Reflection 4

            Brittney Cox

Reflection 4

Chapter 4 discussed a number of potential pitfalls in project based learning.  The first one to look out for is “long on activity, short on learning outcomes.”  This is where a project is long but lacks level three and level four thinking. A way to avoid this is to “pay attention to the quality of the student experience” (p 60).  If this is done then the lesson will remain, or be, high quality.

A second pitfall is “technology layered over traditional practice.”  Just because technology is used doesn’t mean the lesson is guaranteed to be great.  “Good projects focus on reaching significant learning outcomes, not merely making use of technology applications” (p 61).  The project must be filled with experiences where technology facilitates and advances higher learning.

A third pitfall is “trivial thematic units.”  The book uses apples as the chosen unit of study during the fall period.  Just because students were learning about apples, and apples surrounded them across the curriculum in their class, doesn’t mean the students were learning anything useful.  “Although apples are everywhere, the work is not interdisciplinary, collaborative, or especially rigorous” (p 61).  Krauss then suggests making a variety of projects that are centered on apples, but have larger themes like change or power.

A fourth pitfall is “overly scripted with many, many steps.”  The point of projects is to allow students to make decisions, mistakes, and progress in deeper understanding of subjects.  “The best projects have students making critical decisions about their learning path” (p 61).  We do not want our projects to have predictable results when the students are reaching conclusions.  We must always revise, reorder, and rewrite projects if they do not push students to problem solve and justify their answers. 

A good project will give the students flexibility.  They will be engaged and understand why it is important for them to investigate.  We want students to have meaningful experiences working as a team.  We want there to always be the essential learning functions being utilized during all projects.

“Good projects are everywhere.” (p 65).  One of the greatest perks of being a teacher is the ability to be creative in our classrooms.  We can make our own projects, use a project that is already made, or alter a premade lesson.  The book gave us sources that have sound projects that promote deep understanding. 

To design our own project we should follow these steps: design your project, write a project sketch, create an asset map, learn about asset map, and track assets online.  In our group projects we have taken in consideration all of these steps.   We have set up our project in a way that our students will have to take ownership over their learning through technology and communication.  They will learn as much as they want to learn (with me scaffolding).  There will be communication with other students from around the world as well as hands on portions where students are able to create a recipe from their chosen country.  This project supports project based learning while taking into consideration the potential pitfalls.