In the afternoon session, I attended a session on Project Based Learning (PBL) by John Mergendoller , Executive Director of The Buck Institute for Education . I have used some of the Institute's materials when conducting PBL workshops, so I was interested in what they had to say. Dr. Mergendoller presented the example of "The Monkey Project", a simulation where a school board has to decide whether to teach Evolution, Intelligent Design, or both in their curriculum. Students research both sides of the issue, and overcome their personal opinions to develop their project. Teachers in the example facilitated and managed the process, where students were placed into teams and created a script of a "Mock School Board Hearing." After watching a video similar to the one above, Mergendoller had participants "Think/Pair/Share and discuss whether we thought this was a good project. The project was approximately 6 weeks, and was a rather large undertaking. For some ...
Ideas and Tips on Digital Age Learning from Michael Walker. These thoughts and ideas may not represent the views of my employer.