Project Based Learning

"Project based learning (PBL) is a student centred teaching method.  It involves students selecting, planning, investigating and producing a product that solves a real life problem or answers a question. This is generally carried over an extended period of time." This is taken from the literature review that Jo Earl and I have recently written on PBL. It is the concise version of an explanation of what PBL is. There is a wealth of material on the description, benefits and challenges of PBL. (see reference list at the bottom of this post for some of these)
It took me some time and much thought to get my head around Project Based Learning. I knew that it sounded innovative and exciting and would promote student agency, but I just couldn't get my head around a few things:

1. How do you organise it?
2. How do you make sure that the children are contributing equally( that the less confident or harder to engage children are engaged?
3. How do you assess it?
4. How do you know that 'the curriculum' is being covered?
5. How do you find suitable projects?
6. How do you cater for different abilities? and many more questions..

I knew from what I had read and was beginning to hear, that PBL is a way that we will engage our students, make education more applicable to life, promote the competencies of the future (Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Citizenship Critical thinking, Character) as Michael Fullan (2014) promotes in his 'A Rich Seam'. 

I already had self regulated learning happening in my class, (I was feeling pretty self satisfied) my team was engaging in some effective but still sylo based collaboration (within subject areas, literacy, numeracy, Inquiry, Independent projects,) and I knew without really knowing how, that PBL was where I wanted to be heading. I even found myself saying in staff PD that in the future when our students have even more agency and our learning is more project based (but not in the 80's and 90's way of 'doing a project - doing Fiji' or 'doing Japan') that we will really be catering for our children in so many ways. I still didn't know how it would work.

What made the penny drop for me was when I attended the Maths Symposium in Christchurch in 2014. I attended a workshop on rich learning tasks in maths. All of a sudden the answers to all of the questions above popped into my head. The facilitator had us using sample problems from the Figure it Out series and converting them into open ended, multi strategy level problems. She showed us how to set the driving question, and then monitor the way the children set about solving the problem in their mixed ability groups. She showed us how to provide workshops that her observations picked up as next steps for groups across groups. Suddenly I could see how this could work with bigger, longer lasting contextualised problems. The light came on! I went back to my then staff and ran the same workshop. I was delighted to see the same penny drop with several of the staff. Some of us started with rich learning tasks, which then led on to the project based learning approach.

It is interesting to me that in this country, the early adopters for innovative learning tend to come from primary. Secondary schools are beginning to adopt innovative learning practices with their year 9 and 10 students as these students are coming as a wave out of primary. Secondary teachers say that the constraints of NCEA make innovative learning too hard beyond those two years. I say it is coming. (PBL in secondary) ECE teachers will tell us, correctly, that this 'innovative' learning is the way they have always believed education should cater for learners' needs, as some visitors from local ECE's recently pointed out to us. Yet Fullan and Couros (Posts from The Principal of Change and Innovative Mindset ) and many others began their PBL journey in high schools. Some years ago, Jo and I studied and presented about a school that Fullan worked with on PBL called the Mary Ward School in Canada. These students worked on real life problems in a hub where multi discipline teachers were together and where the students could access the help of the teacher that they needed to learn the relevant knowledge and skills from.

Through our ongoing studies, we can see the benefits to the students of PBL: engagement, relevance, 21C competencies, (6 C's) and using technology for new learning and global communication. This is exciting.

Buck Institute for Education, (2015). Adapted from Setting the Standards for Project Based Learning; A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction, by John Larmer, JOhn Mergendoller, Susie Boss (ASCD 2015)

Bell, S. (2010). Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future. The Clearing House, 83:39-43. doi:10.1080/00098650903505415

Catapano, S., & Gray, J. (2015). Saturday School: Implementing Project-Based Learning in an Urban School. PennGSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 12(1). Retrieved from: http://www.urbanedjournal.org

Clark, A. (2006). Changing Classroom Practice to Include the Project Approach. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 8(2).

