0 21st Century Project Expectations?

Posted by Atsumori. Category: PBL

Soon I'll review students' project work and leave a badge on each presentation.  That has me thinking of what we should expect today with regard to project work.  I'm also wondering which project attributes lead to the best learning and long term gain with respect to skills, inspiration, and knowledge.

In days of old when materials and information were scarce, a good elementary school project was a bit of text and a few pictures or a diorama. I remember two sixth grade reports well. For our team project on Vancouver we found an old National Geographic and made a giant book of pictures and captions.  Similarly our Lincoln report included a giant picture of Lincoln and a number of facts.  Even though those projects pale in comparison to today's projects, I must say that the team aspect of the work, the information, and the visuals left me with a curiosity about both topics--essentially an open mind to learning about both Lincoln and Vancouver.

So today, with multiple tools available, what kinds of presentations are children creating, and what do we look for with regard to that work.  As you'll notice below students' work today includes the following:

• Google presentations with images, text, animation, video and multiple text structures.
• Short films with music, image, and text.
• Class film with voice and presentation.
• Hands-on murals and models.
• Crosswords puzzles, word finds.
• Family and school presentations. 
• Field Study.

With all of these learning structures, there is no doubt that students have had wonderful exposure to a topic as they research, write, create, assess, and present.  The next step is to make sure that the exposure leads to greater, beneficial inquiry, skill, and knowledge.

What kinds of projects are your students completing?  Which attributes of those projects have the greatest effect with respect to long-term learning gain?  How do we ensure that our project work with young students result in depth and breadth of learning rather than superficial exposure?  These are important questions as we design and embed learning endeavor today? 

Project Examples

The presentations reflect accurate research, multiple text structures, matching images, and other tools such as animation to teach the audience well.  Here's an example of a wonderful fourth grade presentation:



Movies synthesize image, music, and text to educate, entertain, and impact the audience.

iMovie YouTube Link


Save the Ring-Tailed Lemur by Nick

Hands-on models and murals translate fact and information into visual displays which allow both the researcher and the audience to experience the information learned. 

Students' Animal Habitat Murals

A class film gives every students a chance to voice their project learning, experience, and questions. The film is the main presentation piece for the family open house celebration and share. 

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