Posts
This blog by John Larmer discusses five common misconceptions about project-based leaning. Even though Larmer made strong arguments in the attempt to "debunk" these myths, I still must say that for me, project based learning is still a pretty daunting concept. Even though I've been reading a multitude of information recently about project-based learning, and I recently attended a day-long PD opportunity about PBL, it's still difficult to get rid of the notions that it won't "take too much time," or be "too hard to manage" ( a couple of the "myths" addressed by Larmer). I agree that it's a misconception to think that PBL is all about making a "project," or that it's not standards based, but I think you have to go in with open eyes and tell yourself, at least the first few times, that project-based learning will be a big time commitment, both from the student and the teacher. I don't think you can enter this realm halfheartedly, or you're sure to face failure. Also, PBL has management issues that teachers must consider ahead of time, issues that might not arise with the teacher's current style of teaching. To be fair to Larmer, he did state that the time commitment and the management issues can be challenging at first, but then get better with time, but I don't think that calling these issues "myths" accurately portrays the whole picture!
In spite of my misgivings, though, I think that project-based learning is a great idea. The closest I come to this style of teaching is my Science Fair unit, where students work in groups of three on a self-selected project. From this experience, I know that students love this style of teaching/learning, so I hope I can get brave and expand my repertoire of projects.
The original blog, "Debunking Five Myths About Project-Based Learning" posted by John Larmer on July 1, 2011 can be viewed at : http://www.edutopia.org/blog/debunking-five-pbl-myths-john-larmer
Betty,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that project-based learning is a daunting idea. I do incorporate a few nice projects into my school year, but it would surely be tough to do all of my teaching based on projects. What I find most challenging with projects is the time that is involved in planning and grading but Larmer says that teachers get better with time when it comes to PBL. As you said, a teacher would have to go whole-heartedly into PBL and I worry about doing a dis-service to those first couple of groups that were helping me work the kinks out. Interesting topic!