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Unit 2: How to design and implement a PBL unit

From KNILT

Kaitlynn's Mini-Course Homepage Unit 1: What is Problem Based Learning

Unit 2: How to design and implement a PBL unit

Within this unit you will investigate how to design and implement a problem based unit for your own class. Given the unit you selected last lesson you will expand on your students and begin to develop a unit design. It is important to remember that when introducing problem based learning in the classroom it is important to analyze the curriculum and goals for student's before developing a learning problem. Without knowing and outlining standards set forth for students', it would be difficult to create aligned curriculum assignments.

Once the objectives and goals are set, an authentic open ended problem can be introduced. This problem should be open ended enough as well as relative to the students personal lives to drive the students through curiosity, motivating them to answer the question. Lessons and activities will be focused towards the authentic question. Activities will be student centered concentrated on developing higher level thinking skills such as, analyzing data, creating graphs and diagrams, as well as synthesizing real world information.

At the end of the problem based learning unit, an authentic assessment is introduced to evaluate the students knowledge on the topic. This assessment should be aligned with the learning objectives and standards. Such authentic assessments can range from developing a model, writing a letter to a representative, taking a test, creating an experiment, producing an public service announcement, to creating a portfolio. The purpose of an authentic assessment serves as a challenge for the students, as well as an encouraging students to show off their higher order thinking skills, and understanding of the topics content.

By the end of this unit participants will have completed the following;

  • designed key learning objectives for students which are aligned with NYS NGSS
  • Created an authentic problem to stimulate student's interest in the topic
  • Outlined a PBL unit which is aligned with NYS NGSS

Lesson 1: Developing a problem

Creating an authentic learning problem

When designing a problem based learning unit to install in your classroom the most important aspect of the unit design is the learning problem presented to the class. When designing a learning problem it is important for it to be authentic in which students can relate to the problem, as well as challenging enough to keep them motivated to learn, while simple enough for them to complete the unit of study.


Activity:



Participation:

In the class discussion please respond to the following prompts;

  • Your thoughts on authentic learning
  • Whether or not you use authentic learning in your classroom already, if so, how?
  • A possible learning problem to start your PBL unit
  • Your goals for the PBL unit

Assignment:

Using google slides, and or docs, outline your PBL unit. This may be presented in terms of a curriculum map, a flow chart, a simple organized list of how you intend to get your content across, or use a unit plan template that is accepted by your current school district.

In your curriculum map be sure to include any laboratory procedures, activities, projects, formative and summative assessments, as well as any NYS required components.

You will edit this again within the next lesson and share it with your class so we can create a collection of PBL units to have and to share.

Lesson 2: PBL Curriculum Design

Now that a problem has been presented to the students it's time to engage them in inquiry based- student centered activities to drive their education.B In this lesson you will explore a variety of classrooms that use PBL and continue to build your PBL unit curriculum map. At the end of this lesson, you will post your curriculum map in the class discussion board to build a class portfolio of example PBL units to share and use in the future.

Activity:

Please watch the following videos:

Assignment:

Please revise your unit outline from the previous lesson. In your revision please include;

  • The course in which this PBL is intended for
  • Age range of the students
  • Quick summary of the unit of study
  • NYS NGSS that will be met within this unit
  • Authentic learning problem
  • List of activities, labs, assignments, projects ect. that will be included in the unit
  • Summative assessment to conclude the unit

This assignment should be in presentation form, a google slides would be the best form so your classmates can view it and use it in the future.

Participation:

Once you have posted your PBL unit to the class discussion, please view and comment on at least three other classmates projects. This class discussion board will serve as a storage place for all of your PBL units for you to use and share.

After commenting on your classmates hard work, please write a conclusion post about what you have learned about problem based learning and how you intend to use it within your classroom.

Congratulations! You are officially a problem based learning teacher!

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