PB&J... Wait No... PBL!

The first connection that I want to make to my student teaching internship, is the difference between doing a project and actual project based learning. I think that using a project to have students to share thoughts and ideas that allows the class to learn together can be an extremely impactful. Doing a project for a class that just gets turned in but never discussed is a true waste of the students time. 

The next connection to student teaching is the idea of reflection. I think that this is an extremely important part of PBL because everyone involved needs to assess the process that is happening surround the project. As the instructor, it is important that the project is allowing students to grow and learn as it is being completed. As the student, it is important to give feedback on what with the project is working well and also giving suggestions for improvement.

Using the correct question for what you are trying to achieve in the project can also be essential. Allowing the question to lead the students to possible solutions to the problem that is being presented. This will also help the students have a greater understanding and retain more of the content.

The idea of reflection relates to so many of the AEE courses. I believe that reflection has been pounded to us and for really good reason. It is really important as educators to take the time to reflect and respond to our thoughts and perceptions. 

One connection to wrap all of this together is from USAID. It gives some great tips on preforming project based learning in your classroom. https://innovate.cired.vt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ProjectBasedLearning_72815.pdf

Comments

  1. Nathan MoyerOctober 4, 2021 at 1:23 PM

    I think your first point is a great observation. Do you think we, as educators, need to implement projects in our classroom? Is there space to replace every "project" with a problem that needs to be solved? I think this is something to consider as we head into student teaching, especially as we prep to teach in so many different content areas!

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  2. LetotOctober 7, 2021 at 12:41 PM

    Dylan, you bring up a great point with allowing students to grow! WE tend to think that we need to interfere with every step of the process, but just like a plant, after we water them (deliver content) we need to give them space to stretch and move towards the sunlight (competency)!

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