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PBL: PART 3 OF 4
PBL: PART 3 OF 4
For part three of the PBL, students created an interactive website that contains activities for their lesson that may be used in an independent learning or distance learning situation. They included all the activities and information from their classroom lesson and field study. Students revised and modified their public products by using the data gathered from their experiences.
For part three of the PBL, students created an interactive website that contains activities for their lesson that may be used in an independent learning or distance learning situation. They included all the activities and information from their classroom lesson and field study. Students revised and modified their public products by using the data gathered from their experiences.
- CRITIQUE AND REVISION -
- CRITIQUE AND REVISION -
High quality student work is a hallmark of Gold Standard PBL, and such quality is attained through thoughtful critique and revision. Students should be taught how to give and receive constructive peer feedback that will improve project processes and products, guided by rubrics, models, and formal feedback/critique protocols. In addition to peers and teachers, outside adults and experts can also contribute to the critique process, bringing an authentic, real-world point of view. This common-sense acknowledgement of the importance of making student work and student products better is supported by research on the importance of “formative evaluation, ” which not only means teachers giving feedback to students, but students evaluating the results of their learning.
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- PUBLIC PRODUCT -
- PUBLIC PRODUCT -
A “product” in PBL can be a tangible, media, or digital artifact, a presentation about the solution to a problem or answer to a driving question, or a performance or event. There are three reasons for making student work public. First, like authenticity, a public product adds greatly to PBL’s motivating power and encourages high-quality work. Think of what often happens when students make presentations to their classmates and teacher. The stakes are not high, so they may slack off, not take it seriously, and not care as much about the quality of their work. But when students have to present (or display, since not every project has to include a formal presentation) their work to an audience beyond the classroom, the performance bar raises, since no one wants to look bad in public. A certain degree of anxiety can be a healthy motivator. But too much anxiety can of course detract from performance — the trick is to find the sweet spot, not the sweat spot — so it’s important that students are well prepared to make their work public.
Second, by creating a product, students make what they have learned tangible and thus, when shared publicly, discussible. Instead of only being a private exchange between an individual student and teacher, the social dimension of learning becomes more important. This has an impact on classroom and school culture, helping create a “learning community,” where students and teachers discuss what is being learned, how it is learned, what are acceptable standards of performance, and how student performance can be made better.
Finally, making student work public is an effective way to communicate with parents, community members, and the wider world about what PBL is and what it does for students. When a classroom, school, or district opens itself up to public scrutiny, the message is, “Here’s what our students can do — we’re about more than test scores.” Many PBL schools and districts reinforce this message by repurposing the traditional “open house” into an exhibition of project work, which helps build understanding and support for PBL among stakeholders. When the public sees what high-quality products students can create, they’re often surprised, and eager to see more.
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