I grew up in a series of schools which failed OFSTED, but to my teenage self, the most apparent issue in education was that my peers were simply not engaged. They were just waiting for the bell.
This week, Krajcik and Blumenfield’s Chapter on ‘Project Based Learning’ jumped out at me, stating that bored students can’t learn – perhaps I wasn’t wrong in my teenage analysis of the world!
Krajcik and Blumenfield claim that when students don’t learn, the structure of schooling is failing students. Their Constructivist approach, calls for an overhaul of existing systems and their replacement with ‘Project Based Learning’, based on the principle of gaining understanding through action. This approach advocates that students learn best when they construct knowledge for themselves. Krajcik and Blumenfield have implemented their ideas in various science classrooms and claim that their approach could be applied to any subject.
The idea of applying real world contexts to traditional classroom based subjects is one that I truly believe would have helped my classmates growing up and I find projects such as Teach a Man to Fish; focusing on ensuring students are equipped with the skills they need for the world of work and adult life absolutely fascinating. I know so many of my peers would have benefitted far more from this kind of schooling experience, than from trying in vain to memorise facts. Although I maintain reservations about whether all knowledge areas are improved by being linked to the ‘real’ world. The joy of more creative subjects is the fact that they allow an escape from reality!
I strongly agree that social interaction is key to forming knowledge – from my own experience of teaching, I’m aware that you never fully understand a concept until you explain it to someone.
I do, however, still have two major queries regarding ‘Project Based Learning’. My first is that, while I understand how science can be explored in this manner, I’m unconvinced that all subjects can be taught via this approach. Maths has never been my strong point, but can you actively create to learn Pythagoras? I adore history, but can you gain a true understanding of life in Soviet Russia by focusing on your own experiences in the North East? Their work really raises the larger question of whether there is a set curriculum that students need to learn, or whether, as Jerome Bruner claimed, the most important part of education is simply learning to itself.
Even if we believe the claim that ‘Project Based Learning’ is applicable to every subject, you undeniably need motivated learners for ‘Project Based Learning’ to succeed. How can you ensure that group discussions are productive? I applaud the idea of ‘Project Based Learning’ in theory, but in practice it requires learners to be highly engaged to start with, otherwise freedom will simply enable students to simply dive off task and never return.
Despite these criticisms, what did strike me as especially useful in this moment, is the recognition of technology as vital. This feels especially applicable in a time where social distancing requirements are driving students back behind carefully spaced out desks. Technology is imperative in ensuring that we don’t lose the future generations to boredom in their new, spread out classrooms. For me, this incorporation of technology into Project Based Learning is what we really need to be exploring.
Having been introduced to the XP Trust by a tutor, I feel I have answered the question of how to ensure students stay on curriculum during Project Based Learning. The answer, having landed upon it, now seems obvious. It is the curriculum that needs to change! The XP Trust encourages learners to create their own journey’s and to take real ownership over the curriculum. This more collaborative form of learning, which also embraces technology, really does look like the future.
Bibliography
Krajcik, J., & Blumenfeld, P. (2005). Project-Based Learning. In R. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 317-334). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511816833.020
Rosie Roams 
I strongly agree with your point about group discussions. Like you said, unless students are highly motivated they won’t be able to learn much from their peers- in fact, they might even end up wasting their time.
Also, I had recently come across an interesting example of how children could be asked to work in a group to create a business plan for a school fair. This could help them with basic math and would also contextualize the subject. But then again, like with the example of the Pythagoras, it could get quite difficult to contextualize complex subject areas and at that point do you think it might stop being a practical model to follow?
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Hi Linda,
Yes – I know from my own experience at school that a lot of time was often wasted when teachers set us off on group projects!! It was very different at University, as people had chosen to study the specific subject, but at school many students are just there because they have to be…
I think working on a business plan is such an interesting idea! I think that something like this would really engage students because, as you said, it provides context and perhaps there could even be a slight monetary gain or competitive element if they carried it out well. For me, I think that the practical model would be most useful in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects in schools , where students are likely to go on to have careers where they do need practical and teamworking skills etc. I think once students reach a higher level, there needs to be more of a mix of methods – for example someone studying maths at University may not only struggle to understand complex concepts using this method, but they may also feel frustrated to pay lots of money to an institution if they feel they really are just teaching themselves not being taught! I definitely think the model has its limits.
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I think this is a really important point and there is a clear tension between promoting more student centred approaches to learning and students feeling that they are missing out from not being taught:
‘every act of teaching deprives the child of an opportunity for discovery… the goal is to teach in such a way as to produce the most learning for the least teaching’. (Seymour Papert, Children’s Machine, 139)
Im sure that this problem is also made worse when teachers dont communicate and explain to their students why they are being asked to take a more active role.
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Check out https://www.teachamantofish.org.uk/. It promotes a model of schooling in which students are encouraged to set up their own business to help support their local community:
“Through our programmes, we equip educators in and out of school settings to help young people gain business and life skills through real youth-led businesses. By participating in the planning and running of a business, children and young people develop a range of life skills and experience through practical activities”.
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XP Schools (https://xptrust.org/) promote a model of schooling in the UK based upon PBL.
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Hi James, thanks for these links. I love the idea of students being in charge of their own learning journey rather than merely being passengers on it. I am now updating this blog accordingly!
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PBL is a really interesting concept I think. I’ve used it to an extent in my own classes as I do find it really engages students. But I think there is a fine balance between the teacher’s input and the students inputs. I think the teacher has a stronger role actually than perhaps people might guess.
As much as the “students” are finding the answers themselves, I believe a really good teacher can guide the path for students to find the answers – thus preventing as you say in the comments – the frustration that a student is essentially doing all the work themselves or indeed wasting time trying to find answers. From my perspective, if the teacher guides students correctly through it, the student feels supported throughout from the teacher, whilst also getting to have those “light bulb, a-ha!” moments! But I agree – some subjects, or even topics within subjects are perhaps more suited to this than others. The business plan-model idea is a perfect example! Interesting topic!
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