Objectives:

A primary goal of project-based learning is to train independent learners, capable of managing projects for themselves or a team. This brings the experience of school much closer to that of the world outside of school; indeed, the 'vibe' of schools that emphasize PBL, such as Hight Tech High or NuVu Studio, is much more like that of a start-up company than traditional school.

That said, projects at start-up companies still require management, which involves involves setting goals, encouraging students, and keeping teams on track, by having teams define:

• • Why- the driving question or design goal- What is the real-life issue we are trying to solve?

  • What- Deliverables- A lab report? A device? A research report? A video? A research poster?

  • Who- who does the work?- assign team members as specialist- team leader, experimenter, researcher, media specialist, accountant

  • How- How the work gets done

  • Resource needs- materials, skills, specialized expertise

  • When- Project schedule and due dates

MIT Example: 2.009 Product Engineering Processes https://2s009.com/

In project-based learning- whether in the form of experimental science, a research paper, a simulation, or design challenge- while it is important(and a major goal) to teach students how to self-manage a project, this still requires an upper-level manager(the teacher) to keep teams on track.

This can include asking student teams to:

• Have a daily work plan

• Do daily stand-up share-outs or scrums

• Receive critiques from other teams and self-reflect ( https://www.edutopia.org/video/60-second-strategy-bean-critique )

• Journal and blog about their progress, successes, failures, and next steps ( https://www.carmelschettino.org/using-journal-writing-in-pbl/ )- see examples at:

  1. 1. • • ​ Tur6o6ix Blog: https://tur6o6ix.home.blog/

          • The Auspicious Black Bears' Blog: https://theauspiciousblackbears.blogspot.com/

          • BurtsBots https://burtsbotsedw.blogspot.com

• Plan daily/weekly next steps-see

• HTH-DailyPlan Sample.pdf

• HTH-Daily-Weekly-goals.pdf

Daily SCRUM:

The daily meeting is structured around some variant of the following three questions:

• What have you completed since the last meeting?

• What do you plan to complete by the next meeting?

• What is getting in your way?

Revision and Reflection: This is the foundation for building rigor which seems to be such an important concept in today’s educational setting. Revision and reflection promotes a practice of quality. It allows the entire learning community to participate including community mentors, educators, and student peers. STEM relies on a formative learning experience that is a part of revision and reflection. It is the tinkering, remixing, and practice that is essential in both the PBL and STEM learning environment.

Below: Trello Task Management Software

Collaboration vs Cooperation:

Both cooperative and collaborative learning structures are important, both in project-based learning and in the workplace.

In a cooperative structure, each team member is assigned a distinct role- group leader, experimenter, journalist/ recorder, video editor, etc. The advantage of this is that each team member can develop a specific expertise, and avoid arguments.

The Jigsaw grouping structure( https://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/jigsaw ) is based on a cooperative model.

In a collaborative structure, two or more team members work together on the same task. This requires a greater degree of trust than collaboration, but can lead to an improved outcome.

In another form of collaboration, students can take another student's work, and build upon it. In the coding system Scratch, projects can be shared and remixed.