Top 5 PBL News Stories

 

July 11 - 15, 2016

 

Each Friday we post a list of our favorite articles, blog posts, and other resources we’ve run across that relate to Project Based Learning.

Here’s what we liked this week:

Study: Give Weak Teachers Good Lesson Plans, Not Professional Development
Education Week
A report on a recent study of middle school math teachers who used the PBL-ish materials created by our friends at Mathalicious (who have also created projects for BIE’s PBLU.org). The Northwestern University authors of the paper said “Access to inquiry-based lesson plans and online support significantly improved student achievement – and benefitted weaker teachers the most.”

Assessment in Making
Edutopia
An excellent post by Stephanie Chang at Maker Education, with Chad Ratliff, with reflections on what maker education teaches, plus guidance for how it can align with standards and how teachers can assess 21st century skills and use digital portfolios.

Technology Allows Students to Take Charge of Their Own Learning Journeys
Enlearn
Karen Cator, President and CEO of Digital Promise, highlights the potential and the challenges of using technology for 21st century learning.

The Politics of the Common Core Assessments
Education Next
A comprehensive run-down of the history, current state, and future possibilities of CCSS and the Smarted Balanced and PARCC assessment systems – which are heading in a PBL-friendly direction. It is encouraging that states developing their own assessment systems also intend to assess things like problem-solving and application of knowledge instead of just factual recall.

Inspiring Kids By Teaching Them They “Can”
EducationDIVE
A blog post about a teacher in Ohio whose students tackle projects that “change the world,” inspired by singer Jesse Ruben’s song “We Can.” Since 2013, more than 125,00 K-12 students have participated in creating and carrying out these projects.

 

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