Eclectic Technology

Have you wondered what Project-Based Learning? Are you interested in watching a short video by Common Craft, a well know organization that creates short animated films that discuss the key elements of the topic at hand? The Buck Institute for Education commissioned this video (and they are know for Project-Based Learning). 

Why concern yourself with Project-Based Learning? A key reason is that projects help promote 21st century learning including  collaboration, communication and critical thinking skills.

How can the iPad and Project Based Learning (PBL) come together in a classroom? Here is a post that explores how you may use PBL and the iPad in your classroom. There is a great visual that is "laid out in terms of the kind of workflow a learner might encounter in a 21st century, K-20, project-based learning environment." 

 "I really like Driving Questions. In fact, I like them so much more then Essential Questions. You might ask why? I think it just might be my affection for the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. You may remember that in the revision the different levels were changed into action. In fact, I strongly believe that learning is a verb and is based on action. Take away the word “Question” and Driving is a verb loaded with action. The word “Essential” standing alone is only a word devoted to describing… a colorful but inactive adjective."

This is the first article of a series and discusses the concept of Driving Questions and how their importance in PBL. Links to additional resources are also available.

There was a time when my sole purpose for living and breathing, my ultimate dream, was to sign a contract -- a contract to play professional baseball. I simply wanted the opportunity to work hard in order to create a better me for the entire team.

What if you take that energy and put it in your classroom, allowing students to sign a contract? This post shares the experience of a teacher in an American Literature course who began a project-based learning assignment that provided options for the students to demonstrate their learning through a project of their choice.
For more information continue on to the article.

If you’re like me, you discovered design as a career option later in life--in college, or even after graduating and working in another field. By that point, most of us had already lost the mindset most beneficial for creative design.

What happens when a design firm partners with a high school, and works with a hands-on, project-based learning model, to teach the freshman class about product design?" Add on taking a freshman physics class and a class on social-change poetry, and ask the students to think about questions such as: "What would headphones look like if they were intended to appear to a certain target audience, so they could deliver their message to the right set of ears?" 

Read on for more details and to learn about values of risk-taking! 

Are you interested in project-based learning (PBL) & looking for a guide that will help you learn how to design & run projects for students, projects that begin with an enquiry & finish with a tangible project that you may display? If so, this may be the guide you are waiting for. It contains six main sections: Section 1 is an introduction which explains what PBL is; Section 2 provides inspiration with real life projects and how they worked; Section 3 looks at the foundations of PBL – multiple drafts, critique and exhibition; Section 4 helps you execute with a guide for planning & running projects; Section 5 focuses on integration & how to build a ‘culture of excellence’; & Section 6 helps to wrap it up.