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Technology and Problem Based
Learning
Day 2
To Start
• Join Wiki if you have not yet done so
• Copy/paste your reflection from yesterday onto
discussion board
– You may write more if you have finished this already
• Tweet one thing you learned using the hashtag
#tpblkids
Next, we will:
• Finish sharing the standards you’ve selected…as of
now…..
• Review Template
• Review Rubric
In Pairs….
• Deconstruct Rubric
– Highlight, underline, etc.
– Modify where not clear
• Share out with whole group
More Examples of PBL
“More Fun Than a Barrel of ... Worms?!”
“Geometry in the Real World: Students as
Architects”
“March of the Monarchs”
“Soil Superheroes”
“Animal Poaching”
21st Century Skills
21st Century Learner . . .
. . . will use technologies that haven’t been invented
to do jobs that don’t exist.
. . . networked
. . . multi-tasker
. . . digitally literate
. . . craves interactivity
. . . strong visual-spatial skills
. . . tethered to the internet
. . . wants to learn things that matter
. . . wants to be challenged to reach own conclusions
Looking deeper at . . .
. . . digital literacy . . .
• information creation
• innovation
• activism
• global citizenship
• responsibility
“Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives” Palfrey and
Gasser, 2008
Why 21st Century Skills?
Growing consensus that schools need to be accountable
for more than “basic” academics.
“Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we
should treat it with the same status.”
-Sir Ken Robinson, 2006
“The top 10 jobs for 2010 weren’t even created in 2004”
- Diana G. Oblinger, President EDUCAUSE
“The Global Achievement Gap”
Our teens leave school equipped to work only in the
kinds of jobs that are fast disappearing from the
American economy.
Why even our best schools don’t teach the new survival
skills our children need – and what we can do about it.
-Tony Wagner, 2008
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Seven Survival Skills for Teens Today
(Global Achievement Gap, 2008 by Tony Wagner)
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Critical thinking and problem-solving
Collaboration
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination
Instruction for 21st Century Skills
 Relevant to student outside the classroom
 Student is highly engaged
 Student has a choice and voice in his/her learning
 Student takes ownership for own learning
 Includes higher order thinking - creativity and
innovation
 Learning tasks elicit evidence of learning
“It is a world in which comfort with ideas and
abstractions is the passport to a good job, in
which creativity and innovation are the key
to the good life, in which high levels of
education - a very different kind of
education than most of us have had are going to be the only security there
is.”
-New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, 2006
21st Century Skills are…Life savers
Allowing us to rediscover or recharge our PASSION about teaching!
In the ocean of assessments, paperwork, and day to day routines…GREAT
teachers must possess the vision to see above the crest of turmoil and
mediocrity to see what is possible.
Implementing 21st Century Skills into your lessons will revitalize YOUR interest
and your students’ interests!
Having “Passion for Teaching”
is really more about what
YOU get out of teaching.
Overview of 21st Century Skills
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content
&task=view&id=254&Itemid=119
1. Learning & Innovation Skills
• Creativity &
Innovation
• Critical Thinking
& Problem
Solving
• Communication
& Collaboration
Creativity & Innovation
• Demonstrating
originality and
inventiveness
• Developing and
communicating new
ideas to others
• Being responsive to
new and diverse
perspectives
• Acting on creative
ideas and making
useful contributions
Critical Thinking &
Problem Solving
• Making complex choices
and decisions
• Understanding the
interconnections among
systems
• Framing, analyzing and
synthesizing information
in order to solve problems
and answer questions
Communication & Collaboration
• Articulating thoughts and
ideas through speaking
and writing
• Demonstrating ability to
work effectively with
diverse teams
• Ability to make
compromises to
accomplish a common
goal
• Assuming shared
responsibility for
collaborative work
2. Information, Media &
Technology Skills
• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• ICT Literacy
Information,
Communications and
Technology
Information Literacy
• Accessing information
efficiently and
effectively and using
information for the
problem at hand
• Understanding the
ethical/legal issues
surrounding the access
and use of information
Media Literacy
• Understanding who
media messages are
constructed using which
tools
• Examining how
individuals interpret
messages differently
• Understanding the
ethical/legal issues
surrounding the use of
information
ICT Literacy
• Using digital technology,
communication tools
and/or networks
appropriately
• Using technology as a
tool to research,
organize, evaluate and
communicate
information
3. Life and Career Skills
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Flexibility and Adaptability
Initiative and Self-Direction
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
Productivity and Accountability
Leadership and Responsibility
A Question to Consider…
How well prepared
are our students
in using
21st century
technology skills?
