As important, give them a reason to care. Earlier you say "We need to help them see why they should be engaged" that feeling why we should is hard to transmit, so instead we need to inspire, make them feel compelled to investigate and learn.
Authors of "Engaging Minds" recommend designing learning experiences that provide "liberating constraints"-- that is, situations with optimal structure AND ambiguity, that cause the student to question, interpret and customize their investigation and arrive at something significant and personally meaningful.
We need to do a better job helping them see why they should be engaged,
Getting kids to see "why they should be engaged" is hard-- We need to set up the conditions where they feel compelled to learn. Starting the course of study with an engaging entry event can ignite that need to know. BIE arranges their PBL units around this idea-- Entry event + Driving Question are the set up, from there kids take the ball and run.
Yep! This is risky for a lot of teachers. Their inclination is to intervene when things get messy. It's tempting but better to support kids through their struggle rather than remove the struggle.
This might be an unusual use of the Diigo PBL group but I'd love to have people analyze, improve, and add more project sketches to this doc. These are for a book I'm writing on PBL and inquiry. I'll credit the author for any contributions that make it into the book.
What real time events can we learn from? Here's a great example. I'd use this site whatsonwhen, "the worldwide events guide," to keep up with public events in places we connect with or study in PBL
Fast and frugal - approaches to problems that through efficiency get to answers quickly but the more complex the problem the more likely the solution has flaws.
Better with Practice: PBL Implementation Tips from the Field is a Webinar series of three sessions in February and March 2010. The first session topic is How to Create a Culture of Inquiry in the PBL Classroom. We seek your input in shaping the conversation.
Ask students to imagine becoming scientists in a laboratory or archaeologists excavating a tomb, or a rescue team at the scene of a disaster. They might be running a removal company, or a factory, or a shop, or a space station or a French resistance group.
Because they behave 'as if they are experts', the children are working from a specific point of view as they explore their learning and this brings special responsibilities, language needs and social behaviours.
Create interactive timelines collaboratively. I could see using this for documenting causation, how one event leads to another.
You can add a timeline to any blog or Web page.
ARC Guide for Educators and Students
The guide introduces educators and students to the National Archives' Archival Research Catalog (ARC). Searching in ARC to learn more about National Archives' historical documents could enrich a classroom activity, a homework assignment, or a research project. - Methodology I might follow with 8th graders who may serve as research experts to younger kids.
NYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
OH and you know what I thought of-- Wordles with key words-- when you look under "Advanced" in Wordle they show how you can emphasize (make bigger) certain words based on their value to you.
A group of educators interested in taking advantage of the richness of primary sources for teaching and learning is working together in this workspace.