Group items tagged

"What's the Difference Between "Doing Projects" and "Project Based Learning"?"

A major award! I'm honoring them for stepping outside the comfort zone of the school system that they have been subject to for most of their lives, authoring their own learning, and in the process, enjoying it. However, this transition did not come easily, and it took them some time to adjust to this format. 

Great article for resources on PBL, links to other articles, project ideas, integration of edtech ideas...

Another blog piece by Andrew Miller on how to make good DQ's

Another blog piece by Andrew Miller on how to make good DQ's

A very nice Prezi on PBL

A very nice Prezi on PBL

"What boosts PBL from a fun and engaging exercise to a rigorous and powerful real-world learning experience? Researchers have identified four key components that are critical to teaching successfully with PBL (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008; Ertmer & Simons, 2005; Mergendoller & Thomas, 2005; Hung, 2008). All of these play a role in the curriculum-design process."

Sawubona . . . Visit the storymaking steps, transmedia digital tools, and the featured StoryKeeper's Gallery designed to inspire and jump start beginners. Consider hosting customize Workshops, Artist-in-Residence Programs or DigiTales Storytelling Camps. These one-of-a-kind artistic learning adventures are meant to lift the spirits, spark creativity and imaginations while deepening content and technical skills as digital authors experience the process of merging the ancient art of oral storytelling with a palette of transmedia tools. Bernajean's learning environments are joyfully designed and paced to enable participants to master skills, processes and the craftsmanship now needed in creating ALL kinds of exemplar multi-media products beyond storytelling.

Integrating digital storytelling with instruction becomes a creative opportunity for both novice and technologically experienced educators when using Jason Ohler's Digital Storytelling in the Classroom. Ohler links digital storytelling to improving traditional, digital, and media literacy, and guides teachers on how to empower students to tell stories in their own native language: new media and multimedia. Aligned with NCTE standards and covering important copyright and fair use information, this text provides information on integrating storytelling into curriculum design and using the principles of storytelling as a measurement of learning and literacies. Implementation tips and visual aids abound, giving teachers an exciting new resource.

"Research Supports Global Curriculum Language immersion, global competence, and vibrant professional learning communities enhance student learning at Seattle's John Stanford International School. "

PBL does not focus on stale memorization of boring textbooks, but motivates students to investigate from a multitude of sources just like historians, writers, and scientists do. On top of these skills though PBL is also about DOING. It is not enough for students to be passive about learning but to be actively involved taking it much deeper. PBL is much more like actual jobs than the traditional classroom is.

Regardless of what social and emotional learning (SEL), character development, or any other related program you might use in your school, two things are true: They have a problem-solving component, and generalization is greatly enhanced when what is being taught as SEL/character is also integrated into the rest of the school day. Because of the importance of language arts skills, reading activities provide an ideal way to build students' problem-solving skills by applying them to deepen their insights into the written materials.

Bottom line the assessments need to be a tool to measure learning and growth and not as a way that set students up for failure. Assessments need to be used by the teacher as well as the student to guide student learning. Assessments are a tool and   not an end to themselves

Project based learning covers a wide spectrum of the curriculum. See how a familiar substance - soap - is able to excite students to learn

The ALTC Exchange provides learning and teaching resources and functions to support communication and collaboration across the higher education sector. It does this through professional networking tools and search, discovery and repository functions for sharing resources, as well as portals to other learning resource websites and databases

Social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now fixtures of youth culture. They have so permeated young lives that it is hard to believe that less than a decade ago these technologies barely existed. Today's youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity as did their predecessors, but they are doing so amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression. We include here the findings of three years of research on kids' informal learning with digital media. The two page summary incorporates a short, accessible version of our findings. The White Paper is a 30-page document prepared for the MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Series. The book is an online version of our forthcoming book with MIT Press and incorporates the insights from 800 youth and young adults and over 5000 hours of online observations.

The school's approach to reengaging students in learning has an important twist: Downtown's curriculum is entirely project based. Its alternative format allows students to choose a thematic, integrated pathway of subjects each semester, find connections among these subjects in real-world settings, and, hopefully, discover their passions along the way.

A research paper by John Seely Brown, Allan Collins and Paul Duguid, one of my favorites - Authors discuss learning theory and how conventional schooling too often ignores the influence of school culture on what is learned in school. Good background for why PBL works, especially the info on using tools.

The MIT Professor describes why games are great learning tools, and how new gaming paradigms can change the educational system.