• Discuss at your table group
• Share
ICT Literacy Maps
Project Ideas
A series of ICT Literacy Maps illustrating the
intersection between Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy and core
academic subjects including English, mathematics,
science and social studies.
The maps contain concrete examples of how ICT
Literacy can be integrated into core subjects making
the learning of these relevant to the demands of the
21st century.
http://www.p21.org/ict-literacy-maps
ICT Literacy Maps
21st Century Learning:
What does it involve?
1. Emphasize core subjects
2. Emphasize learning skills
3. Use 21st Century tools to develop learning skills
(computers, internet, other technology)
4. Teach and learn in a 21st Century context
(relevance to students’ life, authentic learning
experiences, bring world into classroom, go out into
the world)
5. Teach and learn 21st Century content
6. Use 21st Century assessment that measures 21st
Century skills
(classroom assessments and standardized tests)
Framework for 21st Century Learning
Core Subjects and
21st Century
Themes
Life and Career
Skills
Learning and
Innovation Skills
Information, Media
and Technology
Skills
Core Subjects
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English
Reading/Lang Arts
World Languages
Arts
Mathematics
Economics
Science
Geography
History
Government
Civics
21st Century Themes
(21st Century Content)
• Global Awareness
• Financial, Economic,
Business and
Entrepreneurial Literacy
• Civic Literacy
• Health Literacy
Learning and
Innovation Skills
• Creativity and
Innovation Skills (ISTE 1)
• Critical Thinking and
Problem Solving Skills
(ISTE 4)
• Communication and
Collaboration Skills
(ISTE 2)
Information, Media &
Technology Skills
• Information Literacy (ISTE 3)
• Media Literacy
• ICT Literacy (Information,
Communications, and
Technology)
ISTE 5 - Digital
Citizenship
ISTE 6 Technology
operations and
concepts
Life and Career Skills
• Flexibility and Adaptability
• Initiative and Self Direction
• Social and Cross-Cultural
Skills
• Productivity and
Accountability
• Leadership and Responsibility
Possibilities for incorporating 21st Century
Skills . . .
• Project or Problem based learning
• School-wide projects where students explore
passions
• Internships
• Student driven action research projects
• Authentic service learning
• Creative alignment of educators
• Other . . . .
Explore On Your Own
• Partnership For 21st Century Skills
• http://www.p21.org
– Tools and Resources-Educators
– 21st Century Skill Maps
– http://www.p21.org/tools-andresources/educators#SkillsMaps
Essential Questions
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Ask to stimulate ongoing thinking and inquiry
Raise more questions
Spark discussion and debate
Asked and re-asked throughout the unit (and
maybe even the year)
• Demand justification and support
• “Answers” may change as understanding
deepens
Sample Essential Questions
Content/Topic
Nutrition
Essential Question
What should we eat?
Novel-Catcher In The What makes a story timeless?
Rye
What “truths” can we learn from fiction?
Musical Scales
What distinguishes music from “noise”?
Bill of Rights
Which constitutional principals are timeless and
which should be amended if outdated?
Where is the balance between personal freedoms
and the common good?
Psychology
Why do people behave as they do?
Reading
How do effective writers hook and hold their
readers?
Biology
Is biology destiny?
Math
What are the limits of arithmetic?
More Sample Essential Questions
Subject
Literature
Essential Questions
What makes a great story?
What is unique about the mystery genre?
How do great mystery writers hook and hold their readers?
Civics/Governme How and why do we provide checks and balances on government
nt
power?
In what ways does the constitution attempt to limit abuse of
government powers?
Visual Art
What do masks and their use reveal about culture?
In what way does art shape culture as well as reflect it?
Science
How does an organism’s structure enable it to survive in its
environment?
How do the structure and behavior of insects enable them to survive?
Social Studies
Why do people move?
What factors cause today’s global migrations?
Mathematics
If axioms are like the rules of the game, which ones should we use to
make the game work best and when should we change the rules?
