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Talk:Project-Based Learning in Science Classrooms

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Luke Fellows' Developmental Tryout of Project Based Learning in Science Classrooms -- Luke fellows (talk) 17:34, 21 November 2014 (EST)

Hey Marcy,

First off, great job! This is a nicely constructed and designed intro and first lesson. It was clear, concise and informative. My feedback:

  • Love the scrabble tiles as a heading, it draws me in and has a touch of whimsy to it. I'm not entirely sure if the visual fully aligns with your course topic, but I like it all the same.
  • Forgive my being pedantic but there is a spelling error in your introduction, project is misspelled as "projet". This is an early draft I'd put money on you catching it during further development :)
  • On the intro page if I were the learner I would like just a bit more detail on what PBL actually is. You do go into it further in lesson one but for me personally if I am coming into a new course I want my instructor to sell the concepts to me from the start. I wanted you to pitch PBL to me so that I am drawn in and want to get started on lesson 1.


Lesson 1.1

  • Not sure what overall opinion is on this but have you thought about directing links to an new tab rather than opening in the same window? I'd be interested in Prof. Zhang's views on the online etiquette as relates to this. I like to link to new tabs so I can compare and toggle between it and my launch tab. Just a thought.


Lesson 1.2 and Task 1.2

  • Before you link to a web page you could provide a short preamble as to what to expect, this would prepare the learner for what they are about to read.
  • I think that your "task" choices are very logical and organic. They slowly construct knowledge by chunking the information. This is a good approach.


General Feedback

  • I did feel that by Lesson 1.3 the lessons were following the same pattern, read, view, write. I wonder if you mixed things up a bit you'd better engage your learners. Maybe ask some higher thinking questions such as "How do you envision using PBL in your classroom?", "Have you ever used PBL (or anything similar) in your classroom, can you share your experience.". This may deepen understanding and reflection.
  • Rather than providing all of the reading you could ask your learners to find articles about PBL and post it to the discussion tab. Make them responsible for their learning.
  • Overall I really enjoyed trying your course out, it had a clarity to it that made me feel that my course needs to be edited significantly! I like your layout and found your course easy to navigate, it is intuitive and informative providing relevant "need to know" and reduces the "nice to know".


Good job!!

Luke

Developmental Tryout -- Emma Farison (talk) 20:58, 30 November 2014 (EST)

Hi Marcy,

I'm sorry for the belated feedback on your mini-course. I will do my best to provide helpful comments.


Portfolio Page: Your portfolio page is set up very nicely. Everything is very complete and thorough.

  • In your goal, you say that instructors will understand how to use PBL in their classroom. In a past module, we discussed learning objectives and how the word "understand," is tricky because it is hard to truly gauge. Would your goal sound more reachable if you wrote "Instructors will be able to design and implement PBL in their classroom?" Just a thought.
  • It might help to delve further into your instructional problem. Why will is PBL the best way to help prepare students for the real world? Possible incorporate some sources that you've found with the research behind PBL?
  • Are there any prerequisites for your course that should be mentioned in your task analysis or curriculum map?


Mini-Course Intro Page I think your intro page is set up very nicely. It offers a short and sweet description of the course, and allows to get right into the first unit. I also like that the titles of your Units give the participant an idea of what they're about to learn. My only suggestion would be the same as I mentioned on your portfolio page about your course goal.

Unit 1 Can you make the picture at the top of the page larger? It appears that their are words on it, but they aren't visible.

Lesson and Task 1.1 You've chosen some good materials for task 1. I'm just curious, but is there a specific reason why participants write their definition of PBL in their journal and then again on the discussion page? Maybe so they have a hard copy to refer back to?

Lesson and Task 1.2 Is there any way that you could link this back to Task 1.1 and have students reflect on their prior journal entry with respect to what they learned in lesson 1.2? I only say this because Professor Zhang suggested this idea as a way for more interactive learning.

Lesson and Task 1.3 Since this lesson and task follows a similar format as the first two, I really don't have any new suggestions. Perhaps this would be a better opportunity to reflect on journal entries from the first two tasks, as a way to provide closure to the first unit. Also, do participants have to respond to the discussion posts of their peers each time?

Overall, your sequencing is very logical and makes sense for the purpose of your course. You've provided really interesting resources for your participants to view and read for each task. It is easy to navigate, but could maybe use a few pictures on each of the lesson pages. Everything is very clear. Good work! I plan on checking back in later this week to provide some feedback on your second module.

Again, I'm sorry this is so late, but I hope it has been helpful.


Emma

instructor comment on your mini-course -- Jianwei Zhang (talk) 16:07, 1 December 2014 (EST)

Hi Marcy,

Your mini-course is well structured with easy navigation and integration helpful content resources. A few suggestions:

  • Objective-content consistency: Your portfolio page identifies the following objectives that are clearly defined. Your task analysis needs to show how these objectives are addressed by/map onto your various units. The same consistency need to be clearly presented in your mini-course's intro page and units. Your units' objectives seem to misalign with the original objective identified. For example you did not address history, but added benefits of PBL. I haven't found info on constructing an ill formed question.


The participant will be able to describe the history of PBL 
The participant will be able to explain the different roles of students and teachers in the classroom
The participant will be able to construct an ill formed question in their own content area.
The participant will design formative assessment strategies to use in the PBL classroom.
The participant will create a rubric to assess the PBL class they design.


  • Engagement and interaction: Give an specific lesson example of PBL early on with details.
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