Favorite Tools for PBL?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Cottrell on July 22, 2010 at 9:16am

I have to admit that I have been having trouble getting started in using “true” PBL. Maybe this is because I have trouble visualizing “final products” for PBL units. Besides a learning objective, final products are crucial to starting and developing PBL units. If I had better ideas for final products, I would then be able to pick the most suitable Web 2.0 tool to use in facilitating the communication required to develop and create these unknown final products. Seems like the kinds of communication used and type of final product will be a big factor in the tools used.

Permalink Reply by Suzie Boss on July 22, 2010 at 9:39am

Hi Jim,
I'm curious what grade level/subject area you teach. I'm guessing this group will be eager to weigh in with final product ideas galore. The best products not only demonstrate student understanding of key content, but inspire students to extend themselves and do something special (because, after all, it's "their" idea!).

Permalink Reply by Jim Cottrell on August 12, 2010 at 5:26pm

I have been bounce postions yet again, so I think I teach 7th grade Life Science. I guess I'm having problems nailing down the details of final projects.

Permalink Reply by Cindy Stephenson on July 22, 2010 at 1:10pm

Yes, I am thinking about tools like Wikis, animoto, Google docs and glogster. Has anyone had luck with these? What tips can you offer?

Permalink Reply by Syd on July 22, 2010 at 1:28pm

Google apps will be a big part of the year: specifically, Gmail to communicate, Sites to build websites and wikis, Docs to share files and collaborate on projects & the use of forms within Docs for class surveys, quizzes, and data gathering for research.

Early on, I plan to use Glogster for students to be able to display aspects of their own lives as it relates to the Hero's Journey (just planning that now) and LiveBinders to keep an orderly "binder" of all the sites we use with pages for the works they've created or authored online.

I'll definitely be experimenting with using one of the "post-it notes" sites like Linoit.com to gather Need-to-Knows and "Next Steps" at the start of a project so students will be able to access the lists at home.

:o)

Permalink Reply by Suzie Boss on July 26, 2010 at 10:34am

Thanks, Syd!
I like virtual sticky notes like Wallwisher for brainstorming but can see how they'd be useful for need-to-knows and next steps, too. Thanks for pointing me to Linoit.com--off to check it out!
And I like your approach to thinking about various tools for key aspects of PBL.

Permalink Reply by Marsha Ratzel on July 26, 2010 at 2:36pm

I'm new to this PBL style and, although I've had pieces of PBL throughout, I've never done most of the year from this perspective. This year I've re-done my 6th grade science curriculum under the question "What causes the earth to change?" and we'll start off trying to answer "What is a storm?" using the NOAA 2010 Hurricane Season prediction. Students will have to figure out what a storm is, why it happens and if the NOAA prediction is accurate, what would they recommend for 1) the area where the oil spill is located; and 2) the rest of the Gulf region.

They'll brainstorm questions they want to answer using Wallwisher. I'll help categorize them into driving question categories and then they'll start working away at their slant on the question. Since I teach science I need to infuse mini-lessons about basic earth science processes that they don't know anything about throughout (labs & demos on convection currents, exploration of densities, revisiting water cycle so it connects to storms/atmosphere/weather/ocean) and so on. I need them to build background knowledge so I've really thought about using the local public librarian to do book talks on earth science topics and then channel all their reading through Goodreads. We'll have regular meetings where they share what they've learned with each other and use Goodreads to recommend/review books they should all read. hopefully by the end of the 1st quarter, we'll have quite a list of books they can tap into to answer questions around these issues. I had wanted to use Diigo....but alas my district has some crazy filtering thing that prevents the Diigo toolbar from installing. Kids can use their accounts at home but not at school. My district has also cut EBSCO (along with the entire state) out of our research databases...which is where Diigo would have worked very nicely.

I'm trying to find real live weather and atmosphere experts who might Skype with us and even have regular online "lab" meetings where we present our findings about their driving quesiton. It would be super cool if those scientists could push my kids to make "claims" and then push them into using the "evidence" they've found in data sets (I'm going to use the MY NASA data on water surface temperature, for example). I think it's one place where the kids really struggle with making inferences about what has happened....they do OK at collecting the information but it's super hard to get them to analyze it. They sort of wait for someone else to do that and then they all just agree.

We'll see. I'm running my class through a Moodle format...that way I can load Twitter updates from the Hurricane Warning center, active earthquakes from the USGS as well as volcanoes. I've got the NOAA Earth Science picture of the day (but I don't think itt really changes every day) and some other feeds that should be easy for them to follow. I'd like to use some of the mapping 2.0 apps to track anything that seems active. MapSkip seemed like a pretty good place to do this...but I haven't tried it.

It will be interesting to see what they recommend and how that compares to how it all goes down in the real world.

Permalink Reply by Suzie Boss on July 26, 2010 at 5:28pm

Marsha,
I love hearing you think through your plan--great example of knowing what you want to achieve, then finding the right tools to help students get there.
There are some terrific science resources mentioned here by Eric Brunsell.
You might enjoy the conversations happening at PBL Camp, too--feel free to jump in!

Permalink Reply by Kitty Tripp on August 11, 2010 at 8:05pm

I am going to start using TodaysMeet as a brainstorming tool...it's a private chat room I can set up for my students and I to share ideas and learn to communicate through a process. For example. I'm going to give a math problem and the students will either ask a question or give suggestions on the steps necessary to take in solving the problem. No one will be allowed to give the answer only ways in which to find the answer. What's great is I can printout a transcript of our chat and give a participation grade for the activity. I would probably give them guidelines upfront on what I will be looking for to consider them as having participated, ie. a number of postings in the chat that bring valid content or raise questions about the process. In taking this idea farther, I'd love to involve one of my classes we Skype with and have them join in our chat room to get more perspective, thoughts and ideas in the mix!

Permalink Reply by Suzie Boss on August 12, 2010 at 8:41am

Hi Kitty,
Great idea! Sounds like this will serve a variety of good purposes for you and your students. I like your focus on problem-solving strategies rather than answers.
Here's another collaboration tool I just learned about from a smart colleague. Synch.in combines chat with collaborative word processing space. It's simple to set up--no registration required. Now I'm off to check out TodaysMeet. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Suzie Boss on August 17, 2010 at 4:41pm

Thanks to all who shared ideas for this back-to-school guide, just published by Edutopia. You can download a free copy here.
And please let me know about favorite tools I may have overlooked. Never too soon to start planning for next year!
Cheers,
Suzie

Permalink Reply by Nathan Grimm on August 26, 2010 at 1:05pm

I compiled all of the tools and information I have found here: http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/online-teaching/project-based-l...

There's also a widget at the bottom of the page that provides a feed of new articles and conversations.