More Essential Questions
Conceptual Category
Example
Essential Question
Concept
Obesity
What is an ideal weight?
Theme
A Balanced Diet
What should we eat?
Theory
Diet affects life span
How does my diet affect my
life?
Policy
Government taxes or bans
on sugary drinks/alcoholic
beverages
Should the government have
a say in what people eat and
drink?
Assumption
Three meals a day is best
How much and how often
should we eat?
Issue/debate
Value of synthetic vitamins
Is natural better?
and genetically altered crops
Perspectives
American Egg Board “The
Incredible Edible Egg;
American Heart Association:
Control Cholesterol
Whom can we believe about
dietary matters?
Sample Essential Questions
• How much license does a writer of non-fiction
have to make a point?
• To what extent to the costs outweigh the
benefits of deforestation of the rainforests?
• Why and how to artists break with tradition?
What are the effects?
• “No pain, no gain”. Agree?
More Essential Questions
• How do we know what to believe in what we
read?
• What makes a good artist great?
• How true is it that genius is 90 percent
perspiration and 10 percent inspiration?
• How can we enhance any artistic
performance?
Question Stems
• What are different points of view about…..?
– What is the jihadist’s story of 9/11?
• How might this look from _____’s perspective?
• How is______similar to/different than______?
• What would it be like to walk in _____’s shoes?
– What motivates a suicide bomber?
• How would you feel if you were____?
• How might ____ feel about ____?
• How do I truly know _____?
Narrow Your Focus
• Review your standards. Select 1-3 content
standards
• With a partner, begin to frame your
Essential question (this is not your
“problem” yet. This is your instructional
focus question).
• Write your content standard and essential
question on chart paper
Gallery Walk
• Post your chart in the hallway
• Walk through and read each other’s Standards
and Essential Questions
• Comment/Make Suggestions on the EQ
Organizing the PBL Classroom:
Time Management
Scheduling Projects
• Avoid bottlenecks within courses: schedule projects and end-of
quarter assignments at different times.
– Projects should not replace end of quarter tests or papers; if that
happens, then a lot of things are due at the same time, and it’s
counterproductive.
• Avoid bottlenecks between courses: coordinate project schedules with
other teachers.
– Almost everybody does projects at the same time. Students complain
that they have five projects due in the same week.
• Teachers should talk to one another and space projects out over the
course of the year. This would result in higher quality projects.
• Use block scheduling, if possible, to increase flexibility.
• Block scheduling is extremely important, as is having flexible
classroom space and computers. You may also use a system of
permanent passes so kids can go down to the library and move around
the campus.
Holding to Timelines
• Build in a 20% overrun
– When planning a project, set a certain number of days and build in a 20%
overrun.
• Be prepared to introduce alternative instruction when the project
schedule bogs down
– You’ve got to keep a flexible project schedule. The weather may not
cooperate. Students may complete things faster than you expected.
– Sometimes kids think they are done and you don’t. Ex: you may have to
give extensions to get expert interviews or because of technology
breakdowns. Ideally the project is the outgrowth of other kinds of
learning, so you can always reinforce subject matter learning when you
can’t work on the project.
• Learn how to adjudicate scheduling decisions: when to enforce and
when to extend a time line.
– The schedule you lay out is never the schedule you follow. It takes
experience to know how much flexibility to give students and when to
bring down the hammer. If projects take forever, kids lose interest and
focus. You have to know when to tighten up and maintain deadlines and
when to loosen up and say, let’s take another week.
Getting Started
Orienting Students
• Get students thinking about the project well before they begin
– Before starting a project, get students thinking about it so they’ll be ready to
plunge in when it’s time. For example, a project conducted in April on the
physics of music but the teachers began talking about it in January.
– The earlier students start thinking about it, the more prepared they are.
• Give students a rubric that communicates what they are responsible for
– The best way to grade project work is to have a rubric. The rubric should be
known in advance by the kids. Then, when working on project, they know
what they are searching for and trying to accomplish. They have a standard
they can apply to their own work and to the final evaluation.
– Students should be involved in developing/refining the rubric. Students should
be able to restate a rubric in their own words.
