PreK and PBL

Early Childhood Education

PBL - Project-Based Learning

21st Century Skills Learning in PreK

The time has finally come for our annual EXPO, a time in which a school wide topic or theme is chosen and broken down by classroom. In the past we have done everything from life cycles, animals, countries, wildlife, etc. This year our school EXPO at Ninfa Laurenzo ECC will focus on Community Helpers.

In my classroom the students were interested in learning more in about a Comic Creator-Designer. The students with the help of their families, brought comics to discuss with their classmates and identify the parts of a comic: comic strip, bubbles, shapes, and characters.

This article comes as a summary of what our project entails, the process in which we form our project, and the final outcome  

Are your students interested in learning? Are the topics adapted to their learning process? Are they active participants in their learning process? Do you take their opinions into account when planning? These questions are some of them that any teacher should ask to enhance participation and motivation.

What is PBL?

PBL stands for Project-Based Learning. PBL is an active methodology in which students carry out a research process to answer a complex question, a problem, or a change. Students have autonomy and decision-making ability in the development of projects. During taking so much time to create and complete the project, one might wonder how a project like this can be planned, designed, and developed to enable students to learn core content that align with the district guidelines. This methodology helps our students to develop the 21st century skills and create quality products and presentations along with working on skills such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Through the project based learning, students learn to  work cooperatively and creatively.

In project based learning, the most important thing is not the product or final result, but the process of learning and the development of the different thinking-level abilities and diversity in the classroom. In order to have a successful project and to achieve the learning goals, teachers should let the students gear their learning in the direction of their interests.

A little bit of history:
It emerged in the United States at the end of the 19th century at the hands of educator William Kilpatrick, a collaborator of John Dewey.
The philosopher John Dewey insists that the best way to learn is "doing." Children have to become protagonists of their own learning and for that nothing better than offering them experiences that help them understand the world around them. The mission of teaching is not to fill the heads of content, but to help the student acquire a global and integral knowledge of the world.

Kilpatrick elaborated the concept and made it famous through "The Project Method".

Theoretical Framework
The Theoretical Framework of project-based learning is mainly composed of three
pedagogical foundations:
constructivism,
Learning by discovery,
and interdisciplinary learning.

In addition to these three, depending on the type of project to be developed, others such as Multiple Intelligences may be incorporated, for example.

Constructivism, based on Piaget and Vygotsky's ideas and works, tells us that knowledge is built as a process of interaction between the information that comes from the environment and the information that the student already has, and from which new knowledge is built by itself. The idea of scaffolding arises from this interaction in knowledge formation, which is the link that allows new inputs and previous information to generate new information or knowledge.

Decroly's idea is interdisciplinarity in learning. Learning concepts or units are learned together, not in isolation. Therefore, the learning units are formulated in different curriculum areas. It consists of focusing study topics on the students' interests, as their curiosity leads them to investigate and describe the parts of the whole.

Learning by discovery is Brunner's contribution. This type of learning happens when the teacher presents the learners with all the necessary tools to discover what they want to learn for themselves. Research skills development is put in the foreground and has an impact on problem-solving.

Basic requirements of PBL

As teachers, what do we plan to achieve with project-based learning? We hope that this type of learning fosters the interest and motivation of the students and therefore the desire to learn and do will be aroused. In addition, with this new methodology, teachers will innovate in their teaching skills by seeing how everything that is taught and created makes sense to students. From this learning experience, all students' skills and abilities will be improved and developed in an integral way.
As a teacher if you would like to have your students think outside the box and create a meaningful project then here are some steps to consider:

• Go beyond the old school

A project can not cover the same range of content, skills, procedures, and attitudes as other types of methodologies, on the contrary it allows students to  work more in depth into a particular subject and explore the subject thoroughly. Therefore teachers should choose the most significant content, objectives, and skills for the project, taking into account the curriculum and what is most important from their point of view.

