Entry #43: In praise of
project-based learning
Yesterday we held our Food Safety Fair. The Fair showcased a display of
culminating projects which our students had designed after just three weeks
of half day sessions.
One student produced a Hyperstudio presentation on the "Ten Most Wanted
Bacteria." Another group wrote and produced a one act play called,
"The Kitchen." Kids put together a Power Point presentation about
microbes in the play, sort of a "play within a play" device.
A pair of students developed an Appleworks' slide show about bacteria and
a few others made posters of the most dangerous microbes. A team from my
class put together a coloring/activity book for young children which focused
on food safety. I also supervised the "TAPS Tunes" project, a
group of singers who insisted on delivering a live performance!
The singers sang, "You'd Better Wash Your Hands," a ditty by a
toxicologist from CA, who actually has seventeen pages of food
safety songs on his website! They also sang, "Good Garbage"
by Tom Chapin. They wanted to educate our audience about helpful and harmful
bacteria. They were a big hit at the fair!
A couple of boys from my class created a board game called, "WANTED...Germs!"
A few visitors at the Fair suggested that they try to market it to a science
company. Students from another class produced a newspaper, "The Germ
Gazette," and a brochure about food safety tips for the outdoors. We
also posted student's graphic organizers, which they made using Inspiration
and Applework's spreadsheets, around the room.
Mediocre students shine in TAPS' collaborative atmosphere
Many of the kids in our program are mediocre students during the school
year, but in TAPS they were all stars! The atmosphere of a supportive learning
community, seemed to give everyone a license to shine.
In TAPS it was cool to participate and be a full team member. Some of my
reluctant learners during the regular term literally had their hands up
and waving during our daily review sessions.
Teachers who attended the Fair were amazed by the transformation of our
kids and so were many family members. I overheard one grandmother repeatedly
asking her grandson why he didn't work like this all the time!
Those of us who taught in the program are still grappling with questions
of how to expand on the "project fever" and love of learning,
which we helped create during our three-week session.
We are already committed to enlisting our participants' help in September.
I suggested that we invite these kids in on one of the opening/ staff only
days. I thought we might show them off a bit and formally introduce them
as TAPS Tutors.
If they come in wearing their IBM shirts and we tip off our colleagues that
these kids are ready to teach other students about computers, teamwork and
thinking skills, it just may make a big difference for all concerned.
Hable en Español: Getting kids out of the "deficit"
model
I'm still looking for ways to empower our kids. The more I read about our
"deficit" approach and language, the more convinced I am that
we need to turn this type of thinking on its ear.
Along these same lines, I approached a colleague about enlisting our ESL
kids to teach conversational Spanish to our staff. ESL kids are automatically
put in the deficit box. We consistently rob them of their culture and language
by admonishing them to "speak English," and then we wonder why
they aren't proud to be bilingual...
Our 8th graders are required to complete an exit project to graduate. The
project, which must be completed by 2002, is supposed to incorporate at
least two disciplines and community service. Our school is 48% Latino and
many of our parents do not speak English. Most of our staff cannot speak
Spanish, and the need for instruction is palpable.
If our kids could develop a syllabus and deliver instruction to the staff,
the payoff would be incredible! The students would necessarily use their
newly acquired English in the teaching process and their appreciation for
their native tongue would grow enormously. I also think that the experience
of being taught by students would have far reaching implications for many
staff members who still seem to think of teaching as a one-way street.
Both of these interventions are small steps or band-aids and I'm interested
in their use, but the deeper wounds still need to be addressed. Perhaps
my approach of continually coming up with special projects is a doomed one
-- one that only offers temporary relief.
Are projects only about "fun"?
I'm afraid my colleagues see the success of these interventions as aberrations
at best and distractions from our real purpose at worst. Today, I was told
by a young teacher, whom I am close to, that he worries that all these special
projects are ultimately racist in their impact.
He feels that inner city kids are being coaxed into a mindset that learning
should always be fun, while their suburban counterparts are taught to play
the real game of high-stakes learning. He went on to say that down the road,
when our students try to make it in college or the working world, they will
be ill-equipped to meet the standards expected of them.
These comments come on the heels of a recent article by Gilbert Sewell in
the American Educator which pointed to time-consuming projects that
produce little in the way of rigorous academic results. (See
note.)
I was furious when I read the article, which chose to focus almost exclusively
on worst-case examples of "ersatz activity and shallow content,"
and ignored many examples of challenging project-based learning that are
readily available.
On the other hand, I take my young friend's reservations much more seriously.
He has no axe to grind, except the same axe I heft. We both want a level
playing field for our kids. I am convinced that project-based learning is
the best way to teach and learn, but I'm not convinced that this type of
authentic learning will translate into higher test scores, and there lies
the rub.
If using a project-based approach yields higher levels of student motivation
and output, if it all but eradicates mangement problems, if it elevates
students' self esteem, but they still bomb the mandated tests, then what?
In the posthumously published Dr. Seuss book, Hooray
for Diffendoofer Day!, the school where "Our teachers are remarkable"
and "we're learning lots of things not taught at other schools,"
the kids all ace the big test. Does the wisdom of Dr. Seuss hold up in the
light of day or would our time be better spent trying to cram lists and
facts into our students' heads?
The verdict is not yet in as to whether my approach to teaching will yield
similar results to those at the Diffendoofer school. Yet my heart, and the
pit of my stomach, tell me that this is the way to go.
At this point I'm thinking that project-based learning, coupled with teacher
collaboration and academic rigor, is a stronger model than the "stand
and deliver" instruction that some pundits remember so fondly. If teachers
push the envelope, consistently raising the bar to ensure there is rigor,
and rubrics are developed and used with students, projects will reflect
valuable content and skill.
The issue is not "hands-on" vs. lecture
Textbook-based curriculums can be filled with busywork assignments that
measure little more than one's ability to look up answers at the end of
the chapter. On the other side, projects can be organized that keep kids
busy but teach little or nothing to their designers or their audience.
The question isn't simply one of "hands-on vs. lecture." We have
to go beyond the format and explore what lies beneath. We need to teach
for understanding, not just to "cover" the prescribed curriculum.
I was just reading an article by Marion Brady called "The
Here and Now as Curriculum." In the article, Mr. Brady asserts
that "the fundamental purpose of education is to help us answer the
question, what is the nature of reality and of human experience?" He
goes on to say that the "disciplines were organized to help us answer
that question" but that "we have now become more comfortable with
the textbooks than the reality they are supposed to explain."
I don't know that test scores will ever measure the learning -- the reality
-- that I value. Or the ability to solve real life problems in a way that
helps us as individuals and those around us as well. Isn't life the test
of this curriculum?
We need to figure out the proper balance between testing and learning, and
testing and success. Maybe we need to define success.
My initial feeling is that if our kids become successful students and citizens
through project-based learning then they will necessarily approach testing
situations from a position of power vs. powerlessness. But I'm not sure
how this story ends . . . .
Read next week's entry >>>
<<< Read last week's entry
Comment on this week's entry
Back to Deborah's 1999-2000
Diary Index
[Editor's note: The article, "Lost in
Action," appeared in the Summer 2000 issue of American Educator,
published by the American
Federation of Teachers. Author Gilbert
Sewell is director of the conservative watchdog group American Textbook
Council and a former high school teacher and education editor at Newsweek.
The article is not currently available on the Web.]