Module 2.5 Project Based Learning

History of Project-Based Learning - A Constructivist Approach

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING?

John Dewey, American philosopher and author of Democracy and Education wrote about student-directed, student-centered learning about one hundred years ago, . He saw democracy as a tool that each person could use to further his or her unique talents to make a productive contribution to society. He felt that when a student has a hands on experience learning is enhanced by the "doing," and this active learning produces more understanding of content than the traditional authoritarian instructional model.

At that time, the economy was changing from an agriculture base to a manufacturing base. Schools changed to meet the new challenges of the economy; the twentieth century worker needed to be less of an artisan or farmer and more of a highly disciplined individual with highly specialized skills, capable of living within rigid limits and time-schedules. This was the educational model of the industrial age.

The invention of the Intelligence Test in 1905 by Alfred Binet had a dramatic impact on U.S. culture, and education. Lewis Terman, a Stanford University psychology professor, believed that IQ tests could be used the population. Consequently Intelligence tests were used to rank order people from being imbecilic to being geniuses. Schools began to place students in classes based on their IQ scores. Thus, IQ scores determined the type of education they received which in turn placed them in the appropriate socio-economic strata of society. During World War I, the U.S. Army embraced intelligence testing to determine which inductees would go to the front line and which would get the desk jobs.

This sorting of people was based on two types of intelligence—verbal and performance. The verbal tests were based on a knowledge of vocabulary, and the performance tests included items such as arranging a set of pictures into a sequence that could tell a story, or to remember sequences of numbers. Other forms of intelligence were not recognized.

During the past century research in cognitive psychology and learning, gave rise to use of project-based learning in many schools. This model of teaching and learning has changed the view of education as a training model to an empowerment model.

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist who studied the development of intelligence, identified four stages of mental development in children.

Research in cognitive psychology and learning, coupled with the enormous changes the world has experienced this past century, has given rise to the impetus for using a project-based learning strategy for teaching. This model of teaching and learning has changed the view of education from a training model to an empowerment model. Piaget's stages of development had an enormous impact on how educators think about and organize curriculum and instruction.

 

Multiple Intelligences and Project-Based Learning

Howard Gardner, Professor in Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has demonstrated that there are multiple types of human intelligence. During the second half of the twentieth century, he developed his theory of multiple intelligences.

Dr. Gardner has redefined how educators should think about intelligence, and he influenced how curriculum and instruction should be thought of to meet the learning needs of all students.

In the 1960s, Jerome Bruner, psychologist and educator, studied and wrote about perception, learning, memory, and cognition in young children. Bruner describes learning as an active process, in which the learner is the transformer of existing ideas and concepts into new knowledge.

Models of Project Based Learning (Seven Elements of PBL)

Project-based learning requires students to learn skills by completing individual and team projects.

It is an instructional strategy and not a curriculum. Michael Simkins, Director of the Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project, defines project-based learning as, "a method of teaching in which students acquire new knowledge and skills in the course of designing, planning, and producing a multimedia project."

The Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project identifies seven dimensions of project-based learning supported by multimedia.

 

According to The Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project:

“Project-based learning (PBL) is a model for classroom activity that shifts away from the classroom practices of short, isolated, teacher-centered lessons and emphasizes, instead, learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered, and integrated with real world issues and practices.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

As we develop curriculum for our students we will want to promote critical thinking and higher order thinking skills. Bloom's Taxonomy is a useful tool to help make sure we are extending our student's thinking skills. All too often curriculum can be aimed just at the two lower thinking skills of recall and comprehension. Project based learning with technology integration allows us to foster the four higher order skills of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

The SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving
Necessary Skills)

The SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) suggests that in order for our students to successfully enter the work force they need to develop the following critical thinking skills:

 

As you think about the project you are developing, consider how you are developing the SCANS Thinking Skills in your students.

Integrating Technology Projects into Your Curriculum

Studies show that computer use in the classroom does not necessarily mean effective integration of technology into the curriculum as an effective tool to support learning.

How we use the technology available to us is more important for student learning than how much technology we use. If we integrate technology into our curriculum using a project-based learning model, students will have the opportunity to exercise multiple intellegences and develop critical thinking skills.

 

 

PBL Readings and Resources:

 

 

 

 

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