PLANNING A PBL UNITPLANNING A PBL UNITChristine Wells

THROUGH THELOOKING GLASS

15-16 | MARCH | 2013This change is neither minor nor

optional

What is PBL?

Edutopia

8 Essential Ingredients

PBL is…1. Intended to teach significant content e.g. content standards and key

concepts

2. Requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and various forms of communication – 21st Century skills

3. Requires inquiry as part of the learning process and creating something new

4. Is organised around an open-ended Driving Question which focuses learning

5. Creates a need to know essential content and skills

6. Allows some degree of student voice and choice

7. Includes processes for revision and reflection

8. Involves a public audience

Project-Based Learning...Where do I start?

Questions to consider:

1.Identify the important skills that are fundamental to the topic you are teaching.2.Explain how the topic is relevant to real life.3.Identify the interdisciplinary connections. What other subjects might be integrated?4.Consider how you might go beyond rote learning to analysis, evaluation and creation.5.Identify the authentic ways that students can use technology tools to engage in this project. Is there an opportunity for collaboration, digital tools, and information literacy?6.Identify the aspects of the topic that will be of most interest to your students. Is there something that would captivate them as you launch the project7.Explain how you will build reflection in to the project.

Adapted from Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss (ISTE, 2007)

PBL PLANNING

Project Name: Surviving Prejudice

Subject: Year 9 English

Driving Question: What values and attitudes are needed to survive prejudice?

Examples of Driving Questions:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-how-to-refine-driving-questions-andrew-miller

http://pbl-online.org/driving_question/dqexplore/dqexplore1.html

http://joedeegan.blogspot.co.nz/2009/10/3-steps-to-driving-question-for-project.html

1.Identify Learning Outcomes for this unit.

2.Identify Success Criteria for this unit.

3.Which other emphasis should be built into the unit?

•Key Competencies: TRUMP

•3 Story Intellect: Gathering, Processing, Applying

•21st Century skills such as collaboration, creativity and critical thinking

See What’s the big idea?

See What’s the big idea?

1,2,3 - Getting Started

4. What's the Big Idea?Inspirational, authentic, allows for deep learning, has meaning for students,

output has social value, can be developed by students.

Discover

Identify examples of prejudice in our world.

Describe examples from their own lives.

Identify possible survival techniques that could be used

Create a presentation to help teenagers survive

prejudice

Share the presentations with the class, on YouTube

or other social media

5. What is the output of this project?

What will students do/write/create/build? Do

Read The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Matrix activities

Write

Write a blog post and tweet the link

Write 2-3 essays

Create/build

•A presentation to help teenagers survive prejudice.

6. Develop a Timeline of Key Moments

Entry event, check points, draft deadline, presentation – these are only key moments – there will be others

ENTRY EVENT

•Watch an episode of Bear Grylls - The Torres Strait one.

CHECK POINTS

•Deadline to have read the novel

•Learners create a timeline of due dates

•Essay blog due date

•Presentation planning checkpoint and due date

7. Choice, Personalisation and Presentation

Choice & Personalisation

Identify student options and any support needs

A Gardners/Blooms matrix of tasks with points assigned. Some tasks are compulsory and a certain amount of points will have to be gained.

PresentationIdentify details of exhibition, nature of, promotion, invitation?

•Share with class

•Share presentations via social media.

•Blog essay and reflection with peer feedback

8. AssessmentIdentify how assessment is factored in to the task – which outcomes?

Formative, summative, self, peer?

•Essays will be marked as formative assessment with an end of unit common test.

•A 'classwork' mark will be given for the presentation

•Peer feedback of blog reflection

9. Applied Learning

Identify the focus of : semi structured problems, skills of collaboration, communication and critical thinking and student self-management

Matrix Links

For creating your own matrix of learning activities based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and Gardner’s Intelligences,check out:

http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2006/Lstyles/GardBloo.htm

Here’s a link to “BloomsGardners Matrix.doc” in my Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jzdjxprg51ik9r7/BloomsGardners%20Matrix.doc

You can download this template and adjust it for your own needs.

10. Connections to Adults

Mentors, experts, judges

•Roaming teacher as mentor

•Parents/caregivers & other family members

•Students may find their own experts in community

Useful Resources

• http://www.slideshare.net/christinekw/introducing-pbl

• Powerful Learning Practice: www.plpnetwork.com/pbl-resources/

• Buck Institute for Education: www.bie.org/

• Edutopia: www.edutopia.org/blog/practical-pbl-design-amber-graeber

• PBLU: www.pblu.org/

Influences

• Adapted from “The Teachers Guide to Project Based Learning” and bie.org. Mark Burgess

• Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss (ISTE, 2007)