|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are
solely
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
|
Allison Shelley for the Alliance for Excellent Education
Edutopia
Why Teachers May Want to Try Throwing Students a Curveball in PBL
When students face unexpected—but manageable—changes during project-based learning, they learn the valuable skill of adapting.
By Michael McDowell
February 3, 2021
The culminating act in a project-based learning (PBL) experience can often be pretty straightforward:
Students get in groups.
Students do some research.
Students develop a presentation.
It’s akin to when a pitcher throws a fastball straight down the
middle—the batter has to work to hit the ball, but she knows what’s
coming.
In the real world, pitchers don’t just throw fastballs. In fact, they
throw many different pitches, including the curveball, to make the
experience unpredictable for the batter. This level of unpredictability
is the same experience that leaders, citizens, and parents face in real
life as they navigate changes from political turmoil, shifting customer
demands, and a changing school schedule due to a global pandemic.
Imagine if we were to provide students with a few proverbial curveballs
during the project and require them to make adjustments and recalibrate
their thinking as they prepared for a solution to a complicated
problem. This would give them valuable experience in handling
unpredictable situations.
3 CURVEBALL STRATEGIES TO DEEPEN THE AUTHENTICITY OF PBL
1. Make subtle changes to the problem situation: Imagine third graders
are learning about topography and the environment of a specific
country. Students are given the choice to select one of six states (New
South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and
Western Australia) to address the following question: To what extent
are we able to sustain the service industry in our state during the
Covid-19 pandemic?
During the project-based unit, all students learn the key geography and
earth science knowledge. While the content and question are the same
for all students during the initial instruction, each student is
attempting to solve the problem and apply the content in a different
part of the country.
With three class periods to go, students are provided time to solve
their specific problem and prepare a presentation. On the day before
the presentations, student groups receive one of the following
curveballs:
Their state is on lockdown (e.g., Queensland).
A bushfire has broken out in their area.
Tourists from outside the country are not allowed to visit, and they need to find an alternative solution.
While many students may be interested in this sudden change, others may
have mixed emotions. Teachers should prepare reflective activities such
as think, pair, and share on how we can move with such sudden changes.
Teachers can also assist in these situations by proactively sharing
with students that such changes may occur during class.
Let’s look at a secondary example. Imagine that students are about to
learn about the topic of pH in their science class. At the beginning of
the unit, they’re asked to choose one of the following situations:
pH in seawater (e.g., ocean acidification)
pH in soils (e.g., oxidative weathering)
pH in the body (e.g., tooth decay)
During the project-based unit, all students learn the key chemistry
knowledge. While the content is the same for all students during the
initial instruction, each student is attempting to apply the content to
one of the three contexts.
With three class periods to go, students are provided time to solve
their specific problem and prepare a presentation. On the day before
the presentations, students receive new information about their project:
pH in seawater (ocean acidification: Two large countries backed out of
the Paris Agreement and are going to increase practices that impact
fresh water and salt water alike.)
pH in soils (oxidative weathering: A certain portion of a state/country is going to reengage in coal mining.)
pH in the body (tooth decay: We discover that the patient has a number of ailments due to an imbalance of pH.)
2. Make slight changes to the product: Imagine that students are
preparing to conduct a narrative essay for a public display of fiction
writing. The students are putting the final touches on their essays,
and they have met all the aspects of the rubric. The teacher then
shares that new criteria have been added to the narrative essay
requirements, which include the following:
The conclusion must end with a cliffhanger or a metaphor.
Figurative language must recur throughout the piece.
3. Give students a new situation: Finally, curveball three is all about
shifting student thinking from one problem to a completely different
problem. Let’s imagine that an entire class is evaluating solutions to
curb water pollution in the United States. A few days before the
presentation, the teacher provides each student with a card that
includes a different context, such as the following:
Food deserts in California
Impact of climate change on South Pacific islands
Poaching of rhinos
Shipping of waste
Next, the teacher asks the students to turn their attention to the new
context they have received and begin working on a solution to that
problem. The teacher asks students to compare and contrast the new
situation with the one on water pollution.
CONCLUSION
Where the first curveball requires students to encompass changes in a
situation, the second curveball requires students to expand and deepen
their knowledge of the content and incorporate that information into
their product or culminating task. The final curveball allows students
to see the similarities and differences across situations. When these
curveballs are used judiciously in the classroom, students develop the
ability to handle ambiguity and develop transfer-level skills.
Moreover, they find the projects exciting, more realistic, and simply
more engaging.
Read this and other stories at Edutopia
|
|
|
|
