Professional Learning Goals

The first goal was to have a better understanding of project-based learning. We needed to have time to better understand the roll-out process, implementation and final presentation of projects. Project-based learning is an initiative that our school has adopted to encourage deeper learning in our classrooms. Through project-based learning tasks and the use of technology, we were able to assess student work more efficiently. Through the use of technology, we were also able to learn more about our students’ specific learning needs.

The second goal was to develop our understanding of the various learning styles and how to scaffold, assess and evaluate students using technology. The technology would help us to record student voice, conversations and observations. It would help to give ongoing verbal feedback to students through apps such as Kaizena.

Finally, our last goal was to illustrate the importance of cross-curricular approaches for student learning and to make English and science relevant to the everyday lives of students.

The collaborative aspect of project-based learning allowed us to improve student engagement, while at the same time improving our own teaching techniques.  Being able to co-plan and co-teach with other staff members not only re-energized us as teachers, but also allowed us to model for our students how to work as a team and work efficiently together.

Activities and Resources

The student-driven project allowed us as facilitators to assess student engagement and learning/understanding. It also gave us an understanding on the areas of our instruction that needed more specific focus or structure. Throughout our assessment during the learning journey of our project, we were able to make adjustments and create more effective activities to extend on the project. The overall structure of our PBL project allowed the students to focus on their strengths and get a real-world experience while working collaboratively in groups.

The real-world experiences for our students allowed them to become more involved within our community and forced us all to step outside of our comfort zones at times in order to really benefit from gaining more knowledge and information. Not only did the students have opportunities to contact community members/partners on their own, but we also went on various field trips to learn and see how current greenhouses are run. We were able to actually plant seeds, see the whole operations of the greenhouse, and learn about all of the different aspects about building, running and maintaining an efficient greenhouse.

These opportunities allowed for professional growth and networking. It helped build stronger relationships between students, teachers and the community at large. By the end of the process, teachers felt more equipped to engage in further project-based learning initiatives because of these relationships.

Unexpected Challenges

Our most difficult challenge was taking the initial risk of collaborating two different courses and having students work together in groups who normally wouldn’t work with one another. Because it was our first project-based learning task, it was difficult to step out of our comfort zone, however, we quickly realized how the structure of PBL projects can be so impactful on teacher and student learning.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

Hands-on learning and interactions within the community allowed us all to experience real-world learning opportunities and gave the students a renewed sense of responsibility. Allowing the students to drive their own learning journey and plan/research their own ideas and work gave them more ownership and engaged them far more than just instructing them what they needed to do and how they needed to do it. As the teacher, this meant there was more time to give ongoing feedback and small group instruction to students.

Sharing

We have shared our project and learning journey with our staff through various Lunch and Learn workshops on how technology and project-based learning enhanced our assessment and evaluation practices. We also shared our journey with staff during a professional development session, and expressed how impactful using a project-based learning approach really was with the class. As a result, many staff members have embraced collaborating in order to enrich the learning of our students, and to further develop our practices as educators.

Project Evaluation

We were very successful in achieving our goal of learning more about project-based learning tasks and engaging our students through the use of technology.  Assessing our students using technology, iPads and/or apps allowed us to evaluate their progress in ways that differed from methods used in the past.  Students used iPads to self- and peer-assess their work, as well as record video journal submissions to reflect on different parts of their work. The students also used the iPads to create a PowerPoint presentation which tracked their learning journey throughout the entire process. Our hopes are to purchase more iPads for our students to use for our future and ongoing projects. We also plan on using the work and experience of this project to put these newly adapted methods into our classrooms on a consistent basis.