Blog Post #9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

7 Essentials for Project-Based Learning

When I was in school, I dreaded doing any project. When asked why we had to do something, the answer was generally, "Because I said so," or "Because it's on the test." I had no motivation to do the work, because I felt as if it didn't benefit me. I would do enough to get a good grade, without worrying about learning the information. After reading this 7 Essentials for Project-Based Learning, I know that using PBL is a much more effective way to get students involved in projects and learning. The article gives some great advice for creating good, meaningful projects, that students will actually enjoy. For example, each project should have a driving question, it should include 21st century skills, and it should have a real audience, instead of just the teacher, among other things. 

Project Based Learning for Teachers

This video gives an excellent summary of what Project Based Learning really is. After watching it, I learned that there are so many ways we can use technology in PBL. I knew of quite a lot from EDM 310, but this video showed a lot that I had never heard of before. This video stated that a driving question is very important, just like the article above. 

Two Students Solve the Problem of Watery Ketchup by Designing a New Cap

After watching this video, I learned that not only can Project Based Learning help students to learn information, it can solve real world problems. While most people may not think watery ketchup is a big deal, I find it very impressive that two high school seniors engineered a cap to fix the problem, designed it on a computer, and 3-D printed it. If 2 boys can solve this problem, there is no telling what ideas other students can come up with and problems they can solve, all while doing a school project. This video is an excellent example of how PBL is a good way to get students excited about learning, and how the results can be fascinating. 

Project Based Learning in PE

When I think of PE, I always picture playing sports, running a timed mile, and walking the track. However, this article made me realize that not only can you implement PBL into subjects such as math, science, history, and English, but you can also use it in PE. Along with doing physical activity in class, it is important to teach students how to stay healthy outside of school. This article explained a project where high school students create physical fitness programs for middle schoolers. It would be very beneficial for teaching students what they should be doing to stay fit, as well as promoting teamwork and collaboration. Overall, this taught me that PBL can be used in virtually any subject. 

10 Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning

This article shares many very useful websites that students and teachers can use for Project Based Learning. Some of them, such as Google Docs, we have learned about in EDM 310, but there were several that I had never heard of such as Note App, and Linoit. This post taught me that the possibilities are endless when it comes to technology you can use in PBL, and it also taught me about many of the sites I could use in my future classroom. 

I think the main idea behind all of these articles and videos is that Project Based Learning is a wonderful thing, that teachers around the world should look into. Teachers and students can teach us so much about how to create meaningful PBL projects, how to get students excited, tools you can use to enrich your lessons, and so much more.