Kimberly Trott Blog 2 New Tech, Matt Bertasso, are we teaching students to fish for a lifetime article.

When I first started teaching World History fourteen years ago I was not very knowledgeable on ancient history and I guess looking back on the experience I learned the material the way that PBL suggests.  It just took several years though.  That is what is hard for me to get my head around.  If it took me that long how could a student possibly get it all down from one project.  I do realize they don't need to know everything I studied but I will say that the process I went through to learn the material is how I actually became very proficient in the material.  I read, read some more, investigated things I needed to clarify, and saw patterns in the material; then I created lessons from what I had learned and then I presented what I had learned to the students in my class, my real world audience.

Starting at the top of Bloom's sounds like a great idea but it still makes me think there is no way that the majority of students left alone will fill in all the pieces.  They will get an end result but it is hard for me to believe it will be as complete as I would give them.  It is hard to not think this way because in the past it just seems that students look up a project topic and answer it as fast as they can without really investigating the topic.  This is even when I gave them a choice on topics and project development.  Some students did fantastic projects while others barely grasped the assignment.  Maybe there is no golden apple for every student.  They must find value in what they are doing, my value was my job so I need to somehow find a way to convey the importance of history to them.

I do realize that in a PBL if I hold the students accountable then better results should be seen.  I think the issue I have is the amount of time it takes to implement the PBL and have students do the work to get the material.  I still haven't turned an entire chapter over to them.  It seems hard to imagine coming up with one PBL topic that will answer all of the material in a single unit of study.  I have also come to realize that I can teach some of the unit and guide them through a project that lets them develop a solution or concept from the material.  I have to see PBL as a tool to engage students and make them active participants in their learning.  It's really probably more of a personal problem.  I do tend to be someone who like control over everything in my life.  So PBL is a big challenge for me.