Saturday, October 17, 2015

Project Based Learning




             
              What is Project Based Learning?



                      PBL RESOURCES



PBL resource#1

Andrew Miller is an Online Educator, Education Consultant and contributor on the Edutopia site. His article discusses the link between differentiated instruction and PBL. He links the concept of scaffolding with PBL.  He notes that many teachers get the concept of PBL, but are looking for tangible examples. This article gives just that. He discusses the following topics;
·         Differentiation through teams
·         Reflection and Goal setting
·         Mini lessons
·         Voice and choice in products
·         Differentiation through formative assessments
·         Balance individual work with team work
If you are looking for implementation guidance this article provides a good resource.

PBL resource#2
Creative Educator provides an excellent resource page. They cover so many PBL topics, questions and provide solid answers. They have several articles within the first page. Below is a synopsis of what kind of information you will find there.
·         How to move from “projects” to PBL by putting the focus on ideas, efforts and work. They discuss the differences between projects and PBL. The below image is a visual aide they provide on this topic.






·         The introduce the eight elements that are required in a great PBL design
-Purpose and relevance, time, complexity, intensity, connection, access, shareable, novelty
-----They delve into the importance of asking relevant questions. Is this problem solvable?
-----They point out the importance of having PBL’s be assignments that create memories.
·         The interdisciplinary approach to PBL’s.
·         How to prepare students for project based learning
·         The importance of reflection after PBL implementation
The site boasts so much more. I really recommend checking this great resource out.

PBL resource#3
This site is essentially a no frills project search site. It is sponsored by a non-profit organization and is specifically aimed at PBL. On their home page they concisely define PBL. If you are confused as to what PBL is, this was the simplest, most organized outline I have found.

PBL resource #4
High Tech High in San Diego, Ca is known as a PBL powerhouse. Their projects site boasts many ideas, examples of students works, project templates, student developed videos and more! Visit the site and check out the PBL video production assignment about the first amendment! It will inspire you to create U.S. History PBL’s that really get to “the core” of the endless possibilities of multimedia and PBL.

PBL resource#5
Students love the idea of contests. Contests can integrate with Social Science PBL is an amazing way! The following links land you on various sites that provide yearly project contests. Consider using one of more and a supreme motivation to get those PBL projects up to powerhouse levels!
·         http://www.studentcam.org/
·         You can throw in a little philosophy with that history; http://www.philosophyslam.org/





                       Keys to consider

From my perspective, there are key strategies that should be utilized when venturing into the world of Project Based Learning.

1) Gage Interest Level:
I recently read a reflective article from a teacher who looks candidly at one of her PBL project failures. She asserts that she neglected to inquire on interest level before presenting the assignment. Ultimately, she found that students were not as engaged as she had hoped. Thus, one could logically deduce that if their interest was low, so was their engagement and thus perhaps the gained less from that activity in comparison to ones in which they were enthused about.

My suggestion is to slot a time for a class discussion. Create a quick video compilation of certain historical and or economic events. At the close of this quick presentation and through discussion gage students interest level. Have students select whatever period of history in which they have interest in and let that be the focus of their Project.

Be open to student suggestions, ask questions, gage interest! If you would like to check out the accounts of the teacher I referenced above you can find her article here:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-failure-planning-successful-pbl-katie-spear

2) Be flexible with time:  
Rome was not built in a day and nor will this project be either! Be realistic about time. Every student/group/project requires time flexibility. The purpose of project based is to get away from cookie cutter molded curriculum/lesson plans. Embrace this concept and you will invite an atmosphere in your classroom that puts exploration and furthering of knowledge over your lesson plans. With that said, of course we all have some sort of timeline. Be flexible, but don't let projects go on and on with no end in site. Perhaps give a "soft deadline" to students. Express that you hold quality over the timeline. Let students know that at that soft deadline that you and the students will analyze what phase they are in. With your light guidance have students give you a realistic deadline. If students are stressed about time or need assistance; open your door for them to come in at a designated time at lunch, study hall, before or after-school. This will as well give students who do not have access to technology at their home an equitable opportunity via your room technology.


3) Be present during in class collaboration
Often times collaboration time can turn into social hour and some may have the idea that they will just do the work later at home. If you are giving the students in class time to collaborate ensure that this time is utilized wisely. This can be done by redirecting those who lack focus. As well it is imperative to walk around, engage the students. Inquire about what they are doing. Ask questions that may encourage them to delve deeper. Praise them on the work you see thus far. For example, "I love how you are using such inventive props in this project! I can't wait to see what it looks like when you are finished! Very cool so far! Great job!"


