Creating a Collaborative Environment
A key aspect of any PBL unit is creating an environment in which students can effectively work with each other, ask the teacher and other students questions, have opportunities to explore answers to questions, easily use technology to research and disseminate information, and feel as though they are all partners as they work towards generating their final product (Prensky, 2010). The information below contains information about various aspects to consider as a teacher when designing a dynamic and collaborative classroom environment. Creating such an environment will help keep students continuously engaged in learning activities throughout the course of the PBL unit.
Arranging the Classroom:
We would like to create a classroom environment where students will be able to collaborate. This can be done by allowing students to sit in nontraditional arrangements such as in clusters. We want the students to be able to have room to work and lay things out for organizational purposes. The students may need some visuals such as whiteboards, sticky notes, easel pads, or other computer based brainstorming tools. The students will be expected to ask each other questions and be available to answer peer questions. This is set up better when student desks are clustered. The picture on the left is an illustration of one way a teacher might arrange the classroom.
Picture from The Junior Leader Website: (http://junior-learner.blogspot.com/2012/08/commitment-to-students-and-student_2646.html)
How to Group Students:
For the purpose of this PBL unit, we will group students using a hybrid of student choice and teacher-generated groups. Students will be asked for their preferences of which type of energy they would like to investigate -- ranking their options in order of preference. The teacher will do his/her best to create groups of equal size that allow each student to investigate an energy of his/her preference. At the same time, the teacher will ensure that each energy area is covered by one group before any groups are allowed to investigate the same energy area.
There are multiple ways to group students. In some cases, it may be better to have students form their own groups. At other times benefits can be reaped if the teacher assigns students to groups. While we have chosen to use a hybrid style, other users of this PBL may choose their own grouping approaches.
Within the category of student-generated groups, some optional strategies include the following: students choose group members by physically moving about and picking members, students write their name under a category of their choice (provided there are open name slots), etc. Allowing students to choose their own groups may result in better group chemistry and students may feel empowered by the choice to choose to work with a group with members who have passions and interest for similar items. Two challenges with this approach are that some students may feel left out/neglected, and some groups made up of close friends may be more prone to getting off task.
For the teacher-generated group options, some examples would be: grouping by ability (either same ability grouping or mixed ability grouping), grouping by learning style (again mixed or same), grouping by student interest, or grouping by chemistry between peers. Although not recommended for long-term projects, other less analytical grouping strategies exist and may be used. Examples of this approach would be pairing based on which candy each student picks from a bag, drawing student names from a hat, or similar style approaches. The main advantage of analytical teacher-generated groups is that the teacher can use knowledge of student personalities and abilities to create groups which should have good group chemistry and strong ability as a group. The main drawback is that not all students may find their topic the most engaging of the possibilities.
Below are some resources for grouping are available via the links below:
Helping Student Groups Accomplish Project Goals:
We would like to help students become self-sufficient in keeping their project on task. One way of doing this would be making them create Gantt Charts (click on link to video). This would allow the students to organize and set goals for themselves. As students learn how to do these tasks without the direct instruction of the teacher, they learn how to act independently and make their own deadlines. While it may be important for a teacher to set a final end goal, students should be encouraged to create their own deadlines for smaller portions of the project. Teachers should still monitor this and ask groups to communicate deadlines in order to ensure they work at an appropriate pace and do not fall behind.
We plan to encourage students to set deadlines for various research components. One tool we will give them is the link to the video on making a Ghantt chart. The example questions we have provided help the teacher to be able to evaluate whether students are on track or not.
Peer Evaluation
The peer evaluations would be a good way to evaluate how students are progressing. This would help limit the amount of students who are disengaged and not working efficiently. The hope is that students help to motivate other students in their group without the interference of the teacher creating self-guided groups.
Gallery Walk
The gallery walk would make it so all students would have all necessary information needed. They would be able to give peer feedback and would help them move forward with the final product in mind.
