Basics of Project-Based Learning

Basic Conceptions of Project-Based Learning

• Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method where students actively learn through real-world, meaningful projects.
• PBL aims to connect school learning with real life, allowing students to investigate and respond to complex problems or challenges.
• Key figures associated with PBL include Dewey, Thomas, Polat, Boss, Yakovleva, Larmer et al., Lenz, Rahmawati et al., Murtazina, and the BIE.
• PBL promotes deeper understanding and better retention of knowledge, allowing students to apply learned concepts to new situations.
• PBL is a contemporary and essential approach for 21st-century education, enabling students to learn meaningful content and develop crucial 21st-century skills.
• Effective PBL in foreign language education involves organizing projects that facilitate interaction and communication in authentic contexts.
• PBL allows students to set and evaluate their own language learning goals alongside content goals and related skills.

Distinguishing Features Between Project-Based Learning and Traditional Projects

• Traditional Projects:
  • Teacher-directed activities.
  • Partially inquiry-based activity.
  • Teacher-based assessment (quizzes, exams).
  • Projects often culminating assignments.
• Project-Based Learning (PBL):
  • Project-based launch, including rubrics and 'need-to-know' steps.
  • Activities, workshops, homework, research, and lab work.
  • Benchmarked activities, simulations, discussion, modeling, reading, interviews, and quizzes.
  • Creation, feedback, building, drafting, public presentation, reflection, and revision.
  • Project submission and formative assessment.

What are Benchmarks in PBL?

• Benchmarks are the sub-tasks that build towards the final product in a PBL unit.
• They are assessable checkpoints and provide digestible chunks for students to address and demonstrate their progress.

Project-Based Learning vs. Projects: A Comparison

• Traditional units feature lectures, activities, quizzes, reviews, exams, culminating in a final project.
• PBL units have a launch event, outlining steps, workshop activities, lectures and resource development, leading to benchmarks, assessment, and a public presentation, culminating in reflection and revision.

Project-Based Teaching Practice

• Project-Based teaching practice advances from beginning to developing and gold-standard PBL, increasing complexity.
• Key practices for each stage include planning, standard alignment, culture building, scaffolded learning, assessment, and engaging with students.

Gold-Standard PBL/High-Quality PBL

• Key characteristics include:
  • Engaging, challenging, realistic context-driven problems or questions.
  • Significant, meaningful learning content.
  • Authenticity—real-world connections.
  • Student voice and choice in projects.
  • Feedback, critique, and reflection cycles.
  • Assessment aligned with learning goals.

What Theories does PBL Rest Upon?

• PBL utilizes constructivist, social constructivist, experiential, and inquiry-based learning theories.
• Constructivism (Piaget, Bruner) emphasizes constructing knowledge through experience.
• Social constructivism (Vygotsky) highlights the role of social interaction in learning.
• Experiential learning (Kolb) emphasizes experience in learning.
• Inquiry-based learning (Dewey) stresses learning through asking and investigating.

Constructivism

• Students build their knowledge from their own experiments and experiences.
• Inquiry-based learning: Students construct understanding based on questions they have.
• Project-based learning: Students develop solutions to complex problems, drawing on multiple sources and creating authentic products.

Vygotsky's Contribution

• Learning occurs via social interaction, environment, and community input.
• "Making meaning" involves these environmental and community interactions.