and various forms of media and activities. Once they have researched and compiled the answer to the essential question in the form of an historian poster or primary resource guide to their play, they will begin writing. Their topic will be transformed into a dramatic script complete with well-developed characters, historically accurate settings and realistic dialogue. Scripts will be critiqued and revised by peers, and the best few scripts will be performed to an outside audience. What I like about this resource is that it requires students to think critically about a controversial event in American (and world) history, and defend their position through dramatic theater. This project addresses a host of cross-curricular subjects, including history, theater arts, research skills, writing, sociology, media literacy, and others – a lot of bang for your buck. This project was produced by High Tech High, a project funded by the California Department of Education to disseminate project-based learning methods to teachers in non-charter public schools.

How To Make an Artificial Organ
Subjects: Biology, Life Science, Ecology
Grade: 9-12
How close are we to the development of replacement organs which are as good as the original, if not even better? In this lesson, students divide into groups and use a project-based learning approach to develop a model for an artificial replacement organ or limb that may possibly be developed in the not-too-distant future. In the course of designing and creating this model, students use math, science, technology, and mechanics skills. This is another example of a hands-on project that addresses cross-curricular themes in an engaging and realistic way. Students use science, math, technology, and engineering skills over the course of this project, from investigating how particular limbs function and are structured, to designing, creating, testing, and presenting their 3D models of their particular organs or limbs. Students must address the very real need for artificial limbs and organs, and strive to create realistic, suitable models to fill that need. This project was created by Thirteen Ed Online, the educational Web component of WNET, PBS's flagship station in New York. This free service features everything from standards-based lesson plans and classroom activities to a multimedia primer, online mentors, and reviews of curriculum-based Web sites.