Project+Based+Learning

NETS 2.a.b.c

I think that project/problem based learning is very good for students in the classroom. Doing this not only helps them learn, by them learning themselves, but also can get them working in groups with one another. A couple of different approaches to this I took in a few of my classes this year. During Economics, the students were given paychecks, had to find places to live, pay bills, even find a mode of transportation. For the most part, they did this on their by doing research on the internet. With the money they earned, they were able to figure out what they could spend and what they could afford going forward. In my Journalism class, the students were given a video project, although mostly to be done on their own, they quickly found they had to find help from other students in order to accomplish their goals. They had to pick a song, and then create a video based on what that song meant to them. While a couple of them had no problems with this, others still wanted to be led around and told what exactly to do each step of the way. I think that if more of this can be done in every classroom, then the apprehension some students have about doing these types of projects might dissipate.