The way you hear the terms "21st Century" learning and skills thrown around these days, you'd think that it wasn't thought of before a couple of years ago! As I am fairly new to the K12 teaching profession, I wasn't aware of all the research and work that had been done prior to this century on the topic and urgency of 21st Century Skills and learning. From what I've read and learned over the past 4 or so years, PBL seems to me to be the poster child for 21st C. learning. It contains some of the major elements: self-direction, coaching/guidance from the teacher (as opposed to lecture), knowledge-sharing, collaboration, problem-solving, student-centered, and the list continues. But here's the question: if it's so great, has so much potential, and is beneficial for teaching the 21st C. skills we profess students must have, why isn't it ubiquitously used in schools? For that matter, why isn't it even moderately used? Please let your voice be heard!
Do you employ the PBL model in your classroom? How often if yes. Why not if no.
I will begin with my answer. I do use the PBL method in my classroom. And I'd say for 1/3 of my semester.
First, I love, love, love using projects in my class to enable my students to participate in hands-on learning, to learn by doing, and to demonstrate their understanding of the material and general knowledge. The way the PBL model is set up, it seems you have to present a problem FIRST and then coach the students through gaining the knowledge needed in order to solve the problem. I think at a college level that this sounds great. Because a lot of core or foundational information is already learned and understood and the students can at least conceptualize a problem initially while building new knowledge and skills in order to solve it. At a lower education level where students are still building their foundational knowledge, I'm not sure it makes as much sense - at least not for EVERY lesson. And that's just it - I don't think it's fair to students or teachers to expect only one method of instruction or knowledge-delivery to be used in a classroom. Every person is unique, every student learns best in different ways, and, ultimately, we as teachers should seek to vary our delivery methods in order to reach every child.
Shouldn't we?
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1 comment:
Yes! Variety in our delivery methods is key!!
I think PBL isn't used so much in middle and high schools because it can give a class just enough rope to hang itself, as the expression goes. With all the freedom to research and explore answers with nothing more than the probing of teachers, many students will take the easy way out, come up with one quick idea, and be done with the assignment. There has to be enough inner motivation on the part of the students to want to find answers to the problem. If it's a subject they simply don't care much about, it can turn into disaster. Once in college, though, many students are following their academic interests, and that's when PBL can really be effective.
I also think that we often use elements of PBL in many of the things we do as teachers everyday. When students are put into groups for a few minutes to brainstorm, there is very often a problem they are attempting to solve. Groups then come together as a class and share their thoughts. It's like PBL, but on a much smaller scale.
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