Strategies for Discovery
Chapter 4 is all about selecting your project (or making your project) so that discovery for your students is capable. When making a new project, it is a good idea to look at projects that have already been done. Even if you decide to make your own instead of using one of these, you can look at different projects for ideas. There are some potential pitfalls that teachers fall into when planning and conducting a project.
Long on activity, short on learning outcomes: If a project is tedious and busy with things to get done but reaches only lower-level thinking, it is not worth the time. If the students could simply learn the same things through reading a textbook, then it does not involve enough information.
Technology layered over traditional practice: If the project is just a research project on the computer or if you could do the same through a lecture, the technology incorporation is not what it needs to be.
Trivial thematic units: Your classroom might have a theme that is incorporated into the daily lessons, but they have to be PBL as well.
Overly scripted with many, many steps: Do not have projects that are over scripted, telling the students exactly what to do. You want the students to have some reign on their education, making critical decisions for their projects.
When designing a project, it is best to think about what makes a project great. This aspects of great projects include, but are not limited to: loosely designed so students may have different learning paths, realistic, students learn with and from each other, and have students learn by doing. There are many sources as to where you can get projects from. Project ideas are everywhere! You can get them from other teachers, from news stories, contemporary issues, or even, my favorite, students questions or interests. By relating it back to the students, they will be even more interested in the project and take it that much farther!
This chapter deals specifically with our lesson because a project about weather can simply be taken from a textbook and then the students make posters and a presentation about them. However, that's not what we want. We want them to be able to predict the future weather, know how to take accurate readings about weather, and learn about the weather of a different place through people that actually live there. By allowing them this freedom of discovery, we are making this a worthwhile lesson for students.
I really like your take as to how you would use this information within your own project. Your are more than correct when you say students can learn this information about of a text book and even off of weather news stations; however, the importance of them learning and discovering for themselves this information is even more essential for students to retain these concepts at a higher rate. I also like how you have set your objective goals here regarding what you want the students' to learn. It is also imperative that we as teachers have a set plan for what our students need to be learning in order to make a plan for them to learn. Great reflection!
ReplyDeleteInteresting points! Something that stood out to me in your reflection was your discussion of not making things overly scripted. My question for you is where do we draw this line? Students do need some guidance but how can we be sure we are not sucking the creativity out of the project by making it too structured?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you point that as a teacher, you really need to think about what makes a project great. I remember doing many projects in elementary school, some of which were completely pointless and did not see the point to. I think when you can come up with an interesting project that stays on topic and is beneficial to the studetns is what really makes a project great.
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