Project-based learning arises from the need to present new alternatives, ideas or innovative experiences. The fundamental idea of this active methodology is to keep students engaged and motivated throughout the learning process, through research. In this way we enter into a learning that stimulates their cognitive, communicative, social and emotional skills, among many others, it is a cooperative learning full of challenges with an interdisciplinary approach.

• A driving question

Teachers can motivate this need to know new things and develop the project through an initial activity that arouses interest and gives rise to questions. It could be a video, a debate, a guest in class, a book … Once the situation has been raised, it is necessary to create a question to which the work is directed. It must be clear, have an open response and connect with the skills and knowledge that students must work and acquire. This element is basic and must always be present. An example. If we are working on a topic of contemporary literature: How could we share with our grandparents what we have learned about a book?

• Autonomous learning

During the work, the students have to be the protagonists: to decide, to choose and to make the decisions. However, it is necessary to adapt this general approach to the reality of the classroom. So different levels of "autonomy" can be established:

• Lowest level. Students can be told which subject to study and even how to design, create and present the final products.
• Intermediate level. Give a series of options (limited) to prevent students from being overwhelmed by the possibilities.
• High level. All decisions are for students, for example what product to do, what process to follow. They can even choose the topic and the initial question.

• 21st Century skills

These skills are: collaboration, communication, critical thinking and use of new technologies. They must be taught explicitly (giving guides, advice, materials) and also offer opportunities for students to put them into practice through the tasks and activities proposed in the project. That is to say, to create a virtual resource (a map for example) we can give the students a tutorial on how to create them but also our project should contain a task in which the students create a digital map that serves to present contents, support some exhibition , Perform a collaborative work ...

• Explorers and discoverers

Real research takes place when students follow a process like this: they raise their own questions, seek resources and respond to those questions, they generate doubts and question, review and draw conclusions. This research brings with it real innovation: new questions, new products and new solutions emerge.

The new doubts that arise must be incorporated gradually. It is all about promoting the generation of doubts, criticism and collaboration.

• Review and feedback

While working, they review each other's work by reference to the rubrics and examples.

It is necessary to teach students to evaluate the work of others by reference to rubrics. We can even use external experts and collaborators to evaluate the work. For example, if we organize an exhibition on health Why not invite medical staff from the medical centers in the area?

• Show and Tell

Once you and your classroom finished the project, you should present it not only to teachers and colleagues but to a general audience. It can be done to an exhibition (with the aid of a presentation, a video) in the classroom but also to create a web page or to make an exhibition of works to which are invited parents, students of other centers ...

PBL and Bloom’s Taxonomy

Once we put a challenge we can ask so many questions about the development of our students’ skills and learning process. To overcome the proposed challenging task, the students have to find the information, process it, elaborate it and share it. In addition, the students have to apply all this information to the solving part of the problem or challenge. Therefore, all the process will be significant and has a purpose for our students, improving their motivation, attitude and participation.

If we compare this way of learning with the traditional one, we can find more ways of treating the information and our relationship with it, that is, our students can go beyond understanding and memorizing concepts. Indeed, with this active method that implies exploring and discovering, our students will work out their skills to find out information and its source, they will be able to choose, discuss, apply, make mistakes, correct them,... This can be a good opportunity to understand other ways of interacting with their learning process, a more active one.

Types of learning styles in PBL

Everything will depend on the characteristics of the class groups with which we work. PBL is effective in all levels and subjects. It is applicable in regulated education but also in other forms of education and training.

-          Meaningful learning

This type of learning is characterized by the fact that the individual collects the information, selects it, organizes and establishes relationships with the knowledge that he already had previously. In other words, it is when a person relates the new information to the one he already has.

-          Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a type of learning that allows each student to learn but not only, but with their peers. Therefore, it is usually carried out in the classrooms of many educational centers, and groups of students usually do not exceed five members. The teacher is who forms the groups and who guides them, directing the action and distributing roles and functions.

