One important thing to remember when venturing into project based learning, is instead of following the teacher's lead, learners pursue their own questions to create their own meaning. Teachers still design the project as the framework for learning, but students may wind up using technology to access and analyze information from all corners of the globe. Projects should be formulated to allow for student choice, setting the stage for active learning and teamwork. Project based learning is the kind of memorable learning experience you want for your students.
Some of the benefits of the Problem based learning approach are: students develop good communication skills, students develop good inquiry skills, students learn to be flexible with their working hours, students develop a fuller understanding of how the world works and that it does not just revolve around them, and students achieve the feeling that individuals can do something about changing the world. Problem based learning is very beneficial for students as it develops both their problem solving skills and communication skills.
Some issues that need to be considered in the PBL approach are, physical arrangement of your class, your learning goals, the way you talk and engage with your students, your classroom management style, how you think about assessment, how you communicate with parents and colleagues, and what you collect. As a teacher of project based learning, you need to be be prepared to explain your reasoning for using this approach and why it is beneficial for your students. Parents or colleagues might question your teaching method it is important to be educated in a teaching approach before pursuing it in your classroom. You also need to be ready to step out of your comfort zone of just lecturing your students and be able to interact with your students differently. Students also need their teacher to guide them, but also prepare them to monitor their own progress.
I like what you said at the end, about making sure to be prepared when using this method of teaching. You need to make sure, as an educator that you have experience and knowledge in what you are teaching. Its like that in any subject, if you don't know that you are teaching you shouldn't be teaching. I'm a language arts minor, but I couldn't go into a music classroom and teach, because I was never taught and I have no experience. I believe its the same for project-based learning, and after taking this course, and having enough experience to prepare yourself for teaching this method and preparing for colleagues and/or parents to question you on your method of teaching. I will need a lot of practice, myself before I use project based learning in the field.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what heather said also, i think as teachers we need to be prepared on every angle. We need to make sure that we know what we are talking about before we try to teach something, which is why teachers are constant learners, we must always be learning the new ways of teaching, and keeping up on all the new information there is. I agree that we also need to make sure we have a great reason for why we would use the project-based learning method in our classroom, because some parents might question it and we need to be abel to explain that to them.
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