Whether it’s blended learning, project-based learning or hands-on tinkering in a STEM-centered Fab Lab, modern educational tools have made it easier than ever for kids to become future ready. The goal of learning with technology is as simple as some of the best classroom products: prepare kids for a tech-filled work while honing their abilities to work with technology and building key interpersonal skills in the process. It’s easy and it’s fun.
How to Take PBL From Good to Great
Project-based learning is a highly effective, hands-on way of learning in 21st century classrooms that, in recent years, has become somewhat of a “future-ready” phenomenon. There are many ways to go about enacting it in classrooms and enabling students to succeed by engaging in PBL. Like many other elements of modern education, there isn’t necessarily a wrong way of going about project-based learning, but, over the years, there have certainly and gradually been some specific guidelines developed for PBL success. And, teachers can implement them into any kind of classroom at any grade level and in any school.
Designing the projects for students.
In order to both give children the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning and better prepare them for the problems they will face in the 21st century world, PBL in and out of the classroom can be a very valuable tool. Through their work, students will gain valuable 21st century skills for the rest of their education and professional careers. First, the project's should bare a large amount of significance—both to the students and to the world. No matter what concept is being covered, there is a way to teach it through project-based learning. Great PBL also features a high degree of collaboration and communication among group members, which helps kids build key teamwork skills and simultaneously boosts their creativity. Students learn more knowing they'll have an audience, engage in inquiry, and focus on one driving question—all are part of project-based learning.
Project-based learning also gives students the chance to learn skills that go beyond familiarizing themselves with modern technology. It helps them learn what to focus on in terms of what they need to know and what not to waste time on. It also gives them opportunities for reflection and revision if things don’t go as planned or the group finds a more efficient way to solve the problem. Finally, PBL is unique in providing students with the chance to tackle a problem of genuine interest. Having this choice to add hands-on learning makes it more likely that they put their true voice into the project. They're also likely to engage on deeper levels because of their genuine interest in the topic. All of these factors—from having a public audience to receiving feedback to illuminating creativity—make project-based learning such a powerful learning method in 21st century education.
How Students Benefit from Blended Learning
Like project-based learning, blended learning is another powerful way to turn today’s students into the best learners they can be. Blended learning is a way to hold on to some of the traditional, but still give kids a modern learning environment by blending lessons that make use of technology in school and those they can take home and still get out of them all that they need. For teachers that don’t know quite how to begin this process, there’s nothing to worry about! Sure, it might be different, but different is good. Different excites students and excited students are engaged students. One popular form of blended learning and one that has proved very beneficial is known as the flipped classroom.
One of the most important goals of blended learning is creating a classroom in which students can spend their class time collaborating with their peers, receiving supplemental support from their teachers, or participating in hands-on projects. Blended learning aims to create such a space. In flipped classrooms, the lecture and the homework are reversed. This means students do the learning at home and do their homework in class. The added resources available to them include technology, the teacher, and fellow students. Today, blending social media into the classroom is another important movement and one that kids generally get excited about. By integrating social media into blended classrooms, students can show mastery with a wide range of digital tools. They can also try blogging or video conferencing to share their knowledge to many while interacting well beyond the classroom.
Blended learning benefits both students and teachers in ways that traditional instruction in traditional classrooms does not. Since state standards are becoming more demanding, but the school day remains the same length, blended learning provides the chance for students to learn a portion of the content at home while teachers use that time to moderate deeper, thought-provoking discussions in the classroom. Teachers become more of a participant when students are involved in hands-on learning, which helps them increase their students' mastery. When the class reconvenes, they’re met with enriching learning activities that they can collaboratively complete face to face.
Collaborative Learning is Key in Early Ed
To better prepare today’s students for tomorrow, we need to consistently provide collaborative learning environments throughout their education. Thanks to the rise of educational technologies, educators today have the power to truly prepare their students for the future. Schools should be using EdTech in their classes every day for at least an hour or so. The beginning of immersing kids in the world of technology just needs this simple push to start a school-wide movement. You’d be surprised at just how far reaching the impact is when kids run home, excited to tell their parents all about the cool experiments they did with a bunch of innovative technology. Usually, they don’t remember much from their day at school.
