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

Below: Project overview, from MIT 2.009: Product Engineering Processes http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/index.html

Unit Plan Outline

based on John Spencer 'Tiny House' unit plan:

Video: https://youtu.be/6a_P-N3EFIc

Lesson 1: Entry Event

Teacher activities:

• • • Slide Show/Video/Hands-on experience

    • Set Up Groups

    • Basic vocabulary

Student activity:

• • • Warm up- What would be in your ideal room?

    • Brainstorm about topic

    • Generate Questions

    • Exit slip: Write down 1 thing you found interesting, 2 ideas you have, and 1 question you have

Lesson 2: Research/Empathy Phase

Teacher activities:

• • • Provide research grid to student groups

    • Lesson on effective internet research and sources

    • Lesson: How to interview

    • What collaborative research looks like

    • Collaborative research practice exercise

    • Introduce journaling methods and platform- Google Docs, Padlet, research grid

    • Starter Video content

    • Review basic terms

    • Check in with groups

Student activities:

• • • Internet research

    • Complete research grid/Padlet/etc

    • Share what you have learned with your group

    • Exit slip; questions

    • Stand-up scrum: 1 minute share with class

Lesson 3: Brainstorming Tiny House Designs

Teacher activities:

• • • Model how to do intra-group feedback

    • Provide examples of brainstorming sketches

    • Lesson on scale

    • Monitor groups

Student activities:

• • • Individual brainstorming & sketching

    • Group brainstorming and sketching

    • Rate ideas

    • Stand-up scrum: 1 minute share with class

    • Deliverable: Brainstorming list and sketches; questions

Lesson 4: Prototyping/Revising Tiny House Models

Teacher activities:

• • • Instruct physical and /or computer modeling methods

    • Vocabulary- prototyping, etc.

    • Check-in with groups

Student activities:

• • • Build prototype, document work

    • Critique

    • Revise

    • Exit slip on group collaboration

    • Stand-up scrum: 1 minute share with class; questions

    • Deliverable: Model/research report/documentation of process

Lesson 5: Project Launch: Public Exhibition

Teacher Activities:

• • • Teach how to create a video

    • Show video examples

    • Teach what should be in video- outline, story board

    • Teacher reflection

Student Activities:

• • • Create video or other digital media

    • Share work with your class and the world

    • Student reflections

Write Lesson Plan #4 that describes the learning structures you put in place to help students manage their project work during an extended laboratory investigation, engineering design challenge, or research project. These include such things as:

• Creating a daily work plan using Trello

• Daily share-outs

• Critiques

• Journaling and blogging about their progress, successes, failures, and next steps

• Journaling( https://www.carmelschettino.org/using-journal-writing-in-pbl/ )

• Critiques and Reflection( https://www.edutopia.org/video/60-second-strategy-bean-critique )

• Planning Next steps and revisions

• HTH-DailyPlan Sample.pdf

• HTH-Daily-Weekly-golas.pdf

Storyboard Example:( Engineering Competitions in the Middle School Classroom: Key Elements in Developing Effective Design Challenges Journal of the Learning Sciences 9(3):299-327 · July 2000 ):

For remote instruction, this can include use of online simulations, such as at https://phet.colorado.edu/

Trello Scheduling Board example: https://trello.com/b/JjxSfW2c/project-based-learning

• Journaling( https://www.carmelschettino.org/using-journal-writing-in-pbl/ )

• Critiques and Reflection( https://www.edutopia.org/video/60-second-strategy-bean-critique )

• Planning Next steps and revisions

Project Blog Examples:

• Jonathan Dietz's Blog: https://dietzedw2019.blogspot.com/

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

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

• BurtsBots https://burtsbotsedw.blogspot.com

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?

Critique, 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.