The Answer Is The Question

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The Answer Is The Question

• Project Based Learning and the Integration of
  Technology

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Technology supports Project-based Learning by

• providing tools for project exploration and
  discovery
• enabling teachers to guide students to create
  real world solutions
• building on creativity and problem solving skills

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You will learn how to

• implement the project approach in your own
  classroom
• provide choices in the curriculum and maintain
  high standards of work
• challenge the most able students and meet
  individual learning needs
• offer varieties of learning experience and ensure
  quality for all
• assess children's learning progress in relation
  to curriculum goals

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What is PBL?

• engages students in projects that allow them to
  construct their own knowledge and develop
  authentic products while dealing with real-world
  issues. 
• involves interdisciplinary study, collaborative
  work, and student self-direction.

Attributes
Features
Design
Practice
Process
Today
Research
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Attributes of PBL?
Authentic Tasks Interdisciplinary Study Real
World Products Collaboration Self-Direction
Main
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Collaboration

• heterogeneous teams
• complex problems
• strengths and weaknesses

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Self-Direction

• teacher and students are both learners
• students manage their own learning
• teacher's role of facilitator and coach
• teacher free to assist teams

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Interdisciplinary Study

• messy questions blur the lines
• students draw from their experiences
• connections made to the real world

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Real World Products

• As student attempt to answer their question, they
  create artifacts or products that demonstrate
  their learning and understanding. What they
  produce can vary widely.

For example, using a word processor, students
could create
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Authentic Tasks

• students demonstrate proficiency
• APPLYING existing knowledge
• solve a REAL-WORLD problem
• doesnt replace current classroom practice
• deeper understanding

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Features To PBL
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Features in PBL

• Discussion
• teamwork, developing the essential question,
  reviewing goals
• Field Work
• sharing experiences, collecting information from
  a variety of sources
• Representation
• preliminary sketch of the product
• Investigation
• evaluating strengths and weaknesses, proposing
  additional questions
• Display
• summary of the learning experience

Phase 1
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Phase One - Beginning

• An opening event stimulates interest initially
  for the whole class.
• Brainstorming ideas based on prior learning,
  knowledge and experiences.
• Listing questions.

Details
Phase 2
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Elements of Phase One

• Discussion - Sharing prior experience and current
  knowledge of the topic.
• Field Work - Children talking about their
  experience with their parents.
• Representation - Drawing, writing, construction,
  dramatic play, etc. to share prior experience and
  knowledge.
• Investigation - Raising questions on the basis of
  current knowledge
• Display - Sharing representations of personal
  experiences of the topic.

Back
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Phase Two - Developing

• Preparation for the field work
• Students can think about, discuss, and record
  what they need to know about and where to find
  answers
• Field trip
• Field work follow-up
• Visiting experts

Phase 3
Details
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Elements of Phase Two

• Discussion - Preparing for field work and
  interviews Reviewing field work Learning from
  secondary sources
• Field Work - Going out of the classroom to
  investigate a field site Interviewing experts in
  the field or in the classroom.
• Representation - Brief field sketches and notes
  Drawings, painting, writing, math diagrams, maps,
  etc. to represent new learning.
• Investigation - Investigating initial questions
  Field work and library research Raising further
  questions.
• Display - Sharing representations of new
  experience and knowledge Ongoing record of the
  project work.

Back
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Phase Three - Concluding

• A celebration event
• Communicating, sharing and presenting the project
  
• Personalizing new knowledge
• Allowing for reflection

MAIN
Details
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Elements of Phase Three

• Discussion - Preparing to share the story of the
  project. Review and evaluation of the project.
• Field Work - Evaluating the project through the
  eyes of an outside group
• Representation - Condensing and summarizing the
  story of the study to share the project with
  others.
• Investigation - Speculating about new questions.
• Display - Summary of the learning throughout the
  project.

