Project Based Learning

During this process of becoming a teacher, it has been important to me to reflect on my past as a student. The worst year ever for me as a student was in grade 5 when everyday my teacher put on the overhead projector and instructed us to copy pages and pages worth of social studies notes. Without any real teaching of the subject, we mindlessly copied information onto our pages. The worst part about this experience was that we were tested on the content. I did not do horribly in school that year however, because my memorization skills were quite good! Needless to say, I could not tell you what I learned that year... and at times I think “What a waste!”.

I watched a video on Project Based Learning ( PBL):

 What I really like about PBL is that it allows students to explore and understand content in a way similar to the real world. As adults in everyday life, and in many workplace environments, we are faced with challenges and projects.  Giving students projects to learn from rather than notes followed by a test is an excellent way for students to actually learn and demonstrate their understanding. An example from the video is students completing a group project about why and how people get sick. Not only did these students use critical thinking to ask questions, they collaborated with one another to create a presentation and a way to communicate what they came up with in the project. Critical thinking + collaboration + communication = PBL!

By reflecting on my days in elementary school, and thinking about my future as a teacher, it is clear to me that Project Based Learning will definitely play a large role in my classroom. Goodbye overhead projectors, endless notes, and sore hands!

Until next time...

To Quest or Not to Quest?

Throughout my education in the Concurrent program at Brock, I have been introduced to a lot of tools and resources. The first time I heard about Webquests, I was in my third year taking a course called "Children and Youth in the Digital Age". The professor was an advocate for Webquests, claiming that there are benefits of student exploration and the importance of diverse and technological learning tasks for students. I've never personally created one myself, but since that point have browsed quests online.

It was not until yesterday's discussion in my tech class that I looked at this tool from a new perspective. My instructor Zoe, (who will probably come up quite often in these blogs) had been wondering about the practical uses of Webquests. She posed a question to the world of Twitter... who uses standard Webquests in their classrooms? Responses varied, but most said they don't.

This caused me to create a very short list of pros and cons to using this tool. Take a look at what I came up with below:

Quest!	Don’t Quest!
-       Students enjoy the integration of technology in education, which can increase engagement with content -       At times, Webquests can have the same appeal as a game or challenge, which again (especially for boys according to research) will keep students engaged and on task while completing assignments	-      Webquests do not accommodate all learners/ learning styles -      They leave the exploring to students, which is a HUGE benefit, however, every student may not achieve the learning goals -       According to Zoe’s tweet, it is outdated... but what has replaced it?

* I would love to hear personal stories and experiences of educators using Webquests.
For now, I leave you with the question... to quest or not to quest?