Diffily, D. (2002). Project-Based Learning: Meeting Social Studies Standards and the Needs of Gifted Learners. Gifted Child Today, 10762175, 25(3)

English, M., & Kitsantas, A. (2013). Supporting Student Self-Regulated Learning in Problem- and Project-Based Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning. 7(2)

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1339

Galvan, M., & Coronado, J. (2014). Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning: Promoting Differentiated Instruction. National Teacher Education Journal, 7(4)

Hertzog, N. (2007). Transporting Pedagogy: Implementing the Project Approach in Two First-Grade Classrooms. Journal of Advanced Academics 18(4)

Holm, M. (2011). Project-Based Instruction: A Review of the Literature on Effectiveness in PreKindergarten through 12th Grade Classrooms. InSight: Rivier Academic Journal, 7(2)

Lee, C. (2015). Project-Based Learning and Invitations: A Comparison. Journal of Curriculum Theorising, 30(3)

Lin, T. (2016). The Evolution of Education. Your Weekend The Press.

Loyens, S., Madga, J., & Rikers, R. (2008). Self-Directed Learning and Problem-Based Learning and its relationships with Self-Regulated Learning. Educ Psychol Rev (2008) 20:411-427. DOI 10.1007/s10648-9082-7

Ministry of Education. (2013). Ka Hikitia Accelerating Success 2013-2017. The Maori Education Strategy. Wellington, NZ.

Rangahau: Principles of Kaupapa Maori. (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://http://www.rangahau.co.nz/research-idea/27/

Robinson, K. (2008). RSA Animate | Changing Education Paradigm. Retrieved from: https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/videos/2010/10/rsa-animate---changing-paradigms/rsa-lecture-ken-robinson-transcript.pdf

Sungur, S. & Tekkaya, C. (2006). Effects of Problem-Based Learning and Traditional Instruction on Self-Regulated Learning. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(5).

Tamim, S., & Grant, M. (2013). Definitions and Uses: Case Study of Teachers Implementing Project-based Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning. 7(2)

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1323

Thomas, J. (2000). A Review of Research on Project-Based Learning. San Rafael, California 94903. Retrieved from http://www.bie.org/reserach/study/review_of_project_based_learning_2000http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/3897.Rich_Seam_web.pdf

Collaboration - some considerations

I am a convert to collaboration. I am convinced that the way we are changing the way we deliver the curriculum is far better meeting the needs of our children. I have collected evidence from children who believe that the way they learn now provides them with far better outcomes than previously. They are no longer frustrated by over learning material that they either already knew or understood in the first five minutes. They feel that they have far more say than they did and they love working collaboratively on projects. They love the flexibility of the groupings and the working spaces. They love being able to choose where and how they work. Learning styles is finally being acted upon.

From a powerful teaching point of view, collaboration is great. I enjoy the power of putting heads together and coming up with better opportunities for our students than I could do on my own. I love the "sweet" teaching when the coaching (roving) teacher is responsible for the 'target' children and is coaching and challenging the children who are self regulating, while the instructing teachers are taking workshops, unhindered by distractions and interruptions. Shared planning and assessing on google docs have opened up a new world of accessibility to me.

Ideally, everyone is happy. However, it is of critical importance that we protect the quality of what the children are doing in their self- regulated time and how we as teachers impact on that time. Self-regulation is not about a series of  'tasks' designed to keep the children busy while the teacher is either busy doing something else or at best working with a group. It is not a glorified worksheet or a gap filler. A deep learning task is something that allows students to work on projects that involve their ability to access the task at their current thinking level and which challenges them to think harder and with more depth. As Michael Fullan says in "A Rich Seam" deep learning is about what you do with that new learning.
 It is in the design of these tasks that we are challenged  to think about what it is that we want the children to achieve and that encourages new breadth and depth (Lane Clark, Kath Murdoch, Michael Fullan) learning.  The challenge for me as a leader is to ensure that the quality of these deep learning tasks are just that, deep learning.