This week for EDM 310 we continued learning about Project Based Learning by watching another series of videos. I really enjoyed all of them but I felt like most of them were saying the same thing as other videos we have watched. One, however, stood out to me and that is the one I chose to feature in my blog this week.
- What city do you live in? (9 out of 24 answered correctly)
- What state do you live in? (12 out of 24 answered correctly)
- What country do you live in? (3 out of 24 answered correctly)
I was shocked when I saw how few students got the answer to these questions correct. Crosby goes on and asks how the children in his class are supposed to understand what he has to teach them if they do not know the basic schema of their own world around them. When he first said this, I had to Google schema. Schema is, as Google informed me, a representation of a plan or theory in the form of an outline or model. So, if the students do not know the basic outline of their world, the world they are encountering first hand, how are they going to move on to understanding the layout and complexities of other aspects of life? In order to teach these basics, these schemes at hand, and be able to connect everything in the world around them, Brian Crosby uses the Project Based Learning method of teaching. He uses blogs, Wiki pages, Flickr, and many other technological tools to get his students to think on a higher level. All of these techniques allow the students to think about their experiment, then they are able to discuss what was happening and why it was happening with classmates and students around the world. Yes, the world! The students discuss the experiment through all of these technology driven resources and are able to reach out and share what they are doing. An audience pressures the students to work harder; it also gives them a chance to show off what they have learned. They are proud of their work. Project based learning is about active learning. "Learning how to become learners," Crosby says, not learning, "how to be taught." A teacher that rushes her students through school is an ineffective teacher. That type of teacher is doing a disservice. He ends the video with a quote from David Cowan, it is a bit lengthy but ends with, "that type of environment shouldn't be the exception, the unearned privilege of the children of privilege parents and those lucky enough to attend a school with high test scores, that type of education is the birthright of every child." Every child deserves to experience a nurturing learning environment and that is the goal of Project Based Learning.
Ellen, you summarized this video well. I was also shocked about how few students knew their demographics. Excellent point when you stated that these students were going to be challenged when learning new things about world when they do not even know anything about themselves. I find it important that students are taught how to be "learners".
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