Children's Museum PBL

Significant Content
The "Hook"
Know and Need to Know Classroom Session
Problem Statement
Student Feedback

Public Audience:  Tony, Arynn, and Dave from Duke Energy Children's Museum

Student Design from 2011-2012 School Year

Children's Museum Prototype of idea:

Final Reflection

Please respond to this post with a final reflection.

Possible Questions for Reflection…
• What have you learned? • Where have you struggled? • What Challenges & Frustrations have you encountered    
  going through this process?
• If I could do this again, I would... • If I could transfer this process to another project I would...

Additionally, you may want to take a look at some of the resources we have posted on the High AIMS Wiki Site, including the Essential Elements checklist and the Project Design Rubric.   Does your design include all of the essential elements of a PBL?  When you look at the Project Design Rubric, where do your unit elements fall? 

Feel free to consider and reflect upon other thoughts as well.

Tips for Designing Rubrics

In his blog post, "Tame the Beast:  Tips for Designing and Using Rubrics", Andrew Miller of the Buck
Institute for Education outlines 6 strategies for designing and developing high quality Rubrics.  What tips do you have for creating high-quality rubrics?  Do you agree with those provided by Mr. Miller?  What would you add to this list?

The BIE provides additional guidance on developing quality rubrics here.  What resources can you share regarding rubric creation and implementation?

Planning the Assessment

The following is from the Buck Institute for Education Project Based Learning Online Planning Web site:

Assessment Overview

Planning for the assessments in a project is a step that comes before the project begins in the classroom. Good assessment practices mean that students should know exactly what will be required of them, and what criteria will be used to evaluate their performance.

Projects also require the use of multiple measures, since you are trying to answer at least three questions at the end of a project:





Question 1

How well do the students know the content of the topic of the project? Core content can be assessed in presentations, exhibitions, or through traditional methods, such as tests. Remember, that it is important that students be required to master the conventions, core principles, and vocabulary of a topic. Assessments should be designed to help you find out how well they have done in this important task.

Question 2

How well have they mastered the key skills learned in the project? Teaching skills is central to every good project. But skills cannot be assessed through a paper and pencil test—they need to be demonstrated. Projects should include performance assessments, or rubrics, that measure each skill to be learned in the project.

Question 3

How well did they apply their knowledge and skills as they prepared their products? Projects require students to provide products for assessment, but the process of a project can also be assessed. There are many ways to do this. For example, rubrics can include measures of ‘progress over time’ or improvement. Students can be required to submit artifacts, such as records of their research efforts or interview notes that document their efforts and progress in a project.

 3 Steps to Planning Effective Assessment:

1)    Align the products or performances for the project with the outcomes

2)    Know what to assess - establish criteria to assess each product and performance

3)    Create rubrics for the project

Each step includes several sub-steps, and should result in a balanced assessment plan.

Reflect upon the project idea your team has developed for the High AIMS PBL Course.  What could be/are the various ways in which your team will assess the content knowledge gained through the project?  What are the ways your team could/will assess the key skills students will master throughout the project?

Do you follow a specific process in planning your assessment components for a project?  If so, please briefly share your process, if not, explain how you typically design your assessment.

Tips for Implementing PBL

In Ten Takeaway Tips for Replicating Project-Based Learning author, Grace Rubenstein, explains the lessons learned from schools in one Georgia county that decided to implement PBL concepts, modeling after High Tech High schools.

She states the following considerations are key:

1)  Deliberately build trust among colleagues
2)  Grant the freedom to fail
3)  Allow for flexible scheduling
4)  Build in time to plan and collaborate
5)  Don't forget the standards
6)  Remember, not everything is a project
7)  Cultivate an evangelist
8)  Pilot with a small group of enthusiasts
9)  Use the available free resources
10)  Educate the parents and community

Image Source:  http://ccpscaoblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/pbl-what-why-how/

Which of the above are the easiest for you to consider?  Which of the above create the biggest challenge?   What might you need to tackle those challenges?

If you have implemented any PBL strategies in your class, what would you add to this list of "lessons learned"?

Assessment Ideas

Assessment Ideas in PBL

Check out the following links for some ideas to help manage assessment data and please comment on how you would use one of the ideas when assessing content understanding in your PBL design:

Exit slips
Authentic Assessment
Google Forms

Establishing Classroom Culture

We agreed that in order to design and implement a PBL unit we would "Need to Know" more about establishing a classroom culture conducive to best PBL practices.   The following video provides a glimpse into a classroom PBL.   As you watch the video, reflect upon the work that was possibly done before and/or during the unit to establish classroom culture.    Provide your thoughts and "I wonders" in the comments below.  

For more information regarding classroom culture and PBL visit the following links:

Constructing a PBL Classroom - First Weeks of School (Discussion)

Practical PBL:  Four Tips for Implementation

Project Oriented Activities vs. Project Based Learning

What are some project-oriented activities you currently use with students?  How could one of these project-oriented activities be transformed into a Project Based activity?

  It is important for us to remember that having students complete projects does not necessarily mean they are doing Project Based Learning.  Project Based Learning requires students to go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge.  The following table from the BIE allows us to differentiate between project-oriented and project-based learning. 

Project Versus Activity-Based Teaching Strategies

Remember that projects are not a new instructional idea. However, well designed projects that meet PBL criteria differ from activities or even projects that have been traditional in the classroom.
Example Themes	Activity-Based Instruction	Project-Based Learning	Differences between the Two Instructional Strategies
Civil War Battles	Take a field trip to Gettysburg. Write a report on the experience	Investigate the question "How could wars be more humane?" Use Gettysburg as an example of a high casualty battle, comparing it to other battles. Complete a portfolio, including an essay and a literary response journal, then conclude with a debate.	Students investigate an overall challenging question. District activities are conducted in the context of the challenge. No single activity is likely to be sufficient for responding to the challenge.
Sound Pollution	Listen to different sounds. Make a graph. Identify features of common sounds that are disturbing to the ear.	Identify five sound pollution problems in the community. Form a task force to investigate the problems and devise technically feasible solutions for each.	Although the activity-based tasks are useful for instruction, the tasks themselves may not be provocative. The project-based approach, in contrast, defines an overarching challenge and embeds these tasks (listening, graphing, identifying features) in a meaningful community project.
Ancient Architecture	Make posters depicting the architecture of ancient Egypt	Complete a case study on the pyramids using the question "How were the pyramids built?" to address five controversial issues: source of the design, source of materials, time to completion, method of transportation of materials, and contents of the chambers.	The project addresses the fundamental principles and issues. The project has an overarching question that engages students' critical thinking as well as their creativity. The project reflects current historical mysteries and investigations.
Geometry	Observe and measure various school buildings and record data.	Design a "School of the Future" with scale drawings and models, taking into account the site and anticipated needs. Present plan to an audience of school officials or community experts.	This complex project goes beyond simply "getting students out of their seats." It requires application of concepts and defense of choices made.