Part of my Master's project involves creating a project/problem based learning (PBL) environment for my 9th grade science classroom. I'm getting to the point where I need to start nailing down some specifics, so I'm going to lay down what I'm thinking here (publish-then-filter, right?). Your comments and critiques are welcome.
I've seen several example PBL units that gave students one specific question to solve. They may have been good prompts, but the problem I have with this method of PBL is that it seems overly prescriptive. It doesn't give students much room to follow their own interests. I'd prefer to leave things much more open to student choice. Currently, I think I'd like to give students a general topic to frame their investigations (climate change or evolution of the universe, for example) and allow them to follow their interests to specific areas of study/research that they find interesting.
Goal:
Create at minimum a unit where students choose their own topic of research and follow their passion in determining it's continued direction. I want students to be able to follow their interests and passion wherever it leads them (with some limitations). Students will be expected to document their learning and do some sort of public exhibition at the end of the process.
Challenges:
- Overcoming student expectations of school and science. In my experience, students expect to be told exactly what to study and how to study it. When given some choice they're often uncomfortable and unsure of how to proceed (I know that's how I reacted). Also, science is generally perceived as being a bunch of information and facts that they need to learn. Science is more about what we don't know than what we do know. I'd like students to ask questions that haven't been answered and try to figure out the answer.
- Choosing a research topic. In theory, I'd like to simply say, "Research an area of climate change (for example) that you find interesting. Ready? GO!" I doubt this would work for several reasons. First, if students don't have any real background knowledge about climate change then they may not be familiar enough with it to be able to pick something that interests them. I'm torn on how much information I should cover before starting the student-directed phase. Second, students are unfamiliar with being able to control their learning in school. I'd expect a lot of uncertainty and frustration from students if I left things so open. At the same time, I struggle with giving students example research questions since they often just choose an example to follow instead of following something that they find intriguing.
- The state standards (see recent posts). In all likelihood we're not going to cover as many content standards using this format. Depending on what topics the students choose they might not cover many content standards at all. I'm OK with this. My administration may not be. I found some research to support my position1, but that may not mean much to those who hold the power.
- Fostering reflection/collaboration. I want students to be as focused (if not more focused) on the process they're going through as they are on their end product. I'd like them to reflect daily on what things they're having success with, what things they're struggling with, and what methods they're using. I also want students to be aware of what all the other students in the class are doing. Creating an environment where "collaboration through the air2" is possible- where students can freely leave their projects and go help other students who are struggling- is very important to my vision of how the classroom should run. Since this is (sadly) such a foreign idea for many students, I'm debating whether or not there needs to be some at least semi-formal structure to encourage it.
- Documenting the learning. I want this to be a major focus of this project. I'd like students to have some artifact- digital or otherwise- that allows them to look back and see what they were thinking and doing with their topic throughout the entirety of the project. I'd like some analogue to the Reggio Emilio approach to documentation- but I'm not sure exactly how that plays out in a high school environment. At this point, I think giving students the option of how they choose to document their learning is okay. I'll give several examples of formats they could use (pictures, videos, written documents, audio notes), and several methods of organizing their documentation (blogs, wikis, etc.).
What do you think?
I feel like I've got a pretty good mental vision of what I want to happen with this project, yet I still have a lot of work to nail down the specifics and make it sound all scholarly. To date I've been reading lots of research and have a lot more research left to read. However, I'd love hear your thoughts on the challenges I've laid out above.
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- Students engaged in PBL gained less knowledge than students taught in traditional styles, but the PBL students remembered more knowledge several months later. They were also shown to have better problem-solving skills, be more open minded, and perform better on tests. See p. 567 of: Fallik, O., Eylon, B., & Rosenfeld, S. (2008). Motivating teachers to enact free-choice project-based learning in science and technology (PBLSAT): Effects of a professional development model. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 19, 565-591. [↩]
- I believe Gary Stager used this phrase, or maybe it was Peter Reynolds of FableVision? [↩]
This is only a very quick suggestion, and it isn't well thought out, so I'm not sure how valuable the input will be.
What if you presented the topic as more of a teaser? With climate change, maybe present it as a debated topic giving a compelling blurb on both sides in a way that generates interest, and then let the students have at it.
You and I discussed this a bit at CMK, and I do think this is one thing that is difficult for teachers who really want to embrace the PBL model. You are required to, at the very least, frame the discovery in what you are "required" to teach (which we could spend all day discussing what's at fault with that), so there has to be at least some minimal level of direction at the outset. After that, let the students go discover.
