The webinar
was conducted by Suzi Bos, a great woman interested in problem based learning.
She always look for trends and teacher reflections on projects related to
education, and is really interested in shifting practice into more student-centered
real-world way of learning.
It was a
great experience listening to the wealthy information given by her and having
the opportunity to chat and share different professional experiences in the
subject area.
Suzi Boss
started by saying, “the longer students stay on school, the longer they are perusing
in education, less engaged they feel.”
As research indicates
55% students of grade 5-12 feel engaged. The other 45% are not feeling engaged,
from which 17% are actively disengaged and not really interested in what’s
going on.
“Deep
learning always requires deep engagement.” Suzi said.
It’s
necessary to talk to students about their learning experience, which could help
in getting them engaged. One solution for disengagement is adopting problem-based
learning.
The
advantages of problem based learning (PBL):
·
Increases engagement
·
Makes concepts memorable
·
Prepares students for future challenges (college,
careers, life..)
·
BONUS: increases teacher satisfaction
The agenda
of the whole process was to:
1. Find project
worthy ideas
2. Increase relevance
(but keep the rigor)
3. Consider the 3 As
to guide students toward meaningful, memorable results.
Tip 1:
Find Project worthy Ideas
Start by
paying attention to headlines that grap students’ attention.
The key is
to ask the following questions:
·
Is the heading a messy problem with no one right
answer or solution?
·
Does it generate high interest?
·
Does it involve an ongoing issue or consequence?
·
Could it connect to your standards?
The problem
must be right-sized, accessible, actionable, and big enough to matter but small
enough to tackle. Problems for students must be challenging but still within
students scale to achieve success.
So how to go
from interesting topics to real projects?
The answer
is to consider the following:
·
Process: what’s your framework for helping students
understand the problem deeply, building background around it, and making
meaning of it?
·
Context: learning often extends beyond the classroom (not
limited to the 4 walls of classroom)
·
Application: authentic products, audiences, and
assessment.
Tip 2:
Plan for Rigor and Relevance
Ask yourself
how can this project be the best use of my time and students’ time in the
coming weeks?
Save time
for situations that requires deep inquiry and have connections to real world.
Always think
about the following:
·
How the topic connect to the big ideas of your content
area?
·
Why do these concepts matter in the world outside
school?
·
Who interacts with this topic in their work or daily
life?
Tip 3:
Encourage Real Results
“You’re not
talkers, you’re doers.” – Michael Dudek
It’s not all
about theories. You need to put theories into practice and find out what works
and what doesn’t.
To help
students become not just talkers but doers, there are three ideas that should
be considered (the presenter “Suzi” called them the three As):
1. Awareness: allow
them to raise others’ awareness for issues they felt they are important and
wealth knowing.
2. Advocacy: allow
them to give voice to those who are voiceless.
3. Actions: putting
into practice (put solutions into actions).
Students must be given the voice and choice to choose among
the “three As” to express their understanding of the project.
….Hopefully I’ve
pictured the webinar readily, easily, facilely and simply...
I hope it
added something to you!
