What is a Project-based Learning?

Project-Based Learning, also known as Project Learning, is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative groups. Project Learning is also an effective way to integrate technology into the curriculum. A typical project can easily accommodate computers and the Internet, as well as interactive whiteboards, global-positioning-system (GPS) devices, digital still cameras, video cameras, and associated editing equipment.

What is new in this one?

Project-Based Learning is filled with active and engaged learning, it inspires students to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying. Research also indicates that students are more likely to retain the knowledge gained through this approach far more readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning. In addition, students develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both team-based and independent work.In the process of completing their projects, students also hone their organizational and research skills, develop better communication with their peers and adults, and often work within their community while seeing the positive effect of their work.

Which are the elements to build a PBL?

The focus can be done in different ways but it must contain the following elements according to Bottoms & Webb (1988):

• Situation or problem: one or two sentences that describe the topic or problem the project seeks to solve or to work on.• Description and purpose of the project: a concise explanation of the final project aim and how this one keeps in mind the situation or the problem.• Development details: list of criteria or quality standard that the project must accomplish. • Rules: guides or instructions to develop the project, including the project design guide, estimated time and short-term goals. • List of the participants in the project and roles assigned to them: it includes the team/group members, experts, community members and the education institution staff.• Evaluation: how the student performance is going to be appraised.

In the PBL, both Learning process and the final product are evaluated.

Why PBL is a comprehensive education strategy (Holistic) rather than a complement of the whole program or curriculum?

Because it is more than an instructional method, it involves problem solving, decision making, investigative skills, and reflection from the students towards a challenging problem or difficulty. All previously mentioned seeking to create in students a learning that can be not only

put into practice just inside the classroom but also in the world outside, namely; in their own lives.

Write the seven steps for a sample project planning.

1. Begin with the end in mind: Summarize the theme for the project. Why do this project? Identify the content standards that students will learn in this project. Identify key skills that students will learn in this project. Identify the habits of mind that students will practice in this project. 2. Craft the driving question: State the essential question or problem statement for the project. The statement should encompass all project content and outcomes, and it should provide a central focus for student inquiry.3. Plan the assessment, part 1: Define the products for the project. What will you assess—early in the project, during the project, and at the end of the project?4. Plan the assessment, part 2: State the criteria for exemplary performance of each product. 5. Map the project, part 1: What do students need to know and be able to do to complete the tasks successfully? How and when will they learn the necessary knowledge and skills? Look at one major product for the project and analyze the tasks necessary to produce a high-quality product. (List the knowledge and skills that students will need: already learned, taught before the project, and taught during the project.) 6. Map the project, part 2: List key dates and important milestones for this project. What challenges or problems might arise? 7. Manage the process. List the preparations necessary to address needs for differentiated instruction for ESL students, special-needs students, or students with diverse learning styles. Ask: How will you and your students reflect on and evaluate the project? (Class discussion, student-facilitated formal debrief, teacher-led formal debrief, individual evaluations, group evaluations, or other.)

PBL will provide you with the opportunity to develop the following skills. (write them)

The skills to develop through PBL are:

• Problem solving skills • Thinking skills • Teamwork skills, including appreciating diversity of group members • Time management skills • Information retrieval and evaluation skills • Communication skills • Computing skills

What is the role of a teacher in the classroom project development?

The teacher’s role in PBL is to encourage his students to learn and get the information on their own by letting himself go of his control over the class thus allowing the classroom project to be successful. The teacher must be a facilitator for students´ learning and also must develop an

atmosphere of shared responsibility to ensure the goals of the students and the deep understanding of what they carry out.

Which are the main benefits of Project-Based Learning (PBL)?

The main benefits according to some authors are:

The students develop skills and aptitudes such as collaboration, project planning, communication, decision-making and time management (Blank, 1997; Dickinsion et al, 1998).

The projects increase the motivation and school attendance, more participation in class and a good aptitude to do homework (Bottoms & Webb, 1998; Moursund, Bielefeldt, & Underwood, 1997). Integration between school learning and the reality. The students retain more knowledge and skills when they are engaged with stimulating projects Blank, 1997; Bottoms & Webb, 1998; Reyes, 1998).

Use of projects increase the individual strengths of learning (Thomas, 1998).

To learn practically to use the technology (Kadel, 1999; Moursund, Bielefeldt, & Underwood, 1997).

To increase the skills for problem-solving (Moursund, Bielefeld, & Underwood, 1997).

In short, PBL helps the students acquire knowledge and basic skills, learn to solve difficult problems and carry out difficult tasks using the knowledge and skills learnt through classroom projects.

What is the impact of teachers’ thinking on the style of teaching and learning in the development of classroom projects?

The teacher´s thinking can impact the classroom project properly or wrongly insofar as he acts regarding the classroom project direction. If he is who directs the project with his ideas all the time and not the students, the learning and its outcomes will not be as rich for students since he stops being a facilitator of spaces for the students´ learning and becomes himself in the the doer of the project. On the other hand, if he thinks over his students´ needs and establish aims to turn these needs into a future strength through a classroom project where the students are who propose ideas and take action, he would be impacting not only the way how they learn but also his way of teaching.

Because BPL focuses on real things, an aspect of life that you can analyze is motivating?

Because real things are what we are going to face up to in our lives and we must know how to deal with them when they come to us. An aspect of my life that I find motivating to create a

classroom project is “the interpersonal relationships” since I have learnt a lot of things throughout my life as a student but I haven´t ever been taught how to behave with my peers and this results to me a need and a weakness that I must improve, and I think why not do it in a classroom project where I would learn how to use my knowledge and skills in my life in the society.

If you’re going to build skills like critical thinking, problem solving, team work, and communication; you actually have to engage students in processes where they have to think critically, work in team and communicate to a variety of audiences. Is it true or false?

It is utterly true, because we will all have problems in our lives to solve, different people and thoughts to deal with, by saying this, we can see that learning is something goes beyond school and that is why we have to integrate all the possible skills to our lives which will enable us to understand, consider and act. This requires we build many skills that engage us to be responsible and actors of our own lives without forgetting those of people around us. Looking at the process of completing projects, we can observe that students not only hone their organizational and research skills, also develop a better communication with their peers and adults, and often work within their community while seeing the positive effect of their work; this is a deep learning that will be helpful for them to use it in their inter and inter-personal lives.

Yeison Yesid Guerra Guerrero3674525Pedagogical Projects.