1. What is PBL and why use it

1.1 What is PBL

Questions I have about PBL:

How to motivate students? How to motivate colleagues for collaboration?How to find right measure of what to expect from project-based learning? How to guide students? How to choose resources? What about time management?...

1.2 Why use PBL

What type of skills & competences are developed in students as a result of PBL?

• critical thinking
• problem solving
• creativity
• collaboration
• information literacy
• ICT literacy
• flexibility and adaptation
• initiative and self direction
• social and cross-cultural skills
• productivity and accountability
• lidership

Why is PBL not used more widely in our education systems?

Many teachers are not educated to implement PBL in their classes. They have not experienced such learning as students, either. It is difficult to expect that teachers can change the way they teach just like that. They need help and support. Of course, there will always be enthusiasts, who will be motivated to change and learn themselves, bit it is not enough. What about children who are not lucky to have such teachers?

1.3 P2P - Reflections on our current teaching practice

Well, since I am teacher librarian I find myself in all sorts of situations and interactions with students and teachers, from working with individual students, to small groups, whole classes to leading school projects. I have to be flexible for all kinds of teaching situations and levels of collaborations with my colleagues.

During this school year, I was leading two reading groups, one for students and one for teachers. I had four groups of so-called “young librarians” who came one hour a week to learn about and in the library. These were children aged 8-10. There were two groups of school newspaper editors (age 12-14). I also worked with one group of children with reading difficulties. I lead these groups independently, so I choose teaching and learning strategies that ensure a lot of fun for students and relaxed working atmosphere. I guess that is the reason why those activities are so popular among students. There are lots of games, creative workshops, quizzes, dramatizations, web tools etc. Sometimes I insert some mini lectures.

The other part of my work is library and information literacy curriculum that should be integrated in the curriculum of all school subjects. This is something that I can do only in the collaboration with other teachers. Here I have difficulties because some of them are not willing to cooperate. Some of the teachers in my school prefer traditional lecturing and are not aware of the importance of information literacy. Officially, the collaboration is recommended, but nobody supervises it. However, I somehow succeed to squeeze my curriculum whenever there is opportunity. Some colleagues are willing to do new things, some are willing to let me do whatever I want, just if they do not have to do anything, some allow small interventions on my side but want to be in charge. I am very enthusiastic about my job and my task in school, I try to be positive and not intrusive, so I must say that each year there are more opportunities to integrate information literacy in other subjects.

I am optimistic for curriculum reform that is going on in Croatia. Although political situation is not in favor of the reform now, I am sure that changes will come, one way or the other.

I think I will have many opportunities to implement PBL in my work. For the purpose of this course, I will choose my group of school journalist.

• Class: group of school journalists
• Number of students: 15
• Age: 11-14
• Subject topic: Media literacy

1.4 Components of Good PBL

• Real world connection
• Core to learning
• Structured collaboration
• Student driven
• Multifaceted assessment

Which of the 5 components (or keys as they are called in the video) you feel will be the most challenging for you to realize and why.

Each component seems challenging

Students in my school in general are not used to PBL. They do not know how to collaborate, they are not used to express their opinion, most of them are passive in class. But, since I will be experimenting with the group of school journalists, they allready have some skills needed for PBL.

1.5 The Driving Question

The question should be open-ended, engage and inspire students by creating curiosity, and be aligned to the learning goals you would like to achieve.

1.6 P2P - Your PBL Design: Formulating your driving question

When you have come up with a good driving question post it in the peer review activity text box below, together with a bit of context about where you plan to implement it, such as the student age-range, subject, etc. and the learning goals you would like to achieve with the class (what skills, knowledge, etc. students should acquire.

My driving question: