Teaching Social Studies and Literacy through a Project-Based Approach Nell K. Duke Michigan State...

Teaching Social Studies and Literacy through a

Project-Based ApproachNell K. Duke

Michigan State University

Literacy Achievement Research Center

International Reading Association International Reading Association InstituteInstitute

May, 2009May, 2009

Plan for Talk

• Theory– Situated Learning Theory– Authenticity Theory

Research– Authenticity Research– PABIL Research

Practice– Planning project-based units

Theory

Situated learning theory (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989)

Learning is best accomplished through (authentic) activity.

Explicit instruction from a more knowledgeable other (e.g., the teacher) is important in learning, but it cannot stand alone.

Authenticity Theory

Literacy learning is facilitated when learners read and write texts the same as, or as much as possible like, those people read and write in the world outside of schools.

Literacy learning is facilitated when learners read and write texts for the purposes people read and write those kinds of texts in the world outside of schools.

(Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, & Tower, 2006/2007)

Authentic Literacy Events

Authentic literacy events are those that replicate or reflect reading and writing purposes and texts, specific to the genre, that occur in the world outside of a schooling context.Authentic reading of informational text involves reading for the purpose of obtaining information you want or need to know (and writing for the purpose of communicating information to people who want or need to know it).

(Purcell-Gates, Duke, Hall, & Tower, 2006/2007)(Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, & Tower, 2006/2007)

Some set-ups for authentic reading of informational text in science in the TEXT approach

Discrepant events to generate questions• E.g., prisms on the overhead

Demonstrations of phenomena to generate questions• E.g., volcano, caterpillars

Teachable moments brought from world outside• E.g., broken arm

Announcing topic and asking for questions• E.g., K-W-L charts (topic: sound)


Some set-ups for authentic reading and writing of informational text in science in the TEXT approach

Literacy in response to a community need• E.g. pond brochure

Literacy as part of problem-solving• E.g. dying tadpoles

(Audience integral to authentic writing -- audiences include distant readers (e.g., Costa Rican pen pals), within-school audiences, and within-classroom audiences)


Research on Authenticity

• Children in second and third grade classrooms that included more authentic literacy activities:• showed higher growth in informational and procedural science text

reading comprehension and writing for 4 of 7 outcome measures, and in interaction with explicit instruction in procedural text features for a 5th outcome measure (Purcell-Gates, Duke, & Martineau, 2007).

• Adults in literacy programs that included more authentic literacy activities:• reported reading and writing more out-of-school, and• reported reading and writing more complex texts.• The longer students were in these programs, the more this was the case

(Purcell-Gates, Degener, Jacobson, & Soler, 2002).

• There is additional less direct research support.

Project-Based Pedagogy

• Project-based approaches involve students in a series of activities toward a common goal, such as solving a problem or creating something.

• Projects often:• Involve reading and writing informational texts• Are multi- or interdisciplinary• Involve authentic literacy events

Research on Project-Based Pedagogy

• There is surprisingly little research on the impact of project-based pedagogy.

• The research that is available (see Thomas, 2000, for a review) suggests that project-based pedagogy can result in • Improved development of higher-order cognitive

skills, including communication skills, and• Content learning.

The Project-Based Approach to Building Informational Literacy (PABIL) Study

Two to three times per week for four months first grade teachers replaced their usual writing time with PABIL.Each classroom participated in 2 projects.Each project was 24 - 26 lessons of about 45 minutes each, plus time publishing and celebrating final projects.


Each project focused on developing a written product, usually individual information books.The first project related to foods, the second project related to the environment -- within that teacher tailored the focus to her classroom.Written projects had an audience beyond the teacher -- e.g., a class wrote information books about their favorite healthy foods to display at a local restaurant.


PABIL lessons included:• Read Aloud, Teacher Modeling, Explicit

Teaching (15+ minutes)• Guided and Independent Experiences (20+

minutes)• Reflection Time (10+ minutes)


Informational reading and writing knowledge and skills were taught in the context of the projects:• Comprehension strategies (e.g., applying background

knowledge)• Informational text features (e.g., diagrams, index)• Vocabulary knowledge (e.g., characteristics, products) • Vocabulary strategies (e.g., generating images of

words)• Writing strategies (webbing)

Example Writing Strategies PABIL Session

Read Aloud & Teacher Modeling• Teacher models reading for information and

adding information to a webGuided and Independent Experiences

• Students create a preliminary web on their project topic

• Students read for information to add to the webReflection

• Students share their webs and what they learned about their topic

Example Informational Text Features PABIL Session

Read Aloud & Teacher Modeling• Teacher explains about diagrams• Teacher shows diagrams in books• Teacher models how to draw a diagram

Guided and Independent Experiences• Children look through books related to project and

mark diagrams with sticky notesReflection

• Children share what they learned from the diagrams and about diagrams

• Children write a reflection on diagrams

PABIL Results

As compared to matched-pair control classrooms:In all pairs experimental group teachers taught:• more target comprehension strategies • more target text features

In four of five pairs they taught • more target vocabulary strategies• more target writing strategies

PABIL Results

As compared to matched-pair control classrooms, PABIL students had better informational writing:• Holisticallyand in terms of• Vocabulary• Organization• Text features• Voice

PABIL Results

• Experimental group students’ writing mechanics were worse than control group students’.

• No impact was found on general reading or informational reading comprehension.

Tentative Conclusions from PABIL

• Teachers can teach skills in the context of projects.

• Replacing writing time two to three days per week for several months with PABIL resulted better informational writing but effects did not extend to informational reading comprehension.

• Further R & D is needed to see how reading comprehension can also be positively impacted and to see how to ensure writing mechanics does not suffer.

Developing Projects

(1) Initiate Interest

(2) Develop Project Goal(s)

(3) Determine Project Activities and Outcome(s)

(4) Collect Data

(5) Analyze Data; and

(6) Data Presentation/Culminating Written Project.

Duke & HalvorsenDuke & Halvorsen

Developing Projects

(1) Initiate Interest– Expose children to issues in the community

through field trips (e.g. exploration of the local environment), guest speakers, interviews with community members, documents, or discussions, with the aim of identifying an issue of strong interest to students and teacher. For example, one issue we have found often resonates with young children is the problem of litter at a local park or playground.


Developing Projects

(2) Develop Project Goal(s)– For example, a goal might be reducing litter at a

local park or playground


Developing Projects

(3) Determine Project Activities and Outcome(s)– As Railsback (2002) emphasizes, this must involve students as

well as the teacher to promote ownership. – Brainstorming and webbing can be helpful here. – Example activities include identifying the amount and types of

litter at the playground and interviewing members of community about the problem of litter and possible solutions.

– Example outcomes include three steps the class will take to reduce litter (e.g., a letter to the editor, appeal to city council for signage, or a public event to promote awareness).


Developing Projects

(4) Collect Data

(5) Analyze Data– These two phases may be recursive.

– Scaffolding children’s data representation and analysis is a rich area of research.


Developing Projects

(6) Data Presentation/Culminating Written Project – For example, letter to the editor, a proposal to city

council, or the organization of a community clean-up day


Activity and Discussion

In groups, plan out a project that involves literacy and meets one or more social studies Grade Level Content Expectations for the State of Michigan.

We will share project plans.

Then we will discuss questions, challenges, and possibilities of project-based pedagogy for in social studies.

Our mission is to develop complex literacies across the lifespan through multi-

disciplinary research.

Teaching Social Studies and Literacy through a Project-Based Approach Nell K. Duke Michigan State...

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