Project-Based Learning
Debra Austin
Alternative Terms
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Problem-based
Inquiry-based
Authentic
Real-world
Learning by Doing
Components
• Real-world framework and context for learning
• Long-term projects
– Local and/or Community projects
•Service learning, non-profits, or charities
– Enterprise projects
•Involving companies
• Risk and making mistakes are accepted as part
of the process
• Feedback is collegial and respectful
Experiential Learning
• Learning by doing
• Hands-on experience in highly applied
environment
• Students actively engage in creating their
own knowledge
• Internships or service learning
• Learning Cycle
– Plan
– Do
– Reflect
– Integrate
Community-Centered Collaboration
• Learning communities of students,
faculty, experts, and mentors
• Team projects which foster collaborative,
interpersonal, and communication skills
Knowledge-Centered
Competency-Based Learning
• Well-defined learning goals and
competencies
• Knowledge and skills necessary for
success are explicitly
communicated
• In-depth understanding is the
objective
Integrated
• Content, projects, and courses are wellorganized, related, and
interdisciplinary, which results in
increased relevance
• Students are not limited to one
discipline
Learner-Centered
• Instruction is driven by student
– Needs
– Interests
– Learning styles
• Students are engaged in solving real-world
problems – highly motivational
• Students try to answer a question that has
relevance for them
• Students have ownership in the learning
• Self-assessment
Assessment-Centered
• “In-depth investigation of a real-world topic
worthy of children’s attention and effort.”
– Sylvia Chard
• Three Phases
– Initial discussion of project topic, including
student’s first hand experiences related to
the topic
– Research, reading, writing, drawing,
computing, field work, and conferring
with experts
– Presentation of a project to an audience
• Designing learning by starting with the
assessment
Mentor-Guided
• Cognitive apprenticeship
• Teacher is facilitator, mentor, and
guide
• Students learn to work and think like
professionals
Epistemology of Project Development
Learning Cycle Process
Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
Plan
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Design
Outline
Document
Project
Map
Bluesky Brainstorming
Prepare Strategy
Research
Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
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Do
Construct
Draft
Create
Build
Act
Compose
Carry Out
Interpret
Represent
Produce Artifact
Develop Mockup or Prototype
Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
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Pilot
Test Ideas
Demonstrate early version
Explore alternatives
Evaluate performance
Implement
Play test
Seek Feedback
– Collegial Critique
– Mentor Desk Critique
• Self-Reflection/Evaluation
• Performance before competence
– James Gee
Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
Revise
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Edit
Rework
Improve
Optimize
Fine Tune
Enhance
Polish
Upgrade
Iterate
Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
Present
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Defend
Discuss
Display
Exhibit
Perform
Communicate Results
Assess
Evaluate
Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
Disney’s Imagineering – Blue Sky
• Fear is the worst enemy of creativity. p 9
• Blue Sky Brainstorming Sessions
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Start with a goal (new ride)
Forward motion is needed (getting started)
Everyone must feel safe to contribute
No such thing as a bad idea
No judgments allowed
Let out all the “what ifs”
Start dreaming
The word “no” is never uttered
Silly is good – it’s a game
Epistemology
• “Knowledge and know-how concerning
justification and explanation”
– David Perkins
• Particular way of thinking about or
justifying actions, or structuring valid claims
• Tells you the rules to use in deciding the
truth about something
• Is domain/discipline specific
• Think in a particular way about the world
Epistemology of School
• Industrial Revolution
– Creating wealth through mass production of
standardized goods
• Thinking like a factory worker
– Right and wrong answers
• Knowledge is being able to answer specific
kinds of questions on specific kinds of tests
– Learning how to identify the answer that
someone else has already determined is right
– Truth as dictated by the teacher
New Game in Town
• Rules
– classroom norms for PBL
• Roles
– researcher, designer, presenter, critic
• Hard Fun
– the kind of fun you have when you work on
something difficult, something that you care
about, and finally master
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Seymour Papert
New Game in Town
• Can we use computers
– to let students create projects,
– using various technology tools,
– experiencing the process of thinking
creatively in various disciplines and thus
– learning the epistemology of innovation?
Performance-Based Assessment
• Criteria for victory in debate: which team
makes the better argument
• Presentation
• Use of evidence
• Sources of information
• Clarity of argument
• Presenting an interpretation and defending it
with specific evidence
Implement Epistemology
of Project Development
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Plan
Do
Pilot
Revise
Present
Objective: Innovative Creative Thinker
Cognitive Apprenticeship for Learner
Teacher is Expert, Mentor, and Guide
Learning Environment
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Risk-taking is encouraged
Community of Learners
Constructive criticism is valued
Focused on learning process and improving work
Cycle of Reflection-Action repeated in Pilot and
Revise
– Thinking about Learning improves Learning
• Using PBL, students “learn the kind of
ethic and intellectual capital
associated with persistence,
mastery, analysis, and revision.” Dr.
Michelle Fine, Edutopia
• For other primates, to know is to
remember. For humans, to know is
to represent
– Merlin Donald
• “What makes computers so special – so
transformative – is that they make it
possible to process information externally.
Writing off-loads or outsources memory.”
– David Williamson Shaffer
• “What it means to be literate in the digital
age is not about reading and writing but
about solving problems using simulations.
What matters in the digital age is not
learning to do things a computer can do
for you but learning to use the computer
to do things that neither of you nor it
could do alone.
– David Williamson Shaffer
PBL Assessment Tools
• Rubrics and Portfolios
– Authentic assessment
– realistic, like that found in the workplace
• Would you co-design PBL rubrics with
students?
• Critiques
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Mentor Teacher
Colleague
Experts
“What if…..”
• “Present” by posting on the internet
• Seeking international collegial feedback by
working with students from other countries
21st Century Assessment
• If Standardized Tests are first generation
assessments for accountability,
• What do you think about the argument that
for second-generation standards, we need
deeper focus on fewer skills that are central
to the 21st century and second-generation
assessments need to be broader, multiple
measures that look at the many things
students have learned and mastered?
– Chris Dede
• If you could design projects for your
students to address your goals, what is
your prediction about their performance
on CSAPs in your discipline?
• What if you had to write a performance
evaluation of your students rather than
assign grades?
• How might you involve the
community surrounding your school?
• What other audience can you
identify for your student’s work?
• “We learn by doing and by thinking
about what we’ve done. It’s like
learning twice when you reflect.”
Eeva Reeder, Edutopia
– What role does student reflection play
in your teaching?
– Are you considering adding more
reflection opportunities for your
students?