It’s evident that a good PBL unit is inherently going to be
multidisciplinary, in that it will touch upon a variety of content areas
and utilize skills that are taught in other classes. Tackling problems
in the real world does not usually require information from only one
academic domain. Therefore, students’ projects should also feature an
intersection of quantitative and qualitative reasoning, good verbal and
written communication skills, scientific inquiry, of sorts, and
social/societal perspectives. It should also feature technology, as a
creative and efficient means of production and publication. The project
I set out to design in this class hopefully checks all of these boxes.
Specifically, it touches up English/Language Arts, Science, Social
Studies, and Technology. The standards it addresses are from these four
academic domains. Math could be another entry point, but I tried to
reign in the scope as little bit more for my first PBL project. Plus,
discussions of numbers and statistics will undoubtedly come up in
research and in scientific exploration of the topic.
According to the BIE’s video “Designing Integrated Curriculum,”
provided on the course Moodle, one of the benefits of interdisciplinary
projects is good mapping of the overlap between subject areas. When
teachers from core (and non-core subjects) take the time to sit down and
discuss their course objectives, standards, and vision, they can find
various natural connection points. In my own standards mapping for my
lionfish project, I was surprised to see how many objectives overlapped
almost directly. This makes the instructional journey more efficient,
more holistic, and should free up more time to delve deeper into the
subject matter (the PBL driving question). It also reminds teachers
that are not alone – they have a professional support system. No
classroom has to be its own closed circuit. Everyone works harder and
smarter with the support of a team.
The video suggests a process of “starting backwards,” i.e. standing
with the target goals of concept mastery and deciding what each
instructor needs to do in his/her classroom to get students to that end
point. What specific skills must they learn to be successful for the
final project/presentation? From there they can create timelines and
prioritize the sequence of activities for teachers whose content/skills
must be presented more sequentially. The planning process is more
organized, and most of the “hard” work is done in advance of the project
implementation.
Some of the difficulties of implementing interdisciplinary projects
include finding the time to meet as a collective team of teachers,
making sure all the teachers are on board with the philosophy of this
teaching style, making sure there is a feasible timeslot within the
school calendar, and making sure the administration is open to this
innovation. Another challenge is ensuring the students are open to and
prepared for this style of learning, which may be a severe divergence
from what they are accustomed to. Parents, as well, should be informed
of this project so that their questions are answered and fears are
allayed. Advocacy is going to be part of interdisciplinary PBL, so there
must be time and energy for that, which will have to come from within
teaching team.
I don’t think it would be a problem making this a reality in my
school because the Alberta curriculum’s standards are structured to
overlap in very natural and significant ways. The administration is
open to innovation, and as a private school, they are not bound to
“answer to” as many stakeholders as much as public institution would.
They are always looking for great collaboration and cutting edge
educational design. I think the most difficult part would be
cheerleading the teachers in the middle school team to rethink their
traditional units and plans and make time for a PBL unit. Many teachers
are complacent with their standard resources, instructional format, and
closed-door philosophy of the classroom. Getting them on board, as
well as convincing them to devote their free time to planning this unit,
would be the greatest challenge to implementation. Nonetheless, if the
energy and passion was there, it would be a rewarding process for everyone!
* * * * * * * *
Side note: One of the discussion board
topics this week was to discuss a point of entry for a Web 2.0
technology skill in our own PBL unit. Here is what I came up with:
Web 2.0 Activity:
The students will be using technology in many components of this
project, ranging from Photoshop to Glogs, to Prezi/Powerpoint, to
general Smartboard use, and so on. The internet will feature heavily as
they work to compile research and complete a WebQuest.
One new area of exploration for the students will be learning how to use Google Forms.
As part of the each interest groups’ presentation, the students will
be required to create a short quiz to challenge and engage their peers
with regard to the content of their presentation. The audience will
take the quiz online alongside the completion of their peer evaluation.
Although this will not be a formal teacher-recorded assessment, it will
help the presenting group ensure their product is understandable,
interesting, and memorable. It will also keep the information fresh and
active in all students’ minds.
Sample quiz: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/formResponse?formkey=dEc1UUNxYW43TUFGM1dPTVdMX1FMVGc6MQ&theme=0AX42CRMsmRFbUy0wZjU3OGU5ZC0wNjIxLTQ2YWQtYmY1Zi1jNmJhZjFiNGQ0Yzk&ifq
Help in creating a Google Form: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/87809?hl=en (watch video first)
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