It's not the Project that matters. It's the Thinking.

When I first started this blog on incorporating Project-Based learning (PBL) and developing those kinds of projects, I started off with the usual suspects: distinguishing between projects and PBL, emphasizing authenticity and “real world” applications, and so on. Then I stumbled upon a video on Socratic Questioning from the Foundation for Critical Thinking with Richard Paul. 

Within the first two minutes of that video, I was blown away by Paul’s premise as it pertained to thinking. He posits: 

The main goal is to help students think in some way (e.g., historically, geologically, anatomically, chemically, philosophically, mathematically) or to think like an artist, a writer, an analyst, a researcher, an historian, etc.  (Paul, 2013)

I paused the video at that point to marinate. Then, I started it over at the beginning again, just to be sure I got it. I thought:

 Isn’t this kind of thinking what we want from our students, ultimately? 

Doesn’t PBL revolve around the idea that students will be doing this kind of  thinking, this depth of thinking? 

Then, I considered one of the distinctions between Projects and PBL: projects focus on a product (a diorama or PowerPoint) (Mayer, 2012) whereas PBL focuses on how a student works with and within a real-world scenario or problem or one that simulates authentic real world situations (Larmer, 2012).

Having students create a presentation on a president falls short of PBL. It is a project, but it is not by and of itself project-based learning. It is project-based presenting.

Having students think like biographers or journalists is the goal.  Why does someone write about a president? For what purpose?  How would a journalist share what he/she found out? Consider, too, how the significance of the thinking changes when writing/reading about George Washington versus Bill Clinton—the shift from thinking like a biographer versus a journalist. 

Real world thinkers are thinking like researchers, analysts, artists. Real world thinkers are thinking geologically, astronomically, and environmentally. They care about accuracy, clarity, depth, logic, and significance—all things that, if we were to witness them in a student project, would give us that teacher glow!

We don’t want students to “make a Prezi” or “make a brochure.” We want them to care about what they are reading and exploring (the content). We want them to care not just about the content, but about their thinking, their content.

  

If you really want to integrate PBL in your classes, step back and consider how you can move your students towards striving to understand things for the purpose of finding a resolution to problems yet to be resolved/continue to persist, or to provide a new perspective on something. 

That’s what researchers, engineers, poets, dramatists, global citizens, historians, architects, artists…do.

References

Larmer, J. (2012, May 24). What does it take for a project to be “authentic”? Retrieved from http://bie.org/blog/what_does_it_take_for_a_project_to_be_authentic

Mayer, A. (2012, November 27). What’s the difference between doing projects and project-based learning? Retrieved from http://www.friedtechnology.com/2012/11/whats-difference-between-doing-projects.html

Paul, R. [CriticalThinkingOrg]. (2013, September 18). Socratic questioning series [disk 1] [part 1] [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvMGza0Roo4&list=WL&index=12

Grades and Assessment are NOT the Same Thing

I recently read some teachers interchangeably using these two phrases: “how I grade” and “how I assess." These phrases were in response to a question regarding authentic assessment, so I was confused as this was not a discussion that had anything to do with grades.  My guess is that there is a misunderstanding of the two.  

The overemphasis on test scores and school grades, coupled with our own learning experiences probably contribute the most to this confusion. They make us hungry for grades—a one-time evaluative shot—as opposed to assessment, which is far more long-reaching and entails a greater degree of effort on the part of both the assessor and the assessed.

It’s actually the goal of each concept that makes the difference.  Carnegie Mellon’s (n.d.) Eberly Center site for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, asserts that “the goal of grading is to evaluate individual students’ learning and performance…the goal of assessment is to improve student learning.”

So, why the confusion?  Particularly when our ultimate goal is to improve student learning?

It seems to boil down to a habit or possibly a culture of grading. I don’t think that teachers want grades to be the driving force in their classrooms, not at all. However, the shift in mindset from grading to assessing is definitely not so easy to make. Students rebel. Parents rebel.  Districts require this or that many (arbitrary) grades. 

Further, it’s difficult to get used to NOT putting a grade on a student paper or homework submission and, instead, determine where that student needs to move forward in his/her learning.  Further, students are used to seeing grades as a way of understanding their performance. 

Once we understand the difference, we'll accomplish so much more!

Many of my English teacher peers can relate to the attempt to distinguish between assessing and grades as they would painstakingly work through a student paper, noting where the student needed to revise. However, far from using those notes as a tool to aid in learning, the student would find the nearest trash can to throw that work in.  Probably an hour or so of teacher work, pitched with LeBron-esque precision into an institutional bin. 

whoosh. 

Helping students understand the difference between grading and assessment will make a huge difference in their motivation to use the advice and suggestions we offer. They can then actually USE what we do if we make assessment the goal, not the grade. 

My AP Lang students used to go bonkers with their paper revisions because I wouldn’t grade them until they’d mastered the concept we were working on.  These are the kids who thrived on grades, so you can imagine the backlash.  Their parents were none too happy at first, either. I did have to do some explaining, but once I assured them that (eventually) their children would receive a grade and probably one that actually reflected something, they were pleased.  The end result was that the students’ writing expanded into something far more in-depth and meaningful. 

Understanding the difference between grades and assessment is a crucial first step into helping students become lifelong learners. 

Hold your ground.

Reference

Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.) What is the difference between assessment and grading? Retrieved May 23, 2014 from http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/grading-assessment.html

 
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