Use These 4 Videos When Developing Project-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning is not an easy way to teach but it is much more rewarding for the learners and the teachers.  Here are some must-watch videos about Developing Project-Based Learning.  I have tried to share them in a progressive sequence that you can use to move through the process of learning about and through PBL.

Project-Based Learning: Explained

Looking for an easy introduction to PBL?  This Common Craft video developed for the Buck Institute for Education does a good job of describing PBL and how it fits into 21st Century Curriculum. An interesting part is that they only talk about 3 of the 4 Cs (Communication, Collaboration and Critical Thinking).  I wonder what they did with the fourth C, Creativity?

 

The Five Keys to Project-Based Learning

Well-designed PBL has been shown to result in deeper learning and more engaged, self-directed learners. This video provides a suggestion for five core elements of successful PBL.  Here are more resources at Edutopia where you can learn more about PBL.

Meeting the Challenges of Project-Based Learning

Introducing PBL into your class isn't an easy process. This video shares the difficulties and triumphs of Sammamish High School (Washington) teachers as they move from traditional teaching to schoolwide problem-based learning.

Assessment in Project-Based Learning

This 30-minute webinar explores how PBL might be assessed with the BIE Editor-in-Chief, John Larmer, and a team of educators.




Project-Based Learning is the epitome of 21st Century Learning. 

How are you using it?  What additional resources do you need to make it a reality in your teaching?

Z

How Rube Goldberg Led Our 6th Graders to Pursue Their Passions in STEM (STEAM)

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=3061

Last May, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks with 6th graders in Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School in Iowa.

I had the wonderful opportunity to work with 6th graders for a few weeks.  We explored the Crazy World of Rube Goldberg using Problem-Based Learning.

It was my pleasure to share this at the ITEC fair in Des Moines this month.  I was joined by the 6th grade teacher and 3 of the boys who participated in this session. The guys did a great job of presenting their thoughts and actions as they were engaged in this process. 

I also took this presentation and turned it into a video. I submitted it to the K-12 Online Conference and they accepted my proposal. My video was just posted on the K-12 Online Conference. It is an honor to be included in this group.

How Rube Goldberg Led Our 6th Graders to Pursue Their Passions in STEM

Join me in the journey our 6th graders took into the Crazy World of Rube Goldberg. You will experience the fun they had developing “complex chain reactions to accomplish simple tasks.” Using a Problem-Based Learning format, these students explored physics while they built contraptions to drop a marble in a bucket, dip a chip in salsa, pop a balloon and even create a banana smoothie. Dr. Z shares how the inventors expressed their experiences through KidBlog and how these activities aligned with Common Core Standards in Science, Technology and Writing. It’s 20 minutes of fun and exploration into exciting ways to learn.

I would love to hear your reactions and suggestions about this learning experience.

Z

#2 - Creating and Using Problem-Based Learning in the TVET Classroom workshop

As the second workshop in the Technology-Empowered Learning workshop series I am giving here in Amman, Jordan, this workshop will be a hands-on experience where the attendees will actually go through the process of identifying a topic, authoring an essential question, designing a plan, and finishing the project with an external presentation.

This workshop includes some handouts that will be attached to this page in .pdf format (but maybe not until tonight.)

Here is the slideshow in English

Creating and Using Problem-Based Learning in a TVET Classroom

View more presentations from Leigh Zeitz

Here is the slideshow in Arabic

Creating and Using Problem-Based Learning in a TVET Classroom (in Arabic)

View more presentations from Leigh Zeitz

 

Resources used during the workshop:

• Buck Institute for Education - Valuable resource for PBL. The handouts for this workshop are based upon these resources.
• High Tech High School video -  See how PBL is fully integrated into the educational system.
• Brain-based Research - Good overview of the field.

How do you use PBL in your teaching?  Please share your experiences and resources.

Z

Complex Answers for Simple Problems? Thanks, Rube Goldberg

Automatic soup cooler (blog.tmcnet.com)

Albert Einstein once stated "Everything should be made as simple as possible but no simpler." That's nice, but not fun.
I have been a long time fan of Rube Goldberg. It is all about finding a round about solution to a problem. I like that. The Webster's New World Dictionary defines Rube Goldberg as a comically involved complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation.

That's called FUN!!!!

There is a certain charm and challenge in finding complex solutions. I remember building Revell plastic models of some of these solutions when I was 10 years old. Here's one for giving a baby a bottle.

This can be quite motivating to challenge your students to design these ideas. Purdue University has sponsored a Rube Goldberg Machine Contest since 1949. In 2007, high schools were allowed to join in the competition. These competitions build young engineers which integrates with their STEM program.

The 2010 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is challenging students to find a way to dispense an appropriate amount of hand sanitizer into a hand.

Here is a video of what some call the most complex Goldberg machine ever made. I don't know about that, but it certainly takes up this person's whole house so I wonder what this developer does for a real life.





Rube Goldberg has even made it big with the rock group OK Go. This video, This Too Shall Pass, is ingenious and more fun!!!





I just found a video about Gerberich's Gadgetry that isn't completely Rube Goldbergish but close enough to share here. Stephen Gerberich (originally from Iowa) posts his stuff on this Gerb - o - Matic website. He has displays in museums all over the country. A good introduction to his work is his motionclip.

Here is a link to his video archives.

Below is a 3-minute interview with the vodcast, Rocketboom.




Are you using Rube Goldberg-like projects with your students?
What have they created?
How are you integrating this with your curriculum?


Z