– Reach agreement with students on grading criteria before the project begins
– The more teachers and students agree on grading criteria before the project
begins, and the more transparent the grading criteria is to students – so they
really understand what the characteristics of an excellent project are – the
better.
Promote Thoughtful Work in the Early
Stages of a Project
• Build in the use of a research plan for recording the what, why,
where, when, how decisions
• The first day of the project is a warm-up. Students brainstorm
questions and complete a research plan. They don’t go to the
library until they know why they are going there.
• Before they go anywhere outside the classroom, have their
time organized for them. “Here’s your research topic for today.
I’m going to check your notes at the end of the period.”
• Use negotiation, as needed, to start students on productive
tracks
• Have a private meeting with each group to get them started
while the rest of the class is involved with a reading
assignment. Discuss each group’s research questions with
them. Students often don’t know what a good research
question is. You have to tell them if they have written a
question that is really hard to research
Organizing Student Time
• Require frequent checkpoints and products to
facilitate a sense of mission
• At the beginning of a project, we require a
product to be completed out of each work
session. If it’s a research period of one and onehalf hours, we’ll require them to make an oral
group report about what they’ve learned. Or we
ask them to write an action plan. After they get
used to our expectations, we will let them go for
a couple of periods before asking for a report.
Establishing a Culture that Stresses
Student Self-Management
• Shifting Responsibility from the Teacher to Students
• Involve students in project design
• Re-engineering the learning environment means moving from the
sage on the stage to the guide on the side. It means creating a more
collaborative environment with students where projects are a
mutual responsibility. You have to rethink your whole relationship
with students and become more of a facilitator and coach.
• Bring the problems to the students to decide rather than solving
the problems yourself and bring the solutions to the students.
Make the design of the project itself part of the curriculum. It looks
like you are giving up control, but you aren’t. You still have ultimate
control of things, but you’ve decided what decisions students are
able to make, and you are hold them accountable for making them
Avoid Making Decisions For Students
• “Unlearn” the idea that teaching is about
your content; it is about their thinking.
• Most of the content students get is
dismissed/lost as soon as they graduate (or
pass the test).
• Help students think through the project work
and decide what it is going to look like
• Do not make all the decisions yourself.
Establishing a Culture that Stresses Student
Self-Management Principles
• Take advantage of opportunities to foster time management skills
• Be patient as students develop adult time management and
organization skills.
• We don’t generally teach students how to manage time. In fact,
traditional teachers and classrooms set up structures so that
students don’t need to know how to manage their time – it’s
managed by the teacher and the bell schedule.
• Take advantage of opportunities to teach students how to learn
• Part of your new role is not just to teach content, but to teach
students how to learn content. The high achieving students already
know this. They know when they go to the library they have to get
more than one book. They know not to choose topics like John F.
Kennedy because there is too much information available.
• Your role now is to work with students who have never tackled a
difficult question and teach them the research and study skills.
Establishing Standards for Student Work
• Use examples of professional work to establish standards
– Students won’t know what high standards are unless they see it.
• Determine how to derive models of excellence.
– You may use the work of previous students.
– You can use professional work: blueprints done by real architects
or poetry written by a local poet. You have to have models or
students don’t know what they are working toward.
• Use examples of previous students’ work to define what high
quality work looks like
• Show them examples of what was done the year before. It
boosts the quality of projects – students want to do better
than the students from did last year.
– They rarely copy; they want to do better than last year’s group!
Establishing Standards
• Combine standards with scaffolding to help
students reach milestones.
• Projects often fall apart because teachers don’t
pay enough attention to scaffolding for students.
A great deal of thought needs to be given to how
to support students through coaching and
mentoring.
• Students need to have milestones and
benchmarks, perhaps even templates. It’s best if
they see examples of quality work before the
project starts.
Managing Student Groups
Establishing the Appropriate Grouping Pattern
• Heterogeneous grouping is a compatible pattern for problem-based
learning
• When it is time to work in groups on a project, think about why
you’re grouping and what the group needs to accomplish.
• If you allow students to choose their own groups there will be some
strong, mature groups and some wacky, immature groups.
– The strong groups wind up running the show. I don’t want this to
happen
– Leadership should rotate and be shared.
• If students want to work with their friends, you may consider
having them apply to work with one another.
– Look at their choices and made up the groups.
