Cycle 2 1 EDCI 397

PBL Essential Elements Checklist

The Eight Elements Project Based Learning Must Have Posted by Jeff Dunn on 2013-03-22 http://edudemic.com/2013/03/elements-project-based/

PROJECT NAME: Finding Solutions to Hunger

SOURCE: iEARN

Does the project?

FOCUS ON SIGNIFICANT CONTENT At its core, the project is focused on teaching students important knowledge and skills, derived from standards and key concepts at the heart of academic subjects. (FOR 397) FOCUS ON GLOBAL AWARENESS AND DEVELOP GLOBAL COMPETENCE

Questions & Possible Modifications

-The project as is does not give specific activities that focus on specific content but by adding the right activities the project has potential significant content in math, health, language arts, technology, and science. -The project allows students to explore a global issue that they can relate to. The students will learn about food scarcity related issues that people in different parts of the world face by interacting with students from different parts of the world. -The project helps students to develop strong global competency because the students are investigating different parts of the world, exploring different perspectives, communicating their ideas to diverse audiences, and using their findings to take action. -They are problem solving as they work towards solutions for hunger -They are using communication skills and technology skills as they collaborate with students from around the world to learn about their eating habits

DEVELOP 21 CENTURY SKILLS (FOR 397 DEVELOP RESILIENCE) Students build skills valuable for todays world, such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, and communication, which are taught/practiced and assessed. ENGAGE STUDENT IN IN-DEPTH INQUIRY Students are engaged in rigorous, extended process of asking questions, using resources, and developing answers.

ST

-The students start with exploring their own diet, then learn about their classmates diets and then learn about their ePal collaborators diets. -As they compare different diets from around the world more questions will arise as to why some places have so much food and others have so little. -Students will use research resources and collaboration with students from other parts of the world to answer these questions. -The project is not currently organized around a driving question but the project has potential to be designed around a few different questions such as: 1. Why is world hunger a problem in our society? 2. What can we do to help stop world hunger? -The first question could drive their exploration as they learn about diets around the world and as they learn about why food is scarce in some regions. The second question could drive the students activism portion of the project as they brainstorm ways to make a difference. -There is a strong entry event which is the hunger banquet which is a luncheon for the students that models the inequality of food resource distribution. Students are chosen to sit at one of three tables, the excess table, the moderate table or the scarcity table. Each table has food that represents the food situations of different parts of the world. -This activity will grab the students attention because they will experience the injustice of food resource distribution first hand and

ORGANIZE TASKS AROUND A DRIVING QUESTION Project work is focused by an open-ended question that students explore or that capture the task they are completing.

ESTABLISH A NEED TO KNOW Students see the need to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills in order to answer the Driving Question and create project products, beginning with an ENTRY EVENT that generates interest and curiosity.

Lisa A. Bot, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. Lbote@umd.edu

Cycle 2 2 EDCI 397

will thus find it more relatable and may want to learn more about it.

ENCOURAGE VOICE AND CHOICE Students are allowed to make some choices about the products to be created, how they work, and how they use their time, guided by the teacher and depending on age level and PBL experience. INCORPORATE REVISION AND REFLECTION The project includes processes for students to use feedback to consider additions and changes that lead to high-quality projects, and think about what and how they are learning. INCLUDE A PUBLIC AUDIENCE Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher.

-Currently there is not that much student choice -More by choice could be introduced by letting students choose country to research and they can make decisions on what to research -Could choose how to present and who to work with -They need more opportunities to review each others work and their own work -Have checkpoints throughout where they evaluate how their learning process is going and how it changes their perspective They make public service announcements which are shared with students from around the world, could also have assembly or share with community in other ways.

Lisa A. Bot, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. Lbote@umd.edu