PBL - how did we do in 2014?
What were your biggest successes in terms of student learning and student and community engagement?
Significant increase in student engagement.
Student voice driving the projects.
Content knowledge - students moving through the curriculum at good rates of progress, making connections beyond the syllabus content - indication of deeper conceptual knowledge?
Making connections with wider community - Scientists, authentic audience giving effective feedback.
Students going home and talking about what they are doing - parents have greater understanding and involvement, easier for parents to take part. Evidence: very high numbers of parents attending culminating events, or supporting at home through research, making positive comments and feedback to teachers and via twitter, using the same language as the students 'I wonder', 'PBL' etc.
Student learning - more opportunities to write for specific purposes, authentic audience so students being more focused on the specific features necessary, involved in evaluating their learning using features so improving understanding.
Working towards an end goal - I need to learn how to do this so I can do this for my group...
Gives them an experience to refer back to - 'When we did... I remember when we had to...', making things relevant to their learning.
Developing much more effective skills in group work - making better choices about who they work with and how to get the best outcome based on different sets of skills.
Students developing understanding about being independent learners - making choices, seeing themselves as active participants in their learning - watch what happens as they move through the school and apply these skills in different groups and contexts.
Increase in attendance and reduction in challenging behaviour.
Significant increase in student engagement.
Student voice driving the projects.
Content knowledge - students moving through the curriculum at good rates of progress, making connections beyond the syllabus content - indication of deeper conceptual knowledge?
Making connections with wider community - Scientists, authentic audience giving effective feedback.
Students going home and talking about what they are doing - parents have greater understanding and involvement, easier for parents to take part. Evidence: very high numbers of parents attending culminating events, or supporting at home through research, making positive comments and feedback to teachers and via twitter, using the same language as the students 'I wonder', 'PBL' etc.
Student learning - more opportunities to write for specific purposes, authentic audience so students being more focused on the specific features necessary, involved in evaluating their learning using features so improving understanding.
Working towards an end goal - I need to learn how to do this so I can do this for my group...
Gives them an experience to refer back to - 'When we did... I remember when we had to...', making things relevant to their learning.
Developing much more effective skills in group work - making better choices about who they work with and how to get the best outcome based on different sets of skills.
Students developing understanding about being independent learners - making choices, seeing themselves as active participants in their learning - watch what happens as they move through the school and apply these skills in different groups and contexts.
Increase in attendance and reduction in challenging behaviour.
What are the common themes that enabled succes?
Flexible Learning Spaces
Having projects and themes that were really connected to their environment and experience, authentic problem solving.
Allowing student choice
Authentic audience beyond the school community - motivation
Clear success criteria - regular evaluation and feedback and setting where to next
Timelines and goals - student ownership of project calendar - self-directed learning
Project wall - organising
Flexible Learning Spaces
Having projects and themes that were really connected to their environment and experience, authentic problem solving.
Allowing student choice
Authentic audience beyond the school community - motivation
Clear success criteria - regular evaluation and feedback and setting where to next
Timelines and goals - student ownership of project calendar - self-directed learning
Project wall - organising
What would you do differently?
Having more of a big picture/clearer idea of the conceptual understandings we want students to have - big ideas.
Timing - making sure there's enough time to evaluate the project, having a good idea about what we want to achieve and how long it might take.
Ongoing assessment - find strategies for benchmarking understanding at different stages, evaluating in an ongoing way too so students have a record of what they've learnt
Strategies for collecting data as we go - maybe identify at the beginning what we want to collect and how we want to collect it.
Having more of a big picture/clearer idea of the conceptual understandings we want students to have - big ideas.
Timing - making sure there's enough time to evaluate the project, having a good idea about what we want to achieve and how long it might take.
Ongoing assessment - find strategies for benchmarking understanding at different stages, evaluating in an ongoing way too so students have a record of what they've learnt
Strategies for collecting data as we go - maybe identify at the beginning what we want to collect and how we want to collect it.
Gold Standard PBL - read the articles, what stands out and how does our practice measure up?
Significant content 'concepts and controversies' - teachers know what they need to teach - how are we recording what our Big Ideas are at the beginning? - collaboration and discussion
Specific lesson goals, engagement,
Ongoing assessment, collecting evidence, reflection (with students, with colleagues) - need to do more of this
Teacher as coach - role as a facilitator and managing the process, classroom 'messier learning' - knowing when to step in and when to step back
Scaffold student learning - responding to the needs of students flexibly and offering appropriate supports and opportunities to students to build their skills and understanding
Significant content 'concepts and controversies' - teachers know what they need to teach - how are we recording what our Big Ideas are at the beginning? - collaboration and discussion
Specific lesson goals, engagement,
Ongoing assessment, collecting evidence, reflection (with students, with colleagues) - need to do more of this
Teacher as coach - role as a facilitator and managing the process, classroom 'messier learning' - knowing when to step in and when to step back
Scaffold student learning - responding to the needs of students flexibly and offering appropriate supports and opportunities to students to build their skills and understanding
What do we want our practice at CPS to look like and why?
Formative assessment practices and collection of evidence
Clarity about the 'big ideas' and conceptual understandings from the beginning
Authentic purpose and audience - problem solving
Formative assessment practices and collection of evidence
Clarity about the 'big ideas' and conceptual understandings from the beginning
Authentic purpose and audience - problem solving
What do we need to do in 2015 to make this a reality?
Book in regular meetings to share practice across the school
Communicate more regularly with the wider community - newsletter articles, parent workshop to explain the practice - social media workshops
Refine how we record our project overviews - Big ideas, bus stops for formative assessment practices, reflection, explicitly recording how we plan to collect evidence and what we plan to collect
Think about 'rebadging' the practice - do we want to move away from 'PBL' terminology, what matters to us about this pedagogy?
Book in regular meetings to share practice across the school
Communicate more regularly with the wider community - newsletter articles, parent workshop to explain the practice - social media workshops
Refine how we record our project overviews - Big ideas, bus stops for formative assessment practices, reflection, explicitly recording how we plan to collect evidence and what we plan to collect
Think about 'rebadging' the practice - do we want to move away from 'PBL' terminology, what matters to us about this pedagogy?