Back
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The Design Process
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Design Process Learning Goals

• Choose a topic to drive the project
• Focus on developing deep knowledge
• Require students to evaluate, synthesize,
  compare, and apply knowledge
• Associate goals with curriculum standards

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Design Process The Essential Question

• has many different answers but no single correct
  one
• leads to UNcover and REcover important ideas
• seeks to solve real life problems
• requires responses to be an assessment of current
  information combined with experiments and
  experiences to form an argument or solution
• is at the top of Blooms Taxonomy
• engenders further interest

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Design Process Authentic Task

• require students to apply knowledge
• open-ended with no single method or correct
  answer
• creates a bridge between the classroom content
  and why this knowledge is important in the real
  world

Web guidance on writing authentic
tasks http//www-ed.fnal.gov/help/index.html http
//www.howard.k12.md.us/res/resmode.htmll
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Design Process Assessment

• Most will occur during project development
• brainstorm all of the performances you want to
  assess during the entire project process
• Start with content
• Presentation skills
• Collaborative skills and behavior

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Design Process Presentation

• determine exactly how students will demonstrate
  their understanding
• celebrate the work the students have done
• for longer projects, students should share their
  learning throughout the project
• Community presentations, mini-conferences,
  parent-teacher conferences

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Design Process Evaluate and Edit

• will students be able to answer the essential
  question?
• can the product created to ensure or assess
  student understanding?
• Is there an obvious link to standards?
• Will someone watching from the outside be able to
  see the connection?
• Is there enough time?

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Design Process After The Project

• celebrate the learning that has occurred
• Invite your colleagues
• Invite your community

Main
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MM Quality Control (1)
You are the quality control engineer for Mars
which manufactures MM candies. Mars has Quality
Control Engineers in three areas taste,
packaging, and contents. You are on a team for
the contents. You and your team might inspect a
random sample of MM packages to ensure the
contents are of high quality. Check your MM
packages for errors. Determine the
following A) the number of MMs in each
package B) the percentage of each color in each
package C) the percentage of defects D) the
average percentage of each color in your group of
packages Next, determine how much each
package differs from the average color
distribution and quantity as published by Mars on
their website. You will also need to classify
the types of defects so that adjustments can be
made n the manufacturing equipment as needed.
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MM Quality Control (2)

• Your team is to summarize the results of your
  study in a report to the Vice President of
  Quality Control.
• She expects data to be displayed in a written
  report.

Main
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Process
Essential Question
What is the goal? What is the outcome?
Discussion
What do we need to know?
Field Work
Where do we find information?
Representation
What steps do we need to take towards the goal?
Investigation
How do we understand the information?
Display
How do we share our results and findings?
Main
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Todays Activities
Scenario
Break Into Teams
Time To Work
Share Your Work
Review The Aspects of PBL
Writing Scenarios
Team Exchange
Time To Ask Questions
New Project
Evaluation
Project For Your Own Students
Main
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Research Shows That PBL Works

• A growing body of academic research supports
  the use of project-based learning in schools as a
  way to engage students, cut absenteeism, boost
  cooperative learning skills, and improve test
  scores. Those benefits are enhanced when
  technology is used in a meaningful way in the
  projects. Following are synopses of a range of
  studies on project-based learning

• British Math Study
• Union City, New Jersey School District
• Challenge 2000
• Cognition and Technology Group

• Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound
• Successful School Restructuring
• Co-nect
• Does It Compute?

The research above can be found at The George
Lucas Educational Foundation. Used here with
permission.
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British Math Study

• A three-year 1997 study of two British
  secondary schools -- one that used open-ended
  projects and one that used more traditional,
  direct instruction -- found striking differences
  in understanding and standardized achievement
  data in mathematics. The study by Jo Boaler, now
  associate professor of education at Stanford
  University, found that students at the
  project-based school did better than those at the
  more traditional school both on math problems
  requiring analytical or conceptual thought and on
  those considered rote, that is, those requiring
  memory of a rule or formula. Three times as many
  students at the project-based school received the
  top grade achievable on the national examination
  in math.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Union City, New Jersey School District

• The Center for Children and Technology at the
  Education Development Center, Inc., monitored a
  two-year technology trial that was first
  implemented in the district in September of 1993.
  The study found that after multimedia technology
  was used to support project-based learning,
  eighth graders in Union City, New Jersey, scored
  27 percentage points higher than students from
  other urban and special needs school districts on
  statewide tests in reading, math, and writing
  achievement. The study also found a decrease in
  absenteeism and an increase in students
  transferring to the school. Four years earlier,
  the state had been considering a takeover because
  Union City failed in 40 of 52 indicators of
  school effectiveness.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Challenge 2000