4) Peer and Self Review
Have students create their own rubrics and incorporate that into their project. As a debriefing exercise they can evaluate their own performance.  Have the student/group provide rubrics to peers. They then will receive peer critique of their work. Be advised that I suggest that you model appropriate peer review/critique standards as a way to avoid any misgivings. Ask for peers to add two positive comments and one critique.

5) Assessment
Each project will be different. Especially if you are giving students the option of what to explore and how to present it. Take that into account when assessing each project. Have students turn in a paper with a few sentences describing their game plan for their project. Create rubrics that apply to these varying student works. Provide the individualized rubrics to the students. It is important that within their exploration, that they have a clear understanding of expectations.

 lies self and peer assessment. You can have students create their own rubrics and incorporate that into their project. As a debriefing exercise they can assess their own performance. If you so choose, you can also have the student/group provide rubrics to peers. They then will receive peer critique of their work. Be advised that I suggest that you model appropriate peer review/critique standards as a way to avoid any misgivings.

6) Collaborate with other teachers!
 Reach out to other teachers and join together in coming up with unique PBL activities! We all as teachers have different strengths. Lean on one another and those different strengths and create something great for your students!




             Social Science PBL Activity Ideas






#1 Eleventh Grade WWII; Japanese Internment Camps
Click the link below to view a slide presentation of this suggested activity and it's connection to CCSS standards.
    




#2 PSA type video
Break students up into groups of 3 or 4. Project onto the board a list of current times occurrences/issues. For example, in economics class one on that list could be the recent housing market crash. Have students evaluate and analyze why to them the crash occurred. Have them create a policy or regulations that they feel could have prevented, stopped or corrected the crash. Have students create a PSA advocating for their point of view. This assignment engages students to be problem solvers who can advocate their own position in a convincing way.


#3 Debate from a time period
Set up a mini debate series in your classroom. Have students debate their solutions to problems governments or people faced in a particular time period. Have students split into 4 groups. Each group must as a unit decide which topic/problem they would like to cover. Have students delve into the problem as if they were living in that time period. After 30 minutes of group research and sharing of ideas, surprise them and split those 4 groups up into 8 groups. 4 pro and 4 con sides. Students will learn how to think critically on their feet in order to solve a problem in a fluid, changing situation.


#4 Urban Planning and Ancient Civilizations-
 Have each group of four select a part of their city wherein they feel needs a park or community gathering place. Or they can select a existing park wherein they feel needs improvement.  Have students select an ancient civilization. In conjunction with standard curricula, provide students with a list of reliable links to learn more about their selected civilization. For example; http://www.slideshare.net/rajatkatarne/presentationbasic-planning-principles-of-assyrian-egyptian-roman-and-greek-citiesHave them use their chosen civilization and how they organized their "shared spaces" as an inspiration for this plan. Have them create an urban design plan.

Invite someone from your local city planning/urban planning department. Have he or she give a brief presentation on how the city comes up with and approves park/community plans. The timeline, the costs and processed of implementation. After his or her presentation and Q&A session, have them stay and watch the presentations of  each group. Have the city planner give positive feedback on their projects.


#5 Small Acts of Courage
In my research I found a really cool project that a middle school did. You can use this as a template of sorts. This would pair well with say the study of some kind of movement or war. You as a teacher can for example reach out to a local residential living center. Inquire if students can come interview residents whom were in the military etc. Or reach out to Rotary to see if they would be able to have some veterans come to class to do interviews with students. Have students create a compilation/historical  oral history document that connects them to the material. The final project will be delivered orally in class. Look at what an 7th grade class did with their Civil Rights section. http://elschools.org/our-results/gallery/small-acts-courage

  #6 The Black Plague and how it changed feudal society
Work with your science/health teachers and do a combo history/science PBL. Have students research the history of the plague. Have them find out what conditions were like at that time. What knowledge do we have today that would have been useful to the people in that time period? Have them come up with how they would have been able to prevent and or stop the spread of the epidemic; had they been living in that time period. As well have students assess what good if any came out of the plague. It would be fun to do a black light class experiment at the conclusion of the PBL's. Paint there hands with invisible paint for a few class sessions. Prior to project presentations turn off the lights and reveal how many prints are all over the classroom in the oddest places.  




