Discuss the potential pitfalls in project design.
With any project you do in your classroom there are going to
be potential pitfalls to any project. We
do not want pitfalls to our projects because we want our students to have a
quality experience, but they happen. Some
of the potential pitfalls in project design are long activity, shorten learning
outcome, technology layer over traditional practice, trivial thematic units,
and overly scripted with many steps.
Knowing what these pitfalls when you are doing your project will help
you design a project that students will take away as much information as
possible.
Discuss the features of a good project.
There are many features to a project that make it a good
one. Being loosely designed with the possibility
of different paths means that if you find that your students are not learning
what they are supposed to, than you can be ready to go down a road or approach
so that they learn the material. The
next two good features are structured inquiry and realistic. The last feature of a good project is having
the students learn by doing. We have
learned that PBL is all about hands on experiences. I do believe that students learn more when
they are active.
Discuss where project ideas come from.
An idea for a project can come from anywhere around
you. The internet, real life
experiences, and other teachers are just a few places where you can get great
ideas for fun and active projects. But
the best place you can get great ideas is from your students. Your students are full of creative ideas for different
project ideas. When you involve your
students in coming up with ideas for projects, you build relationships with
each and every one of your students. You
also build their self-confidence.
Discuss the steps to design a project.
1.
Revisit the framework by reviewing you learning.
2.
Decide on the specific skills you want to
address.
3.
Write a project sketch –quick overview of the
project.
4.
Creating an asset map.
Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your
topic/project.
This chapter helped me realize that there are so many
aspects that go into designing a project.
For our project we have to make sure that we recognize our pitfalls in
our project so we can fix them and that our students get the best learning
experience. We can use other students to
help us design our project. We want our
students to take away as much as they can from our project.
I think as teachers we need to spend some time prior to the projects making a list of possible problems, or pitfalls, the students may or may not encounter. It makes me think about how we can visualize prior to a game in sports. I don't know if you've ever done that but I sure have, and it makes a huge difference in the outcome of the game. It is probably the same way in teaching.
ReplyDeleteI think that getting ideas for your project from the students is a really good first step because it really is their project. I think the important thing is using what's relevant and interseting to them; the project will be more successful then because they are motivated by intrest and curiosity. Good job
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers should design projects that are loosely designed. Teachers must be prepared to take the project in another direction if something isn't working for their students. When projects are driven by students' needs and wants, the project becomes beneficial and a great learning tool.
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