Project-Based+Learning+in+Action

//As more and more technology enters into the classroom, there will need to be a new kind of teaching that accommodates it. Traditional blackboards and readings from textbooks should needs be replaced by dynamic, multimodal learning that combines multiple disciplines within a lesson. Using computer applications in nearly every aspect of the curriculum will not only strengthen digital literacy, but math skills as well when there is basic programming involved.// The parallel processing and random retrieval versus linear thought processing, as well as the rise of skill-based versus assessment-driven methods, demand new instructional strategies. The project-based learning methods that best fit the Common Core classroom and digital media integration are those that focus on:


 * 1) **Problem formulation**: Students identify their own learning problem when presented with a subj media type="youtube" key="wDE2Iw9um4w?version=3" height="276" width="368" align="right" ect, before delving into facts and research – based on prior knowledge. A tenet of constructivism.
 * 2) **Research**: Collecting information from a wide range of sources, students fill out the bare bones of a modern curriculum – one focused on key concepts versus trivia to be mastered for an assessment.
 * 3) **Interpretation**: Active Processing: Students create their own representations of knowledge, including pro-and-con lists, tables and grids. They identify their own understanding of key points and lists of consistencies or discrepancies.
 * 4) **Communication**: Sharing of knowledge within the community, including classmates and teachers. They are building their own understanding of the field collaboratively.
 * 5) **Precision and Accuracy**: Rules of the discipline should still be followed, even with the creative space afforded new students in the Core Curriculum classroom. This includes grammar, syntax and word selection (English) and order of operations (Mathematics).

//Video, right: A demonstration of the project-based learning possible in the engaging, media-rich virtual environment that is Second Life. The assignment: Identify a subject area and construct a museum demonstrating its facts, potential hazards and educational resources. (Created by author, Rachel Hurst, with Sara Oakland Bates and Pamela Murray for EPSY 570 XM, December, 2010. See Sources for more info).//

**The Novice-Expert Continuum**

A flexible curriculum that is based on key concepts to be filled out by students’ own practical learning activities and research helps make them less dependent on following rules, and more able to create their own solutions.

Future assessments that follow this concept should use this continuum to chart progress towards higher levels of cognition within content areas at each successive grade level. (Conley, 2011; Ryder & Banner, 2010).

Why it works: Constructivism