Transforming mundane classrooms into innovative, hands-on learning spaces, as we just mentioned, is something that can be started easily. In fact, the first step takes just a few minutes! Most likely, the desks are arranged in equal rows facing the teacher at the front of the room, right? Why? Kids can’t collaborate when they’re not facing anyone but the teacher, who’s probably already lost their attention. While student-teacher communication remains important, it’s the student-to-student collaboration that should be sought in the 21st century classroom. Ready for the best part? Collaborative learning can reduce the cost of EdTech tools because kids are sharing them. If that doesn’t seal the deal for more collaboration in the classroom, I don’t know what will!
The benefits of collaborative learning are wide ranging and almost immediate. In many schools, textbooks have been replaced by devices. Also, the content on those devices is customized to cater to each student's learning styles, eliminating the one-size-fits-all approach. Changing up the classroom layout benefits everyone and it starts with the chance for students to learn from their peers. By facilitating open communication among students, they can develop group skills and work together to solve increasingly complex problems. The unique groups also allow teachers to assign different tasks, depending on their abilities and their adeptness with the technology. This is another example of customizing content to personalize learning.
3 Tenets of Project-Based Learning
We’ve already touched on getting started with project-based learning in the classroom and the benefits that hands-on learning creates. Now, if y’all don’t mind, we would like to take a quick minute to illustrate what to do in the midst of project-based learning—after everything’s been planned and the activities outlined. For optimal, project-based learning, it’s important for everyone to remember the importance of starting small. Rather than rushing to cover many areas, focus instead on really driving home a few of the most important concepts. In-depth student inquiry is much more important than the amount of material covered.
Whether you follow that advice and start small or try to blaze your own intense start to PBL, what might be even more important is the space in which kids are doing the learning. The learning environment (it’s not really a classroom anymore) is another key to successful project-based learning. In fact, one of the defining characteristics of PBL is its emphasis and enabling of constructive group work. Since students work towards solving real-world problems, teachers can organize the classroom needs to mimic a real-world setting. Essentially, that means that the design should be optimal for group activities and collaboration with tech tools sprinkled throughout. Here’s your chance to rearrange those desks for a better learning experience!
Finally, lasting PBL is learning that not only makes use of technology, but of meaningful technology. Project-based learning is helps students develop key 21st century skills like collaboration, communication, critical thinking and, don’t forget, tech literacy. All of the above will be invaluable in their future careers. The technologies they are using to learn now should be those that will help them conduct thorough research, organize tasks more efficiently and communicate with classmates more effectively. When used optimally, this technology transforms project-based learning into an ideal learning method for preparing today’s kids for the future.
Makerspaces: More than Meets the Eye
School makerspaces provide a space for the execution of creativity, facilitation of collaboration and the epitome of hands-on learning. And, that’s just what they do for teachers. For 21st century students, the possibilities are endless. In makerspaces, kids have the all-too-rare chance to use some innovative technology to create, invent, team up and construct cool projects they will use to solve actual problems. As the Maker Movement continues to grow and educators have begun to realize the importance of STEM education, makerspaces are popping up in schools more and more and students are beginning to notice.
Makerspaces help students explore brand new worlds for learning, including areas like robotics, circuitry, and even coding. School library makerspaces are ideal because they are located in a place where almost every student goes, which eliminates the problem of students having a lack of access to maker technology. Here, they can create projects that will literally help them explore the world in ways that the required curriculum cannot. Students are also creating a much stronger sense of community by collaborating with their peers and teachers alike to create viable solutions to problems that their communities are actually being faced with.
Aside from the intellectual and physical benefits of makerspaces, they also remind students that they share the desire to immerse themselves in the Maker Movement and create something wonderful. One well-known education writer recently compared makerspaces to a sandbox—a place where kids use toys, get creative, and play. All that is taken away from them as they grow up, however, but why? Think of a makerspace as a sandbox—just the toys are hands-on learning tools and the creative experimentation is purposeful. Aside from that, makerspaces build passion in students, who often spend their lunch periods and precious after-school free time conjuring up ways to make improvements to the effort. If there's a better way to teach kids real-life skills with real-life tools as they can solve meaningful problems, do real good, and build stronger relationships with the peers, we'd like to know about it.
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