In the edutopia article Project Based Learning, A Short History I loved their definition of what this type of learning is, “ a method of instruction that addresses core content through rigorous, relevant, hands-on learning. Projects tend to be more open-ended than problem-based learning, giving students more choice when it comes to demonstrating what they know.`”
“A project based learning method is a comprehensive approach to instruction. Your students participate in projects and practice an interdisciplinary array of skills from math, language arts, fine arts, geography, science, and technology.” from the PBL Checklist resource
If you watch this video on Montessori High School Senior Project’s it’s all about comprehensive project based learning through researching a topic and presenting the findings in any way they like, mostly with tri-fold poster board but still, these are questions or topics that can not be answered in a weekend, but take their senior year to complete.
Click here to view the embedded video.
So glaringly obvious is the absence of technology, however, videos are mentioned. This is actually the perfect opportunity to use technology in creative and effective ways to demonstrate authentic understanding of the topic of choice.
Wouldn’t it be the most natural thing to use technology as the vehicle for the research, learn more about appropriate mediums to present the findings and then wouldn’t it also be apart of your learning to show how your project actually grew over time, taking into consideration the process of how your presentation itself developed.
Couldn’t you also get into showing your own learning journey through tech as well and have that as part of your research; moving from what you learned about the topic to how you learned to present it effectively.
All of a sudden I want to go teach high school kids at a Montessori school…..
So clearly I love this type of learning, this type of teaching. I think it’s incredibly effective at increasing engagement, strengthening analytical skills, increasing confidence and competence and just being a really great problem solver who can see possibilities.
So if the question I am to answer is how does this type of teaching play a role in my classroom, I’d say it is the lead.