So, all this to say, I don't think you need to give a whole lot of background or build a foundation of knowledge prior to their exploration. Let them do most of that on their own, and you fill in the gaps as interest builds. It's the start that is most challenging, in my opinion. Finding a way to present the topic in a way that piques interest and naturally leads to many questions the students feel compelled to answer.
You provide the resources and the assistance they need along the way, but they get to direct their learning. I think that's a pretty powerful way to get them invested in science. I'm very interested to hear how it goes when you take the leap.
.-= Ben Grey´s last blog ..Effective Leadership =-.
I think it's awesome what you are planning. But it is going to take these kids way outside their comfort level! I think some will get comfortable real quick (the self learners), but most will need more structure in the early phases while they get their orientation in this strange new learning environment. Also maybe limiting the research field a little would be better for being able to provide a little background material even if it is in the form of teacher led discussion instead if lecture. PBL (never called it that but it's how I always learned best) is a great way to teach critical thinking and the process of doing science.
.-= Eric ´s last blog ..Our Budding Photographer =-.
@Ben Grey: It's true that I will need to guide students' inquiry around topics that are relevant to the standards I'm supposed to cover. I'm don't think I'll be too strict about it. For example, if we're doing climate change and a student starts getting into socio-political effects and issues, I'd be fine with letting them roll with that. Sure that's more "social studies," but they'll still be learning about the intricacies involved in climate change.
I really like the teaser idea to get buy in and set the course for their inquiry. If I end up going with the climate change topic (I'm heavily leaning that way right now), I don't want to frame the debate around whether it's happening or not. I'd prefer to focus on questions like, "What will things be like in 50 years?" or "How should we respond to global warming?" Perhaps a video done in the digital storytelling format (a la JellyLegs Gary) would be a good way to go. I'll send you a script outline and some pictures and you can put it together for me, right? 😉
@Eric: The students will definitely be outside their comfort level at first. I will need to be very conscientious of students' frustrations and uncertainties at the outset. For that matter, this is outside my comfort level. I've done some somewhat open-ended projects with students before, but this will be on a larger scale and more student-led than what I've done in the past. I'd like to build up a list of potential "experts" for students to use as resources. You're a marine scientist in the Groton vicinity (right?), would you have any interest in connecting students with other scientists or being a potential resource yourself? Not sure how it'll all play out at this point. I'm just working through some ideas in my head.
I had a class in high school called Scientific Research & Investigation. It was limited to about 12 students and didn't have a set curriculum. All that we did for the semester was set up experiments that we wanted to try.
I agree with it taking students out of their comfort zone. I remember not knowing what to do or how to proceed for the first few weeks of the class. I think I'd blame that on the instructor though. It didn't seem well set up and he used most of our class time to plan for his other classes. We were able to work on almost anything, but I know in the begining I personally needed more help than I received. You'd think the small class size would have helped that, but unfortunately it didn't.
Overall it could have been a great class. I really liked being able to choose what I wanted to research. I remember doing two larger experiments during the semester. One was on brain waves while sleeping and for the other I tried to grow peas in anything but dirt. Neither worked out very well, but I felt it was the process more than the product.
Good luck with it!
.-= J.D. Williams´s last blog ..3.1 Decimal Place Value =-.
@J.D. Williams: Can I pick your brain for a few tidbits about the Scientific Research & Investigation class? It sounds similar to the type of thing I'm working towards.
1) What was the method of assessment? Did you receive grades? Was it pass/fail? etc.
2) I know a shift from a high degree of structure to being self-directed will be difficult for nearly all students. What type of support do you think would have been most useful for you in those first few weeks? To some degree I think there will always be some lack of direction for a class like this at the outset, but surely there are ways to structure the class to minimize this.
1.) I believe that it was a pass-fail class. If we were working on something, we passed. If we were not constructing experiments, we didn't.
2.) I think that actually taking away some of the "freedoms" that we had during the first week or two would have been beneficial, but that kind of goes against what I think you want to create. I think it might have been better for me to have worked with someone in the begining instead of just being told "Go work on something that you get to pick." Also, rubrics or something that let me know what was expected of me would have been great. I'm assuming you'd have something in place for that though 😉 Overall, the teacher wasn't very organized or clear on his expectations.
One of the main reasons I took the class was because each student got a "Hall Pass" that said we were in that class & could go anywhere in the school to conduct our research during that period. I spent quite a bit of time sitting outside in the grass reading or in the library instead of in the classroom.
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