Raising Student Achievement with PBL

The majority of schools practice a system of teacher-based learning where the teacher provides lessons, lectures, and assigns reading or homework. The lessons are generally tested upon completion either by a written test or project. The students take information from the lesson and apply what the have learned to answer the test or complete their gradable assignment. This method is criticized because research shows students are not adequately learning the information from the lesson, but rather memorizing and understanding just enough to pass the test and receive the grade. Student’s have limited opportunities to make personal connections with the content in this teacher-based model. Unfortunately, this description is exactly how I recall my education in K-12th grade, with a few exceptions in high school. The majority of information that I learned in school did not make a lasting effect on how I understood the world around me. The knowledge I sought on my own had a much stronger impact on who I have become as a functioning adult, employee, and mother.

Project-based learning (PBL) is based on the concept that children will learn with deeper meaning if the lesson is student-centered and guided. Students must, and should, be highly involved in how classroom content is approached and applied. Children learn through doing! PBL creates a structure where the students conduct their own research to answer the facts about a given subject, rather than have a teacher or textbook provide all of the answers. PBL requires them to brain-storm and collaborate on their problem-solving efforts. Each student can have an opportunity to apply their strengths to projects, as well as make true connection with the information they have located and applied. I agree that PBL is an effective teaching method and that it can be implemented in our schools. The hurdle I see, again, is the funding to provide students with adequate resources for research and presentations. It would be advantageous for state and local governments to become involved in funding and promoting PBL in their districts and schools, such as in the following video from Edutopia:

I will incorporate PBL into my classroom, given that I work at a school that allows me professional freedom. If I work at a school that does not recognize PBL as an effective learning method, then I will try to convince them of the benefits.