PBL has been around for a while. No one is going to argue with that and for most educators, the “P” in PBL stands for Project. PBL= Project-Based Learning. Since PBL is one of the key pieces of the Critical Skills Classroom, most folks assume that we’re all about the Projects.
Except…we aren’t. At all.
For us, the “P” in PBL is about the Problem.
We realize that all of the PBLs (Project, Problem, Place, etc) have the same idea at their core- Experiential Learning. They’re rooted in the idea that we learn best when we make meaning of something we actually do (as opposed to reading, watching, or hearing). Experiential learning asks teachers to move into the role of facilitators, doing the big work before the students ever arrive on the scene.
By connecting curriculum to an experience, these teachers move the effort of learning onto the shoulders of the students- where it belongs. No matter the catalyst for the work the basic process remains the same:
Teachers design the experience, they coach students as they engage in the work to be done (while asking good questions and remembering to watch rather than do), and they provide feedback so students can reflect on what they know and connect that to what they’re ready to learn next.
Students engage in solving the problem, exhibit their learning), debrief the experience, and they reflect on what they know and connect new understanding to past and upcoming experiences, creating a deeper understanding of the content.
Together, through meaningful work and intentional choices, teachers and students build and maintain a safe but challenging collaborative learning community.
That’s it. It’s both elegantly simple and vastly complicated- and it works.
So why do Critical Skills teachers focus on the problem rather than the project?
Over the last nearly four decades of working with schools and teachers, it’s become clear that projects are ubiquitous. Doing projects- be it raising monarch butterfly caterpillars, making books (about mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, etc), or creating presentations about local history, states, countries, holidays, or ecosystems- is something that most teachers and students already know how to do.
There’s a difference between “doing projects” and “doing PBL” but the line between the two can be hard to define and it’s easy to slide back into familiar strategies when things get complicated (or should we say “more complicated?”) in the classroom. We focus on the problem to solve (and trust that the project piece will emerge naturally). We maintain clarity in the planning, the coaching, the engagement, the feedback, the debriefing, and the reflection, using questions like:
- Why is this problem important?
- How does this problem connect to the content we need to learn?
- What is the problem you are trying to solve?
- What is the cause of the problem?
- Why does the problem exist?
- How is the solution going to solve (or impact) the problem?
- Why do you think that solution will solve (or impact) the problem?
- What other solutions might solve (or impact) the problem?
- What if your solution doesn’t solve (or impact) the problem?
Young people are natural activists. They’re excited to be helping, figuring out solutions, and making sense of problems. They’re claiming their agency, their right to participate in society, and their place in the world. They’re learning what it means to be part of something bigger than themselves. Meaningful, authentic experiences help them make sense of academic content while they practice the skills and dispositions that will serve them in school and beyond.