Welcome to "PBL Primer Series", a go-to guide for teachers and educators stepping into the world of Project-Based Learning (PBL). This series is crafted to swiftly bring you up to speed on what PBL is all about and how to adeptly integrate it into your teaching repertoire.
As we reach the fifth segment of the PBL Primer Series, this article serves as a guidepost for educators, outlining key strategies to effectively design PBL experiences that are both academically rigorous and engaging for students.
Key Design Elements of PBL
An effective PBL not only allows students to learn specific knowledge through projects, but also drills their capabilities and skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, self-management, project management, and collaboration.
So, how can you design an effective PBL?
The Buck Institution for Education has developed a guiding framework for PBL design, defining seven "gold standards" that are the key design elements of PBL:
Challenging Problem or Question - The core of PBL is solving a meaningful problem. This problem should be challenging, but not so difficult as to discourage students; it should take into account the level of the students involved.
Sustained Inquiry - Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of posing questions, finding resources, and applying information.
Authenticity - The authenticity of a project is reflected in the fact that it aims to solve real-world problems by applying practical tools and evaluation criteria, and the outcomes or products will have a real impact; on the other hand, the authenticity of a project is also enhanced by the fact that it expresses the students' personal interests or concerns in their lives.
Student Voice & Choice - Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create, and express their own ideas in their own voice.
Reflection - Students and teachers reflect on the learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of student work, obstacles that arise, and strategies for overcoming them.
Critique & Revision - Students need to give and receive feedback from others, and know how to improve their implementation and refine their products based on that feedback.
Public Product - Students make their project work public by sharing it with and explaining or presenting it to people beyond the classroom or maybe in public.
Source: Buck Institution of Education
Sources of Projects
When designing the project for PBL, designers may have references from the following sources.
Existing Projects - Educators can begin their PBL design journey by examining existing projects, which are abundant in online resources. Platforms dedicated to PBL, along with competitions like Next Idea Matters, offer a wealth of student projects that can be both inspirational and adaptable to various teaching and learning needs.
Collaborative Design - Designers can also co-design PBL projects with other designers, or collaborate with industry experts or professional scholars depending on what the project is about. Collaborative design often provides a more comprehensive and richer perspective, making PBL more close to real-world experience.
School Design - The designer does not have to be an individual, but can also be a school. Schools can design PBL projects based on their own teaching resources and student qualities. Schools can even integrate their own designed PBL projects into their school calendars or GPA systems. Schools can also hold lecture design competitions to encourage school teachers to create outstanding PBL projects.
Integration with existing classrooms - PBL projects can also be integrated with existing classrooms as a good extension or supplement to classroom content, and the PBL projects can follow the pace of teaching and learning so that students can apply their knowledge and skills in PBL practice immediately after learning textbook knowledge.
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