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>>teacher: They're characters and what do these characters have in common?
>>student: They have some job to do-they have a job.
>>teacher: Ahh, they have some jobs to do. So what do you think might be the topic of
this project? >>student: Workers!
>>teacher: So Project Based Learning, also known as PBL is an instructional pedagogy
that is inquiry-based, it's student-driven, it extends over time, and it involves
authentic investigation of a complex question or a complex problem.
So here you are going to be presented with those character cards and you're going to
use those character cards and this character grid
to classify and categorize the physical features of each character. So for example
right here, the nurse says, the physical features include a uniform, medicine...
So I started the entry event by introducing a different types of characters that wore
different types of uniforms and had different types of tools just to activate
prior knowledge. And students took those characters and their character grid and they a
labeled them with certain careers just to try to get them focused and thinking in terms
of careers and jobs and occupations. Okay, so because that character possessed these,
what do you-what does it tell you about that character?
>>student: That it has...
>>teacher: You just told me that it has that, but what-what does this tell you about
the character? Can you tell me something about the character just by the characteristics?
>>student: That it's a construction worker. >>teacher: That it's a construction worker
which is relevant to an engineer. So because project based learning is student
driven, I knew where the end result would be and I knew that I wanted them to research
careers, so when I launch the project and started the entry event, guiding them into
careers, they came up with the driving question, what do I want to be when I grow up,
through some of the questions that I had for them.
Okay, and Manual? >>Manuel: What job-what do you want to be when you grow up?
>>teacher: Ahh, what do you want to be when you grow up?
The next step in launching this is now we need to find out what things do you need to
know. So we're going to create a need to know list in your groups and you have to think
and ponder, what is it that I need to know in order to be something that I want to be
when I grow up. So after students came up with their driving question on what they want
to be when they grow up and how are they going to get there, they came up with a needs
to know list. So it was a list of things that they needed to know about their career.
So what does a person do in their career?
>>student: Uh, I know. What kind of degrees do we need?
>>teacher: What's their salary? What tools do they use? What skills do they have? What
education do they need, and so what I thought was to bring in the experts to give
them first hand information. So I invited people from the community to come and-and
share their knowledge of their occupation with our students.
>>firefighter: Yes. You have to communicate, you have to be able to take to people.
You can't be like [mumbles] Um does it hurt somewhere, you know, is that your car
that's burning on fire. You can't do that! You have to be able to write reports because
like if somebody's car burns like one lady she was driving and all of the sudden, AHH,
her car just caught on fire all of a sudden with her babies in it.
>>students: [gasp]
>>firefighter: So we have to be able to take a-a form and we have to write a report,
like well when we got here the car was burning and this-the tire was on fire. We have to
be able to write a good report. We just can't say, and it ain't gonna burn, it was red,
smokey, and it was ucky. What? They're gonna go what? You can't do that. You can't
do that, so you have to be able to write very well...
>>teacher: So when guest speakers came in, students took notes um and that was something
that they have been learning about note taking. And their notes basically derived from
their need to know list. So the questions that they had were the questions that they
came up with. And while speakers were speaking, they took notes on what they learned.
So one of the needs to know questions was what type of education does one need for a
particular occupation. So I thought of taking the students to the water district because
the water district has a lot of different positions that require different types of
education. So there were people that were laborers that needed the least education and
then there were people um who were en-um engineers who needed a higher education.
So we also took a field trip to Cal State San Bernardino and the reason why we did that
because during their research on careers many of them found that they needed a college
education to get there, and so I thought well, let's go to the college and let's find
out about the different schools on college. Let's find out the requirements that
it takes to get there and let's just let's-get them familiar with college life.
Alright, so this morning we are going to continue with our project on careers. And
remember our driving question is, what do you want to be when you grow up and how
are you going to get there. So you generated your list of need to knows, right? Your
need to know list. So today when you conduct research, you are going to be looking for
answers to these questions that you want to know. So what I've done is, I've taken your
career choices and I've grouped you into groups at tables...
When students had their need to know list then they conducted research on computers, on
books. And this is when I basically flood the class with information. So at each table
there is a circle map. In the middle of the circle map it's telling you that you're
going to have a table talk. So you are going to preview the books that you have with
your team. If you don't have a team, you are just going to look at the books on your
own. You're going to discuss facts found in the book. So you're not going to read it
thoroughly, you're going to look for some of those questions-answers to some of these
questions. When you find one, you're going to write one fact in the circle.
One of the things with project based learning is that it extends over time. And so
conducting research took probably about a month to do.
>>student 1: Nurses care for... >>student 2: Patients! >>student 1: Patients.
>>teacher: Students continued to go onto the computers. Some of them found that maybe
they weren't getter enough information so they had to look into different resources.
Some of them went back into the notes that maybe the experts gave to them so they
collectively look at a variety of information that they collected.
So as a reminder...your products must include your title. Okay, so you can always refer
to that science board, right? As an example.
You need to include your title, you need to include your need to knows, so that's the
list of things that you needed to know.
So because project based learning is student driven and they have a voice and they have
a choice, they not only came up with their driving question and their need to know list,
they also uh determine what product they wanted to produce to show the knowledge that
they uh gathered. So I gave them some samples, some ideas of what, how they could
produce their-their knowledge and they then determine what products they wanted to come
up with.
>>Savannah: Hi my name is Savannah Chavez. >>Rachel: Hi, I'm Rachel Gutierrez.
>>Savannah: And our title is a Day in the Life of a Nurse. When I grow up I want to be
a nurse. Job description: A nurse is a person who helps patients with medical care when
they are hurt or sick. Doctors fill up their medicines..
>>Rachel: A nurse needs good writing skills, communication skills, and good math
skills. Nurses... >>teacher: So one of the elements of project based
learning is for students to present their products to the public. So we invited parents
we invited administrators and people of the community to come in and observe what
the students learned. Project based learning fits in with Common Core because it
focuses on the twenty first century skills. It focuses on collaboration, communication,
critical thinking, and creativity. And it prepares our students for career and college.
Okay so that concludes our career day. We...
So project based learning engages students because students are learning about something
that is relevant to them. It's authentic, it's something that they can use in the real
world so they're excited about the information that they're collecting. And it's
engaging, they collaborate, they're using their critical thinking skills, they're using
their creativity. And they're basically driving their own learning.
>>student: Education and training: A biologist needs a bachelor's degree in
biology also they could get a master's degree which is a better degree than a
bachelor's degree because...
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