Keep calm and teach on

Last time, I vehemently bashed the Common Core. Yet as promised, today's post is full of optimism. As I complete the literature review piece of my action research project, promising new strategies emerge for sparking in students a love of learning, mastery of 21^st century learning skills, and mastery of critical content. So, without further ado, I present to you the project-based learning (PBL) method.

What is PBL?

In the broadest sense, Blumenfeld et. al (1991) describe project-based learning as a teaching method that revolves around student investigation of authentic problems. Also referred to as problem-based learning (Ali, Hukamdad, Akhter, & Khan, 2010) project-based learning can be conducted over extended periods of time and centered on broad problems (Blumenfeld et al., 1991), or can be confined to the parameters of a single day as in the one-day, one-problem approach presented by Rotgans and Schmidt (2011).

What are the components of PBL?

Essential elements of PBL include a central question to establish and guide action that results in myriad student products to address the central inquiry. Responsibility for learning is largely that of the students. Learning takes place at a pace defined by student need and readiness levels (Ali et al., 2010).

What are student roles in the PBL classroom?

Student roles in the PBL environment rely heavily on self-directed learning (Rotgans & Schmidt, 2011) and self-regulation (Ali et al., 2010). In essence, students engage in a cyclical and continuous process of the scientific method, observing and predicting, questioning and hypothesizing, designing plans and collecting data, and analyzing and sharing conclusions (Blumenfeld et al., 1991). Students collaborate with peers to develop personal learning goals, fostering “autonomy, agency, and empowerment” (Rotgans & Schmidt, 2011, p. 1)

What are teacher roles in the PBL classroom?

Primarily, the teacher serves as a facilitator of the scientific method, posing a mathematical situation and leading students to theorize a problem. They promote idea communication and collaborative study alongside individual task completion. They assist students by emphasizing summarization and meta-cognition (Xiaogang, Chuanhan, Bingyi, & Yunming, 2007). They control classroom variables including space and time to further expedite the PBL process (Rotgans & Schmidt, 2011).

Want to learn more about PBL?

Check out these articles (available online through most journal databases, such as ERIC or EBSCO.

Cognitive engagement in the problem-based learning classroom

Jerome I. Rotgans and Henk G. Schmidt

Motivating Project-Based Learning: Sustaining the learning, supporting the doing

Phyllis Blumenfeld, Elliot Soloway, Ronald Marx, Joseph Krajcik, Mark Guzdial, and Annemarie Palincsar

Experimental research on mathematics teaching of “situated creation and problem-based instruction” in Chinese primary and 
secondary schools

XIA Xiaogang, LÜ Chuanhan, WANG Bingyi, SONG Yunming

Engagement with mathematics: what does it mean and what does it look like?

Catherine Attard

Effect of Using Problem Solving Method in Teaching Mathematics on the Achievement of Mathematics Students

Riasat Ali, Hukamdad, Aqila Akhter, and Anwar Khan