Article Review #5
Emma Drury
Challenge Based Learning: Take action and make a difference (apple)
First off I really agree with how the article starts with saying that in high school many of the projects we do are uninspired and are just to get a letter grade. I know with most of my work in high school, unless it was something I was already passionate about (and sometimes even then) I would put just enough effort into whatever the assignment was to get an A and that was that. It didn't increase my learning, it didn't help me create new or improve my creativity, problem solving skills, social skills or any other skills.
As I was reading more about the components and key features of challenge based learning, the more I found it interesting. I think that there are some really great ideas for engaging learning and students. But something that I always wonder is if I were to have been given one of these tasks in high school, would it have increased my learning or peaked my interest or would I have just seen it as more work and annoying?
As for the general set up of a challenge based learning activity, I think that they really hit a lot of the important things that would be needed to make these work. I feel starting off especially with having a workspace that the students can access 24/7 is vital, I know that during project nothing stresses me out more then not having access to what I need when I want it or having to worry about getting what I need before the library (for example) closes. I also feel that the set up is detailed enough to support all students through the process and keep things moving, anyone could follow this design and implement it in their classrooms, if they had the resources avalible. Another feature of this type of learning that I thought was really great was the fact that it does mirror real life, you are working towards a project, you are using multiple skills in many disciplines as well as having to work in groups. These are all skills that you'll be using after high school and especially after college. Outside of academia you aren't working towards a good grade or a pass, and you don't get to move on to all new things after 10 weeks, so giving students a new way to think about learning and approach it is a great idea.
Overall I'm excited to learn more about this type of learning and maybe get a chance in the future to use it in a classroom or some extent of this. It reminds me a lot of the project approach to learning that is used a lot in early childhood classrooms. Which is a lot like this, not so much as solving a problem but learning about something through mostly self motivated learning, multiple disciplines, and with groups.
Great Post this week Emma! I complete agree with what you said about high school projects not being very meaningful. Since grades were stressed so much it seemed like it mattered more then the learning did. But if I would have been given a project like this I think it would have been a great opportunity to prepare myself for future projects as well as get me more interested in the learning that was involved.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your post, I like how you started off talking about how students in high school are not motivated to do a project or assignment. It is very true that most students just care about the "A" and not the journey it took to receive that mark. A student should be engaged in his or her project not bored to death. By using CBL it gives students something to work for, they go in depth and dive deeper than the usual project. You hit the spot when you said that these are tools students will be able to use outside of high school, especially in college.
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I find it so funny that we both thought about challenge based learning through the view of the 'project approach.' I think that people can forget that the little ones can be just as passionate about issues as older students. As early ed teachers it will be our job to expand this passion and transform it into meaningful learning.
ReplyDeleteI am also very excited to learn more about Challenge Based Learning in the classroom. I think it is a great way for students to learn in a creative way and I like that you connected it to early childhood education. Even though it may be talked about more in the high school, I think it can definitely be altered for younger students. I also agree that environment is an extremely important part of Challenge Based Learning. I think that we get concerned about it becoming just another assignment because we were so used to always having boring assignments. However, if done correctly, I definitely think Challenge Based Learning would be way more interesting for a student.
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