Blog Post #9

There are many things we can learn from students and teachers about Project Based Learning (PBL). There are many blogs and videos on information about PBL.

Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning
In this blog page, John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller explain the 7 essentials for PBL.
The seven essentials are:
1. A Need to Know
2. A Driving Question

In Project-Based Learning for Teachers it starts off saying that PBL is a deep question or the driving question we want are students to be able to answer and to be able to create an "end product" to share with their classmates. PBL learning allows students to answer open-ended questions and to develop problem solving skills in a group. Teachers will use collaboration and communication skills in their jobs. Teachers will have to be able to communicate and collaborate with their co workers. Some of the things that students and teachers can use for PBL would be Google Sites, Poppet, Facebook, Twitter, and many more. The main thing that students and teachers can learn from PBL in this video is that the "students take charge of learning", students are creating the end product. 

3. Student Voice and Choice
4. 21st Century Skills
5. Inquiry and Innovation
6. Feedback and Revision
7. A Publicly Presented Product

Seven Essentials for PBL In this article Ms. Mclntrye gives her high school students a “project" on water-borne bacteria. Ms. Mclntrye showed her students a video on contaminated water and then the students participated in a lively class discussion. This teaches students and teachers that using something that activates students will get their attention when it comes to projects. Some ways that you might get the students attention would be to show them a video, have a class discussion, field trip, or a guest speaker. Ms. Mclntrye then went on to state her driving question for the class by having the students brainstorm solutions, think of enacting laws, and how the students could design their own waste-treatment system. A driving question will give students a challenge and sense of purpose in their assignment. We want students to be focused on how could we solve the problem? what could we do to fix it? Ms. Mclntrye let her students have a voice by assigning them an oral presentation of their work, and a paper. She has the students use media as one of their tools in this assignment. Teachers should design projects that give students a voice and choice because it makes the project mean something to the students. Ms. Mclntrye used 21st century skills, she had the students collaborate and had the students form groups of 3 or 4. Students would be learning how to work together a skill that you will need for not only college but for future jobs. All projects should have things like critical thinking, communication, and the use of technology. Ms. Mclntrye had the whole class generated a list of more detailed questions about bacteria, diseases, and the effects that they would have. Students follow a trail of questions that they have and that will lead to new questions being asked and students will find new ways to solve them. As the students were working on their projects Ms. Mclntrye would go around and give the students feedback and monitor their progress to see if revision was needed. It is important as a teacher and student that you give feedback. Students need feedback from peers and teachers to see what they can work on to improve for the future. Revision is another important aspect we want the students to have because when we have jobs in the future we will have to revise things many times. Ms. Mclntrye then had the students present the finished product to the class. I agree that school work is more meaningful when students present their work to the class either as an individual or as a group. It gives students a chance to present projects to a real life audience something that you will have to do in future jobs. 

PBL and PE in this article the students used the same seven essentials like the previous article. High school students were given a letter from the principal asking them to create an exercise program for middle school students. It is important for the students to ask themselves what they need to know. Students can do this by creating a list of questions to answer or having a discussion about it. Students will then answer the "driving question", the driving question for this assignment was "How can we create the best exercise program for our school?” Teachers should allow students to have a choice for what they plan to do their project on. Let the students choose how it is presented whether that be on a slideshow, podcast, or if they want to demonstrate what they did to their classmates. Since this is the 21st century the students will have to learn how to connect and cooperate with their classmates. PBL has open ended questions that are constantly keeping students engaged in the learning process. As a teacher and student feedback is critical. You cannot get better at something if you do not have somebody to point out your mistakes. Once a teacher or peer has pointed out your mistake that you have made you will have to go back and review your project. The last thing that is important would be presenting the finished presentation to your classmates. That way you are practicing giving speeches, or showing projects. Students will feel like they have accomplished something because they are showing their peers and teacher something that they have created.

PBL: What motivates students today
In this video, students explain different techniques that motivate them. A few of my favorites are the classroom money, the candy, and the verbal rewarding. This video was very interesting. It had some great tips to use for when I become a teacher.