The Information Processing Family

Project-based Learning

• Instructional model for classroom activity
• Allows opportunity for students to work autonomously for significant time and culminates in realistic presentation
• Favors learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, and student-centered
• Projects are complex and centered around challenging questions

Design Features

• Define learning goals leading to deep understanding
• Provide support
• Include multiple opportunities for formative self-assessment
• Develop social structure that promote participation & revision

Benefits

• Integrates curriculum areas, thematic instruction, & community issues
• Encourages dev't of habits of mind associated with lifelong learning, civic responsibility, & personal or career success
• Overcomes dichotomy between knowledge & thinking, helping students to both "know" & "do"

Benefits

• Assesses performance on content & skills using criteria similar to those in work world, encouraging accountability, goal setting, & improved perform
• Engages & motivates bored or indifferent students

Benefits

• Supports students in learning & practicing skills in problem solving, communication, & self-management
• Creates positive communication & collaborative relationships among diverse groups of students
• Meets needs of learners with varying skill levels & learning styles

Challenges with Students

• Difficulty generating meaningful scientific questions
• Difficulty managing complexity & time
• Difficulty analyzing & evaluating data
• Difficulty developing logical argument to support claims

Challenges with Teachers

• Difficulty with time
• Difficulty with classroom management
• Difficulty with control
• Difficulty with support for student learning
• Difficulty with assessment

Challenges with Administrators

• Difficulty with classroom practices that appear different than typical classrooms common in many schools
• Difficulty with coverage of district or state approved curriculum
• Uncertainly that project-based instruction will lead to increased scores on high stakes testing measurements

The 5 E Learning Cycle Model

• Engagement
• Exploration
• Explanation
• Elaboration
• Evaluation

Using Learning Cycle Model in Lesson Planning

• Engage (learner defines questions, issues or problems that relates to his/her world)
• Investigate (learner gathers, organizes, interprets, analyzes, evaluates data)

Using Learning Cycle Model in Lesson Planning

• Explain & clarify (learner clarifies understandings discovered, reaches conclusions or generalizations & communicates in varying modes & forms)
• Expand (learner applies conclusions or generalizations to solve problems, make decisions, perform tasks, resolve conflicts or make meaning)

Inquiry Indicators: What Are the Students Doing?

• View themselves as active participants in the learning process
• Accept an "invitation to learn" & readily engage in the exploration process
• Plan & carry out investigations
• Communicate using a variety of methods

Inquiry Indicators: What Are the Students Doing?

• Propose explanations & solutions & build a store of concepts
• Raise questions
• Use observations
• Critique their science practices

Inquiry Indicators: What is the Teacher Doing?

• Model behaviors & skills
• Support content learning
• Use multiple means of assessment
• Act as facilitators

The Socratic Method

• Strategy that challenges students' assumptions & cause them to critically think about difficult issues
• Primary goal - critical thinking
• Hallmark - no right answer
• Valuable in students learning ethics

Steps

• Create open ended question
• Begin the discussion
• Focus conversation on topic
• Allow equal time from all members
• Students to elaborate & clarify contribution

Leader's Responsibilities

• Clarify
• Synthesize
• Restate opinions

Participants' Role

• Respect different thoughts
• Don't interrupt each other