Debriefing
The debriefing from each activity would allow students to share what has been learned. This will also help keep students on track for the project. They can share what has been learned and other students who have struggled may discover a new way to understand the material.
We would like to create a classroom environment where students will be able to collaborate. This can be done by allowing students to sit in nontraditional arrangements such as in clusters. We want the students to be able to have room to work and lay things out for organizational purposes. The students may need some visuals such as whiteboards, sticky notes, easel pads, or other computer based brainstorming tools. The students will be expected to ask each other questions and be available to answer peer questions. This is set up better when student desks are clustered. The picture on the left is an illustration of one way a teacher might arrange the classroom.
Picture from The Junior Leader Website: (http://junior-learner.blogspot.com/2012/08/commitment-to-students-and-student_2646.html)
How to Group Students:
For the purpose of this PBL unit, we will group students using a hybrid of student choice and teacher-generated groups. Students will be asked for their preferences of which type of energy they would like to investigate -- ranking their options in order of preference. The teacher will do his/her best to create groups of equal size that allow each student to investigate an energy of his/her preference. At the same time, the teacher will ensure that each energy area is covered by one group before any groups are allowed to investigate the same energy area.
There are multiple ways to group students. In some cases, it may be better to have students form their own groups. At other times benefits can be reaped if the teacher assigns students to groups. While we have chosen to use a hybrid style, other users of this PBL may choose their own grouping approaches.
Within the category of student-generated groups, some optional strategies include the following: students choose group members by physically moving about and picking members, students write their name under a category of their choice (provided there are open name slots), etc. Allowing students to choose their own groups may result in better group chemistry and students may feel empowered by the choice to choose to work with a group with members who have passions and interest for similar items. Two challenges with this approach are that some students may feel left out/neglected, and some groups made up of close friends may be more prone to getting off task.
For the teacher-generated group options, some examples would be: grouping by ability (either same ability grouping or mixed ability grouping), grouping by learning style (again mixed or same), grouping by student interest, or grouping by chemistry between peers. Although not recommended for long-term projects, other less analytical grouping strategies exist and may be used. Examples of this approach would be pairing based on which candy each student picks from a bag, drawing student names from a hat, or similar style approaches. The main advantage of analytical teacher-generated groups is that the teacher can use knowledge of student personalities and abilities to create groups which should have good group chemistry and strong ability as a group. The main drawback is that not all students may find their topic the most engaging of the possibilities.
Below are some resources for grouping are available via the links below:
- https://www.superteachertools.net/
- http://www.flipitconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/10-Creative-Ways-to-Form-Groups.pdf
Helping Student Groups Accomplish Project Goals:
We would like to help students become self-sufficient in keeping their project on task. One way of doing this would be making them create Gantt Charts (click on link to video). This would allow the students to organize and set goals for themselves. As students learn how to do these tasks without the direct instruction of the teacher, they learn how to act independently and make their own deadlines. While it may be important for a teacher to set a final end goal, students should be encouraged to create their own deadlines for smaller portions of the project. Teachers should still monitor this and ask groups to communicate deadlines in order to ensure they work at an appropriate pace and do not fall behind.
We plan to encourage students to set deadlines for various research components. One tool we will give them is the link to the video on making a Ghantt chart. The example questions we have provided help the teacher to be able to evaluate whether students are on track or not.
Peer Evaluation
The peer evaluations would be a good way to evaluate how students are progressing. This would help limit the amount of students who are disengaged and not working efficiently. The hope is that students help to motivate other students in their group without the interference of the teacher creating self-guided groups.
Gallery Walk
The gallery walk would make it so all students would have all necessary information needed. They would be able to give peer feedback and would help them move forward with the final product in mind.
Debriefing
The debriefing from each activity would allow students to share what has been learned. This will also help keep students on track for the project. They can share what has been learned and other students who have struggled may discover a new way to understand the material.