Wade Ren's List: New Learning Models

Project- and Problem-Based Learning – Keys to 21^st Century Learning




“We needed a new type of instruction that better reflected the goals we wanted
each student to achieve, demonstrate, and document”, says Paul
Curtis, one of the original lead teachers at NTHS and now Director
of Curriculum for the New Technology Foundation.




NTHS teachers start each unit by throwing students into a realistic or real-world
project that both engages interest and generates a list of things the student
need to know. Projects are designed to tackle complex problems, requiring critical
thinking. New Tech’s strategy is simple:



• To learn collaboration, work in teams.
• To learn critical thinking, take on complex problems.
• To learn oral communication, present.
• To learn written communication, write.
• To learn technology, use technology.
• To develop citizenship, take on civic and global issues.
• To learn about careers, do internships.
• To learn content, research and do all of the above.



How do you build all this into the curriculum? It can be done if students work
on projects that are designed to elicit collaboration, critical thinking, written
communication, oral communication, work ethic, and other critical skills, while
simultaneously meeting state or national content standards.




In traditional classrooms students typically work alone, work on short non-complex
assignments that emphasize short-term content memorization, write for the teacher
alone, and rarely make presentations.

Project- and problem-based learning takes a different approach:





1. Put students into teams of three or more students, who work on an in-depth
   project for three to eight weeks.
2. Start the project by introducing a complex entry question and scaffold the
   project with activities and new information that deepens the work.
3. Calendar the project through plans, drafts, timely benchmarks, and finally
   presentation by the team to an outside panel of experts drawn from parents
   and the community.
4. Provide timely assessments to students on their projects for content,
   oral communication, written communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and
   other critical skills.

Project-Based Learning is often confused with projects, which are short activities
injected into traditional education to liven things as a culminating event for
the unit. Real Project-Based Learning, by contrast, is deep, complex, and rigorous.

Many countries have had difficulties with Project-Based Learning in the past,
when curricula was not designed effectively and scaffolded to insure that essential
learning takes place. In Queensland,
Australia, a
new, major province-wide initiative in Project-Based Learning is called “Rich
Tasks”. In the UK,
one school calls it “Total Learning”.

New Tech High looks more like a modern high-tech office than a school. When
one walks through New Tech’s glass-walled corridors, one sees students at
work.

Enrollment is 400 students for grades 9-12. The smaller size helps to establish
a more personal environment and a culture suited for individual and group work.

• Reading for specific purposes positively influences comprehension