Friday, October 9, 2015

Vocabulary Knowledge

                                         
Beginning 2009 there was an active push to include more vocabulary knowledge in schools. According to the US Department of Education, the most recent data from National Assessment of Educational Progress, Students whom score high on the NAEP vocabulary questions scored higher on reading comprehension. There is a direct correlation between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. The below chart depicts the correlation of such in 8th grade students.
 


The better a students vocabulary knowledge base, the better they will do in school. The better they can communicate with others. The higher their self efficacy will be. Comprehension and vocabulary knowledge go hand in hand. The video above shares useful information on the topic of vocabulary. 

                                   VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITIES 

#1 Annotation
 
       Image courtesy of coretaskproject.com
Provide students with a Social Science reading. Ask them to annotate the piece. Have students underline main ideas and circle words they don't know and have them as a class, in groups or alone write quick, personal definitions or synonyms to the words.  
The Bill of Rights Institute offers a wide arrange of free reading material to compliment any articles or textbooks you may use in your class in U.S. History,Government or AP Political Science. I encourage you to check out this site. http://billofrightsinstitute.org/

#2 Word Splash Activity

 
 
The above picture is an example of what a Word Splash is. It is a word collage. This assignment can go along with a reading assignment. After reading students can insert key words from the reading. It combines creativity, content and vocabulary knowledge.

This strategy was found on the learning tasks website.  http://learningtasks.weebly.com/vocabulary-strategies.html

Here is an example of  a Word Splash Worksheet courtesy of the learning tasks website.

                                                    WORDSPLASH


                                                           









DIRECTIONS: Identify the largest word in the wordsplash.  This will be the main topic.  Choose THREE words that relate to the main topic.  Write three sentences that describe how each of these words relates to the main topic word. Create a visual wordsplash in the space above. Use colors and different text sizes and styles. Be creative!

  1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 




   #3 Mind Mapping


Mind mapping is an organization tool. If you have technology readily available at your school, you can use a free site like http://mindmapfree.com/. You can have students draw it by hand on whatever paper size and material you choose to use. Or you can create your own ready made mind map for students to fill in details. Reading rockets has some templates for teachers to use. www.readingrockets.org

Mind mapping starts with a central topic with branches that extend outward. These branches include key details. 

Here is an example of what students can create on mind mapping. They can save the mind map on their device and send it to you via google drive, email or any method of your choosing. This mind map creation can be done via this free tool: http://mindmapfree.com/


Students can also draw and create their own by hand. Here is an example of a hand created mind map courtesy of  Gabrielle Marquez. This idea can be found on ivymarquez.blogspot.com. 


                                          Mind Map found here: http://ivymarquez.blogspot.com




Here is an example of a teacher made mind map worksheet. Ready made mind map worksheets can be found by visiting: www.readingrockets.org

                                                                            Worksheet courtesy of www.readingrockets.org



 You can have this be a collaborative classroom activity. Break students into groups and then have they present them to the class.  You can take photos of each mind map and place it on your classroom webpage so that students can go back and reference it.

Here is a video that depicts two types of mind mapping activities. You can weave in core material and vocabulary knowledge into both of the mind mapping techniques courtesy of elearnerenagaged.com

#4 Social Studies Interactive Notebook

 Interactive notebooks are a great way to consistently integrate vocabulary knowledge into Social Science content. Here is an example of what the basic premise of an interactive note book is.







 Wiki spaces is a wonderful, free resource that offers guidance and ideas on creating and keeping interactive notebooks full of variety. You can visit their site to check out the details: https://interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com/

Here is a video depicting what a Social Science interactive notebook could look like.





#5 Vocabulary Knowledge Video Activity
One really fun, hands on way to integrate social science content with vocabulary knowledge is I movie creation! Students in grades 7-12 as so tech savvy and they will really enjoy this assignment.

You can assign a section/period of history to each group. Have them collaboratively create a short movie about that historical time period and events. Require them to include pop ups of key words/ definitions of at least 5 vocabulary words that they find in the historical sources they use. Have them act out/role play a historical scene with the word. Encourage them to dress up, add props and be creative!

School tube https://www.schooltube.com is a great resource you can use. You can create a class account. Have the students upload their videos to the class account and have them present their videos in class.

Here is an example of what 10th grade students at William Hart High School did for their vocab video. It is not a strictly Social Science video, but it will give you a good idea of what the assignment goal is. Click on this link to view the video. http://bit.ly/zU0XZv