-           Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is similar to cooperative learning. Now, the former differs from the latter in the degree of freedom with which the groups are constituted and functioning. In this type of learning, it is the teachers or educators who propose a topic or problem and the students decide how to approach it

-          Emotional learning

Emotional learning means learning to know and manage emotions more efficiently. This learning brings many benefits mentally and psychologically, as it positively influences our well-being, improves interpersonal relationships, promotes personal development and empowers us.

-          Observational learning

This type of learning is also known as vicarious learning, by imitation or modeling, and is based on a social situation in which at least two individuals participate: the model (the person from whom one learns) and the subject who observes of such behavior, and learns it.

-          Experiential learning

Experiential learning is learning that results from experience, as its name implies. This is a very powerful way to learn. In fact, when we speak of learning mistakes, we are referring to the learning produced by our own experience. Now, experience can have different consequences for each individual, because not everyone will perceive the facts in the same way. What brings us from simple experience to learning is self-reflection.

-          Discovery Learning

This learning refers to active learning, in which the person instead learns the contents passively, discovers, relates and reorders the concepts to fit their cognitive scheme. One of the great theorists of this type of learning is Jerome Bruner.

This information has been translated into English, adapted and selected from this article about the ways of learning..

Roles in PBL

In opposition to the traditional methods of learning, the role of the learning components change:

• The students don’t have a passive role, but an active one. They don’t wait for the teacher’s speech, they participate actively on high-level thinking like problem recognition, information research, comprehension and interpretation of data, making connections and associations, drawing conclusions and critical revision of their ideas and believes.
• The teacher is not the source of information, but a facilitator, is a mediator in the learning process, who guides students. He/she can help students solve some situations and difficulties, control time, and observe, assess and evaluate his/her own work, students’ work and the project.
• The information and knowledge is not a possession of the teacher that the students wait to be transmitted. Within PBL information is searched, must be understood as part of the learning process. This information and knowledge are elaborated by the students by their questions and conclusions.

7 Steps to Create a Project

How do we create project-based learning? First of all we must put aside the textbook and immerse ourselves in the wonderful world of research and experimentation. The concerns and interests of our students will be the engines of their own learning, in which they will acquire knowledge and skills in a motivating way.

1. Selection of the guiding question.

Part of real situations or that reflect reality.

Lean on personal or real experience.

Use sources such as audiovisual media, newspapers, magazines, to get ideas.

It involves the educational community: teachers, families, students, …

The more involved they are in the selection of the project, the greater their motivation and participation.

2. Specify the curricular objectives.

When designing, be clear with the objectives, skills and knowledge that you want to develop.

From news or cases to design the project.

The project can be very motivating and at the same time it updates the curricular contents.

3. Contextualize the project.

Relate the project to reality

Where does the idea of ​​the question guide come from?

Why is it important?

4. Establish the curricular areas involved.

The more areas or subjects, the more enriching the process and the more complete the end result.

Add an intercultural and multilingual dimension to your projects.

5. Final product with brainstorming

Collaboration, collaboration and collaboration: key to the success of the PBL.

Coordinate with other teachers and experts from the areas you are going to develop.

Develop a mental map that serves to debug and consensus the project, activities, criteria and evaluation tools and the definition of the final product.

6. Sequencing of the 4 phases: analysis, investigation, resolution and evaluation.

It elaborates a project timing, specifying what resources, references, activities and digital artifacts will be used in each phase of the project.

Give meaning / purpose to all activities and prepare the way to the final product.

7. Critical analysis on the quality of the project.

Self-reflection and critical collective reflection on the success of the project and on whether it conforms to the principles of the PBL:

Does it motivate and appeal to students?

Is it based on a real situation?

Is it appropriate to the cognitive and emotional level of the students?

Are your multidisciplinary goals holistic?

Does it cover the didactic objectives of the subjects involved?

Is it well structured?

Do digital activities and artifacts make sense and provide something necessary to reach the end product?

Will it require group collaboration?

Translation into English of the 7 steps to create a project,

Written by Francisco Usero Gonzalez

Edited by Angelica Saenz