Ford PAS

The Philadelphia Academies professional development included two simulations from "Ford PAS."   To access the simulations / units/ modules, you have to register.  Most units / modules appear more appropriate for Academy courses (e.g. business) but there are some that fit with science and economics. (They do have a link to an interdisciplinary chart.) Since the units/ modules are produced by a corporation, the "point of view" is evident. 

This is something I'd like to discuss in the 2012-2013 school year - space for multiple perspectives.  The PBL critieria does not overtly include multiple perspectives but to me, if this is based on student interest / needs, then it is essential.  There shouldn't  be a  "correct" answer or way or doing something if the work is real to the students. This does not mean we don't show students  standards for formatting a research paper, writing citations / works cited pages, eliminating "Junk" web sites ("crap detection" with web sites), illogical conclusions in an experiment, unsubstantiated data, ETC.  Rather, multiple perspectives may be similar to "critical thinking" or "higher order thinking" but it also overtly  acknowledges and honors many points of view / life experiences.  I'm not sure how to consistently embrace multiple perspectives with PBL but I hope it is one topic we can discuss in 2012-2013.

What makes a project authentic?

This list is from an Edutopia blog post by John Larmer .  While I find the list helpful in clarifying components of PBL, there are few projects other than semester or year long projects such as a Senior Project, which will meet all criteria.  It might be helpful when planning to find ways to incorporate a couple criteria in each unit with the goal of an annual project which culminates the 4 criteria.  Another use of the list may be to discuss what are "the basics" needed for any unit to include PBL. 

A project can be authentic in four ways, some of which may be combined in one project:

1. The project meets a real need in the world beyond the classroom, or the products that students create are used by real people.
   For example:
   • Students propose designs for a new play area in a nearby park.
   • Students plan and execute an environmental clean-up effort in their community.
   • Students create a website for young people about books they like.
   • Students write a guide and produce podcasts for visitors to historic sites in their county.
   • Students serve as consultants to local businesses, advising them on how to increase sales to young people.
   • Students develop a conflict resolution plan for their school.
2. The project focuses on a problem, issue or topic that is relevant to students' lives -- the more directly, the better -- or on a problem or issue that is actually being faced by adults in the world students will soon enter.
   For example:
   • Students create multimedia presentations that explore the question, "How do we make and lose friends?"
   • Students learn physics by investigating the question, "Why don't I fall off my skateboard?"
   • Students form task forces to study possible effects of climate change on their community and recommend actions that could be taken.
   • Students decide whether the U.S. should intervene in a conflict inside another country that is causing a humanitarian crisis.
3. The project sets up a scenario or simulation that is realistic, even if it is fictitious.
   For example:
   • Students are asked by the Archbishop of Mexico in 1818 to recommend a location for the 22nd mission in California. (This happens to be a featured project on BIE's new online program, PBLU.org.)
   • Students act as architects who need to design a theatre that holds the maximum number of people, given constraints of available land, cost, safety, comfort, etc.
   • Students play the role of United Nations advisors to a country that has just overthrown a dictator and needs advice about how to start a democracy.
   • Students recommend which planet in our solar system ought to be explored by the next space probe as they compete for NASA funding.
   • Students are asked to propose ideas for a new TV reality show that educates viewers about science topics such as evolutionary biology and the geologic history of the earth.
4. The project involves tools, tasks or processes used by adults in real settings and by professionals in the workplace. (This criterion for authenticity could apply to any of the above examples of projects.)
   For example:
   • Students investigating the physics of skateboarding test various surfaces for speed, using the scientific method and tools scientists use.
   • Students exploring the issue of how we make and lose friends conduct surveys, analyze data, record video interviews, and use online editing tools to assemble their presentations.
   • Students acting as U.N advisors to an emerging democracy analyze existing constitutions, write formal reports, and present recommendations to a panel.

Anatomy of a WebQuest, Pt. I

The Signing of the Declaration

I am interested in learning about the American Revolution, the framing of the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers.

Students, I have discovered, not so much. 

Such is the plight of the English 3 teacher upon arrival at Unit Three of the Planning and Scheduling Timeline, "Getting to Know the Colonials."

It started out fluidly enough with a mini unit on Ben Franklin, he of the wit, the wisdom, and the lascivious appetite.  Poor Richard's Almanack was a hit, excerpts from the Autobiography bordered on tolerable, and the overall interest level was a 7.7/10.  Not too bad.

Then Patrick Henry happened.

You know Patrick Henry.  He's the "Give me liberty or give me death" guy that helped to foment popular support for rebelling against the British crown's unfair system of taxation sans Parliamentary representation.  It's a great line--one of the greatest in American rhetoric--but it's the final line of his Speech to the Virginia Delegation, and it takes an effort worthy of Hercules in the Augean stables to get to that point.

As an aside, no less an historical giant than Thomas Jefferson claimed that Henry was the greatest public speaker and debater that he had ever encountered, and that when one found themselves on the opposite side of a Patrick Henry debate, the only chance that they had of winning was to "devoutly pray for his death."

But as I surveyed the room and saw students slipping into what appeared to be a catatonic state, I could see that they didn't care what Thomas Jefferson thought, and that they didn't give a DAMN for Patrick Henry's genius as a debater.

This was Friday.  The lesson ended, the textbooks strewn hastily and unclosed on desktops, and my students shuffled glumly out of the room without even acknowledging my existence, much less Patrick Henry's.  To continue in this vein would have been folly.

So I had to ask myself the big question: What was I trying to accomplish?  What knowledge was I trying to impart about the American Revolution and our nation's founders?

First, it was an appreciation for the key players, individuals of towering greatness and ambition running amok inside of an idea when there was still new thought and action to be discovered beneath the sun.  There were immutable figures of stoicism, valor, and nobility (Washington), rarefied polymaths (Franklin and Jefferson), and groundbreaking political philosophers (Adams, Hamilton, and Madison).  Fascinating people, all living, collaborating, and arguing at the epicenter of American posterity.     

And yet, these great propagators of freedom either participated in or did nothing about the institution of slavery, the quintessential evil of American life.

So that was it.  This paradox, one of the greatest in the annals of humanity, was what I wanted my students to study.  Now I just needed a vehicle to deliver this critical inquiry...


(To be continued in Pt. II)

 

An Eye on Next Year

As I look forward to developing a curriculum for English 4 next year, I am also looking at developing a system of Project Based Learning that helps to deliver the content.  To that end, a rough approximation of the content that I am considering is as follows:

1. An introductory unit on hero archetypes, particularly Epic and Tragic Heroes-
• Beowulf
• Oedipus
2.  A unit on Dystopian literature and film-
• 1984
• Lord of the Flies
• Brave New World
3. A re-tooled Senior Project

For the literature units, it is likely that I will develop WebQuests to deliver a large portion of the material.  This isn't enough, though, as I will need to engage students in using tech tools such as iMovie, Web 2.0 applications, and other methods to fulfill the "Public Audience" aspect of PBL.

Implementing Senior Projects in the mold of PBL appears to be the most pressing issue, for I am becoming increasingly more concerned that students are learning very little from the way research is currently taught.

Feedback, suggestions, and tips are welcome and encouraged.