My reflection on Lecture 5: "Project Based Learning"

 My reflection on Lecture 5: "Project Based Learning"

Hey there girlbosses,

I hope you're having a pleasant evening💗

Today I'm going to talk and reflect on the Project Based Learning approach which we covered in our lecture last week.

First of all, PBL is an educational approach in which students work in groups to solve challenging problems that are authentic, curriculum-based, and often interdisciplinary. They actively explore real-world problems and challenges through hands-on-projects. In this approach, students create knowledge and understanding through learning activities built around intellectual inquiry and a high degree of engagement, with meaningful tasks.

Thinking back on it, we've actually been practicing PBL since we were in elementary school. Remember those biology projects where we had to plant beans or seeds in cotton and observe their growth in both sunlight🌞 and darkness⚫? What about the physics activities where we had to light up a bulb💡 using a potato🥔? Or the projects where we had to build models of our neighborhood🏙 or school🏫? Even the tasks where we focused on relatable topics like community, animals🐈, or the environment🌳? All of these tasks are considered Project-Based Learning activities. They allowed us to explore concepts in a hands-on, real-world way, engaging our creativity and critical thinking while solving practical problems.

As we can tell from the activities I mentioned above, PBL activities promote:

Active Learning, by engaging students actively in their learning process;

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving by encouraging students to think critically and make decisions;

Collaboration and Teamwork, because many PBL projects involve group work, which helps students develop collaboration skills

Real-World Connections, because PBL often focuses on real-world problems or scenarios, making learning more relevant to students' lives.

Deep Learning and Retention, because PBL tasks involve deeper engagement with the material, which helps students retain information better

Interdisciplinary Learning, because PBL often requires students to use knowledge and skills from different subject areas, helping them see the connections between different disciplines, etc.

With all the benefits that PBL offers to students, I can see why many educators embrace it as an approach. However, sometimes it becomes difficult to apply in the classroom. Reasons for this include resource limitations - not all schools have access to materials, technology, or resources that are required; time constraints, as PBL activities often require a lot of time to plan; classroom management - student-centered learning can lead to noisier classrooms, etc..

Thinking about it as a future teacher, I’d love to include as many PBL activities as possible, of course in alignment with the school curriculum. Some of the activities I’d implement in my English teaching would be creating a class magazine or blog (since that's what we're actually doing now 😛), DIY projects, designing a language learning game, creating a class podcast, etc.

Overall, PBL makes learning hands-on and fun, bringing lessons to life!🔥

Until next week, 

Tooodless✌