Project Based Learning and Wicked Questions

At the end of my last posting I briefly described a grade twelve sports leadership class that I thoroughly enjoyed due to the nature and application of the assessment tasks. During the last blog I focused on the elements of rich performance assessment tasks and the notion of including the students opinions and real life applications to the assessments. In saying this, the notion of rich performance tasks can be further explained through the theory of project-based learning. During this sports leadership class our main goal was to design a series of field trips that focused on making grade eight students feel more comfortable on their first day of grade nine.

       In saying this, the class was built upon the theories of project-based learning. Project based learning can bring real life problems into the classroom. It encourages students to be engaged in their learning and allows them to understand the subject matter, by understanding each of its individual parts (Tascı, 2015). It has been proven that project based learning can improve the learning of students since it focuses on the real world settings and ensures that each students is focused on their task at hand. It also allows them to work at their own comfort level and individualizes educational experiences (Galvan, & Coronado, 2014). In saying this, as students we were encouraged to focus our event on an aspect of the school that we felt comfortable working within. For example, my small peer group focused mostly on athletics so we decided to focus our portion of the final trip on the physical education resources available at our high school. Our project was based upon allowing the students to find and utilize each of the facilities. This project based learning style was beneficial since it did not have one correct answer in mind, encouraged us to gain knowledge while participating and ensured we were focused on the real world problem at hand.

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         Encompassed within this project based learning style is the concept of wicked problems. A wicked problem is a complex, and interconnected problem that does not have a simple solution. These problems often include a variety of factors, settings, and characters and can be the result of a variety of reoccurring events.

     This notion of an unsolvable problem can be related to the grade twelve class since our final goal was to make the grade eight students feel comfortable during their first day of grade nine. The Globe and Mail suggests that 1 in 4 grade nine students becomes very stressed about finding their new classrooms, making new friends, and finding their lockers. In saying this, our wicked problem was the concept of why grade nine students feel uncomfortable during their first days and how it can be solved.

     In my future as an educator, I believe it will be beneficial to begin each unit with a wicked problem. This problem will then lead into a series of project based learning lessons in which students will solve a less complex problem. These solutions will then be combined to meet the learning objectives of the entire unit in the classroom.

Galvan, M. E., & Coronado, J. M. (2014). Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning: Promoting Differentiated Instruction. National Teacher Education Journal, 7(4), 39-42.

  

Tascı, B. G. (2015). Project Based Learning from Elementary School to College, Tool: Architecture. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 186(The Proceedings of 5th World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership), 770-775. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.130

Rich Performance Assessment Tasks

A rich performance assessment task is a task used to demonstrate that students have learned the know, do and be of that unit. There may be a variety of assessment tasks that act as formative assessment during the unit, but there is generally a final assessment task as well. In order to create a rich performance assessment task the task must meet some of the following criteria. 

Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014, page 71    

  In my opinion, the most significant component of the criteria mentioned above is the ability to provide students with the opportunity to explore, enact, and reflect on the values or behaviours of a responsible student and citizen. I think this is especially important since it stresses the importance of learning outside the classroom. The assessment must also ensure that there is a link between the task and the lessons being learned. Chun (2010) suggests that the easiest way to ensure that the lesson links to the assessment task is to teach and assess in the same way. For example, if a classroom focuses on the higher-level thinking and development of interpersonal skills, it is critical that the assessment must also focus on the same higher level thinking strategies. In saying this, I believe it is critical to include a variety of assessments along the path to the final or summative assessment. These early assessments can be considered formative assessment and provide opportunity for a student's reflection and refinement. Helen Donaldson further explains this notion of formative assessment in the classroom;

             

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGYPMcu5Tb

     This video stresses the need for inclusion of the students in both the planning stages, and learning stages in order to ensure that they know what the expectations are during the course. This notion of involving students in their assessment is further explained by the three stages of assessment. Purcell (2014) proposes that the three stages of assessment include: grounding the assessment in real world applications, involving the students in the assessment and allowing the students to be engaged with the feedback. All of these stages meet the previously mentioned criteria of creating a rich performance assessment task.

     Personally, I have been involved in one classroom that encompassed formative assessment.  This assessment was followed by a summative assessment that involved the students’ feedback and input. This class was during grade twelve and was titled Leadership (interdisciplinary studies). A course description from the school can be found on Corpus Christi’s website and the required content can be found on the curriculum documents. In saying this, my leadership class was focused on the goal of creating an event that prepared grade eight students to begin grade nine in the next school year. Our assessment was based upon a real life situation of accomplishing our goals, working well together and communicating with those who were going to be visiting our event. Throughout the year we had small events such as intramural days and sporting tournaments that prepared us for the final summative task. These formative tasks also allowed us to receive feedback and understand what aspects needed improvement. Overall, this class allowed me to participate in a student-centered environment that was focused on a real life setting. It also provided a variety of rich performance assessment tasks that had clear success criteria, invited student opinions and valued higher-level thinking. 

Chun, M. (2010). Taking Teaching to (Performance) Task: Linking Pedagogical and Assessment Practices. Change: The Magazine Of Higher Learning, 42(2), 22-29.

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21^st century learner. Don Mills, On: Oxford University press.

Purcell, B. M. (2014). Use of Formative Classroom Assessment Techniques in a Project Management Course. Journal Of Case Studies In Accreditation And Assessment, 3