When considering incorporating Project-Based Learning in your classroom, there are many things to keep in mind. The main reason is that PBL is a gateway to “extra learning”. Through the use of real-world projects, learners are able to experience diverse experiences that help meet instructional goals in a new light. It is also important to be open to new ideas, and be an active learner- just like you want your students to be. PBL allows students, and teachers, to be engaged in their environment. This concept turns the traditional classroom upside down!
Project-Based Learning have never ending benefits. Everyone involved learns to take risks, as a learner, to create a new vision of instructional design. It is a learning journey that is used to explore the potential and promise of educational technology! Classroom conversations become more productive, global connections are instantaneous, and the meaning of “learning community” is redefined indefinitely. The main goal of this concept is to “prepare students to thrive in a world that`s certain to continue changing” (13).
As future educators, we know that we do what we do for the kids. PBL has so much to offer to the students that will only prepare them for the rest of their lives. They help students think more critically, they are able to make stronger connections between what they are learning and their own world- as well as they create their own meaning! It also increases the motivation of students, improves their problem solving and their higher-order thinking. They learn to how to investigate open ended questions and apply their knowledge to produce products that are authentic to them and their own learning, by doing what they want to do. These processes focus mainly on teamwork and working collaboratively with others. From this, they are not only able to learn what kind of worker they are, but they become aware of how to learn to be flexible with other thinkers, their ideas, and being able to come up with a way that works for everyone. It is important for students to develop a fuller understanding of how the world works and when these students are pushed out of their comfort zone, and into unfamiliar territory, they begin to grow in ways no one saw possible. They went from not seeing a purpose, to achieving a feeling that they can do something about changing their world.
Before beginning to include PBL into your classroom, it is important to consider: your expectations, how you interact with students, how to help students become better at managing their progress, be ready to change the arrangement of your classroom to better facilitate teamwork and their collaboration, reevaluate what is important to point out through the learning process, and be able to explain why you are deciding to use the new project approach to parents and other faculty members.
After reading the opening chapter about Project-Base Learning, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that I will most definitely be using the Project-Base Learning approach in my future classroom!
I agree that it is very important to consider your expectations. When doing project-based learning it is not a scripted thing, it is new information that you are presenting to your students over a long period of time, and since this is a big project for not only the teacher, but for the students as well, you need to really know what they are going to gain in knowledge from this project, and from the class so I think it is very important to understand what your expectations are for the project, your class, and the school year.
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