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.
In this sixth feature of the PBL Primer Series, we focus on the pivotal role of teachers in guiding Project-Based Learning, offering practical strategies to facilitate student-driven inquiry and project success.
Organization and Management
Team Formation
Project-based learning encourages teamwork, usually in the form of teams. Teachers need to reasonably set the number and roles for each team according to the project and the student's abilities and allow participating students to freely form teams or assign groups according to the actual situation.
Organization and Process Management
Project-based learning is a complex task that is difficult for students to complete alone and relies on teamwork to move forward. Since team members are not equally competent and good at all tasks, an effective division of duty is necessary. For example, some students are good at communication and can be responsible for investigation and interview; some students are good at logical thinking can work on data analysis; while some students have excellent writing skills, they are the best candidates for writing project reports.
Teachers need to assist students with team formation and division of duty within the group according to each student's strengths and advantages in order to improve the efficiency of the project.
At the same time, teachers need to set project phases to know the progress of each team during the project implementation process and push students to complete specific tasks according to the plan and phases.
Project Guidance
Teaching by Asking Questions
The role of the teacher in project-based learning is a facilitator. Instead of telling students the answers or results, the teacher guides them to discover, propose, and solve problems on their own. The goal is not to teach students how much to learn, but rather to improve their ability to learn on their own.
When instructing students in PBL projects, teachers should use the Teach by Asking Questions approach to encourage students to think and solve problems by asking questions. However, teachers should make sure that the questions are thought-provoking, and the following questioning approaches can be considered.
Use divergent or open-ended questions, such as "What do you think?" "What should we try ?" or "What would happen if... ?" These questions have no right or wrong answers. In fact, they can have many different answers. As a result, children are more likely to use critical- and creative-thinking skills.
Try to avoid convergent or dose-ended questions, such as "How many do you see?" or "What color is this?" More open-ended questions lead to creative thinking and problem-solving. Sometimes close-ended questions are necessary, but ask as many open-ended questions as possible.
Offer question starters. Pay attention to die ways you begin your questions.
Open-ended questions start with phrases such as "How do you think we could ... ?" "How many ways can you ... ?" "What might happen if... ?"
Convergent or close-ended questions often begin with phrases such as "What is... ? or "Which are... ?"
Take advantage of opportunities to question.
Some questions encourage students to brainstorm many possibilities: "How many ways can we...?"
Other questions invite students to find a solution to a problem: "How can we ...?"
Accept every answer equally. Although one child's response might excite you more than other responses, it's important for children to see and feel that their ideas and answers are not being judged.
Encourage students to elaborate on their ideas. Sometimes students may need your help to keep open-ended conversations going. If students seem stuck, try asking additional questions based on their previous comments and responses.
Feedback and Evaluation
Checklist
Teachers should be good at using the checklist tool to help students understand the details and requirements of each section. Designing the checklist according to the project section before the project starts so that students can check themselves before and after each part of the project to improve the efficiency and quality of the project.
Critique
Teachers may provide 1-2 critiques for each team. Teams will make changes to their projects after receiving the instructor's comments to continuously improve their projects.
Review and Reflection
Teachers should set up a Review and Reflections section at the end of the project, allowing the group to reflect on what went well and what needs to be improved after the project, and guiding the students to summarize what they have gained from the project.
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