• In a five-year study, researchers at SRI
  International found that technology-using
  students in Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project
  classrooms outperformed non-technology-using
  students in communication skills, teamwork, and
  problem solving. The Center for Learning in
  Technology researchers, led by Bill Penuel, found
  increased student engagement, greater
  responsibility for learning, increased peer
  collaboration skills, and greater achievement
  gains by students who had been labeled low
  achievers.
• The project conducted a performance
  assessment designed to measure students' skills
  in constructing a presentation aimed at a
  particular audience. Students from Multimedia
  Project classrooms outperformed comparison
  classrooms in all three areas scored by
  researchers and teachers student content,
  attention to audience, and design. The Multimedia
  Project involves completing one to four
  interdisciplinary multimedia projects a year that
  integrate real-world issues and practices.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Cognition and Technology Group

• A 1992 study of 700 students from 11 school
  districts in Tennessee found that students doing
  projects using videotaped problems over a
  three-week period performed better in a number of
  academic areas later in the school year. The
  study, by the Cognition and Technology Group at
  Vanderbilt University, examined student
  competence in basic math, word problems, planning
  capabilities, attitudes, and teacher feedback.
  Students who had experience in the project work
  performed better in all categories. The study
  appeared in Educational Psychologist, 27 (3)
  291-315.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Co-nect

• A 1999 study by the Center for Research in
  Educational Policy at the University of Memphis
  and University of Tennessee at Knoxville found
  that students using the Co-nect program, which
  emphasizes project-based learning and technology,
  improved test scores in all subject areas over a
  two-year period on the Tennessee Value-Added
  Assessment System. The Co-nect schools
  outperformed control schools by 26 percent.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Does It Compute?

• Analyzing data from the math portion of the
  1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress
  test given to students nationwide, Educational
  Testing Services researcher Harold Wenglinsky
  found that the effectiveness of computers in the
  classroom depended on how they were used. In his
  report, "Does It Compute? Wenglinsky found that
  if computers were used for drill or practice,
  they typically had a negative effect on student
  achievement. If they were used with real-world
  applications, such as spreadsheets, or to
  simulate relationships or changing variables,
  student achievement increased. Data were drawn
  from the samples of 6,227 fourth graders and
  7,146 eighth graders.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound

• Three elementary schools in Dubuque, Iowa,
  showed significant test score gains after
  incorporating the Expeditionary Learning Outward
  Bound (ELOB) program. At ELOB schools, students
  conduct three-to-six-month-long studies of a
  single topic with an emphasis on learning by
  doing. After two years in the program, two of the
  three schools advanced from "well below average"
  to "well above the district average" on the Iowa
  Test of Basic Skills. One elementary school
  raised its average score from the 39th to the
  80th percentile. After four years in the program,
  student scores were "above the district average
  in almost every area." Separate analyses showed
  similar test score gains in ELOB programs in
  Denver, Boston, and Portland, Maine.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Laptops

• In a 1998 report, researchers note that
  three-fourths of the teachers who participated in
  a ROCKMAN ET AL survey reported that
  project-based instruction had increased since the
  introduction of the laptops in their classrooms.
  Among the many reported benefits of this
  project-based approach to learning are greater
  student engagement, improved analytic abilities,
  and a greater likelihood to apply high-order
  thinking skills. Laptop-using students also
  performed better on a ROCKMAN ET AL-administered
  writing examination. The research firm did not,
  however, identify significant differences in the
  standardized test scores of laptop-using
  students. Researchers offered two possible
  explanations for the lack of significant
  improvement in this area 1. Standardized tests
  are not designed to reflect the types of learning
  that laptops support. 2. Because the students had
  been using their laptops for less than two years,
  it might have been too soon to see noticeable
  gains in areas that are covered by standardized
  tests.

More info at www.glef.org
Research
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Successful School Restructuring

• A five-year study by University of
  Wisconsin-Madison researchers found that
  structural school reform works only under certain
  conditions 1. Students must be engaged in
  activities that build on prior knowledge and
  allow them to apply that knowledge to new
  situations. 2. Students must use disciplined
  inquiry. 3. School activities must have value
  beyond school. In their report, "Successful
  School Restructuring," the researchers at
  Wisconsin's Center on Organization and
  Restructuring of Schools found that even
  innovative school improvements, such as portfolio
  assessment and shared decision making, are less
  effective without accompanying meaningful student
  assignments based on deep inquiry. Reseachers
  analyzed data from more than 1,500 elementary,
  middle, and high schools and conducted field
  studies in 44 schools in 16 states between 1990
  and 1995.

More info at www.glef.org
Research