Unit 6: ICT Tools to support Project Based Learning

It is time to pull your PBL lesson plan together.

We have done our initial planning so let us review the plan and start to build this lesson. Note that this assignment is a recommended Portfolio Task and should be submitted on completion.

Your first consideration is to reassess the effectiveness of your questions. Remember that PBL is investigative by nature and the questions you pose must engage and galvanise the class into action. In some respects the question(s) is the engine behind the PBL strategy but questioning is essential to the teaching process whether you are using PBL or not.

1.  Reflect on the quality of the questions you have posed for the project.

• • Are they real world questions?
  • Do they tie your subject or teaching area to the students’ experiences? Research has shown that if you link your curriculum content to the local context, students are more likely to see the relevance in your subject and be more engaged in the activities you set for them.
  • Another consideration is, have you posed an open or closed question? 

2.  Now consider your role as facilitator. Can you construct the structure of the lesson? For example what resources will you need to help the students investigate your questions?

• • Are there sufficient books in the library?
  • If so, which ones are worthwhile? Identify them.
  • Can you book time in the library for the students?
  • Will the children have access to the Internet? Do you need to book the computer lab?
  • If so, can you focus the students on a number of quality sites? Which ones?
  • Are you going to encourage them to look for information at home?
  • If so, should you alert the parents to their needs?
  • Are you going to encourage them to create their own evidence using digital cameras, video or cell phones to document their environment?
  • Again are you going to alert parents to this requirement?

3.  Once they have collected data you will need to facilitate the reporting of their findings and helping them draw conclusions.

• • Do the students have a range of tools to help them organize their data?
  • Do they have a range of choices on how to report to the class? What is acceptable?
  • How will you organize them so that they have opportunities to work together to organize their reports?
  • Are the students required to present their findings?

4.  In light of all the arrangements required above don’t forget that the assessment strategy you designed must also be satisfied.

• • Were the students made aware of the assessment strategy early in the process?
  • Were there opportunities for formative assessment so that they could feed what they had learned back into the learning process?
  • Does the final reporting and summative assessment work cohesively?