Managing Student Groups
• Match the grouping pattern to the context and need for expertise
associated with the task
• One type of grouping strategy – say, kids who are friends and want to
work with each other – works well on a task
• that requires a great deal of time out of school.
• A different type of group is necessary if the task is complex
• and requires a diverse set of skills – say the researching of a complex
topic and the creation of multimedia and
• written reports. Think about the skills necessary to accomplish the task
at hand when forming a group.
• Consider forming groups so that novice students can learn from
experienced students
• You first have to think about the purpose of forming groups.
• Generally it’s better to control group characteristics.
• Generally that three- or four-person groups work best.
Handling Problems Within Groups
• Incorporate realistic consequences for non-participation
• You may want to consider sometimes allowing groups to fire individual
members. That’s like a business – the project takes precedence over
everything. Once they are off the team they have to do more traditional
learning activities. If a student is not working in a group, take them out of
the group. This can help the current project you’re working on, but the
same problem may arise with the next project.
• Tighten up time and tasks to get a group back on track
– You can’t just tell a kid, “You have to start working.” They’ll feign work while
you’re there and then stop. “If you ask them why they aren’t working, they
may tell you. They may not. It’s a fine art of working with and motivating an
individual. You just have to use all the tools you can.
• You want want to convene the group and ask them, “How are we going to
get you guys going again. I’ve been watching you for two periods and I
haven’t seen anything happening.”
Managing Student Groups
• Use group process techniques to promote full
participation
• It’s inevitable that not everyone in the group will carry
their own weight.
– You may provide opportunities for individual and group
reflection and critiques about process and product. I don’t
want to find out two months later that someone isn’t
working. Try to use peer pressure: Groups have to get up
and talk about where they are and what they’re finding out.
– If someone isn’t pulling their own weight, then it emerges.
• Use many checkpoints to ensure people are on track.
Keeping Track of Each Group’s Progress
• Establish frequent but short conferences to
discuss progress
• Use planning sheets, group folders, and other
concrete devices to record evidence of
progress
• Make group progress a public matter
Coordinating with Other Teachers
• Coordinating with a partner requires daily
contact
• Work with your principal to determine if you
may have time for planning at faculty
meetings
Communicating with Parents
• Communicate with parents early
• Be honest and forthright with parents
– When talking to parents about projects be honest about the
tradeoffs you made about the breadth and depth of content
covered. Students don’t cover as much content if they learn
the content in depth. Parents want some kind of a mix
between breadth and depth.
– Parents don’t want their kids learning to be restricted to a
bunch of facts. They want their kids to think and reason.
• Tell them how you structured the unit to provide both
breadth and depth and what you were willing to leave
out.
• Establish procedures and events to promote parent
involvement
• Find ways to involve parents in projects or to enlist their
help
Assessing Students And Evaluating Projects
• Use a variety of assessment methods
• Include both individual and group grades
• Emphasize individual over group performance
Troubleshooting Projects
• Monitor project progress with an eye toward
glitches and misdirection
• Look for opportunities to intervene with midcourse instruction
Common Elements of Effective Projects
• Standards are at the center of the project
• 21st century skills are developed throughout
the project
• Important questions focus the project
• Ongoing assessment informs the students
and teacher
• Varied instructional strategies engage all
learners
• Meeting the needs of students with varying
needs and abilities
21st Century Skills
• Which of these skills will you incorporate
into your unit?
• Think, Pair, Share
• Write on your Essential Question Chart
• Revisit your EQ, rewrite if necessary
• Gallery Walk
– Respond to colleague’s posts
Unit Template
• Complete A, B, C on template
Reflection
• Reflect upon today’s learning
• What you want to make sure we cover
tomorrow
• Other
Projects provide opportunities for students to
construct their own knowledge
Constructivism
Students construct their
own understanding
and knowledge of the
world through
experiments,
experience & reflection.
Inquiry-Based
Learning
Students construct
understanding based on a
“need or want to know.”
Problem-Based
Learning
Students develop
solutions to specific
and complex problems.
Project-Based
Learning
Students work in
groups seeking multiple
sources of information
and creating
authentic products.
What’s the difference between inquiry-based and problem-based
learning?
Discuss at your table group.
Share.
The Tubric
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CAm
W7c-Ow