In this PBL assignment, students in grades 7-8 are to decorate a lounge area given a set budget by the school board. The students in this PBL use different skills such as measurement, prior knowledge about geometry, and budgeting skills. This problem that was assigned to the students relates to real-life skills as well as applies to a topic area that may be of interest to most students. This learning takes place over a time span of 16 days and involves the use of communication in groups. During these 16 days, students learn about different math concepts through worksheets in order to understand the meaning of budgeting. Students also make 3-D representations, listen to a guest speaker, and present their budget plan for their lounge area. All areas of curriculum are presented in the PBL and student uses a variety of different mathematical concepts to complete the PBL.
# 2 and 4/Comments About Strengths and Weaknesses/Critiques & Examples/Changes I would make
There are many strengths to this PBL but I also believe there are many weaknesses. When reading over this PBL, I can clearly see how the principles and process standards are incorporated into the overall PBL. Students are presented with a difficult problem where they must develop a budget plan for a lounge. This lounge area would be something that students in 7th and 8th grade would find interesting and relatable to their real life. As I looked read through the overall document, I felt that the PBL concept was good but the organization and ideas behind the concept did not flow together smoothly. The PBL was student centered but did not give each student an individual part to be accountable for. By working together, the PBL was student-centered and collaborative, but lacked individual accountability. Overall, I did not feel like the problem at hand was the difficult part to solve, but more so the many different tasks that did not seem to flow together. By completing a variety of assignments and homework papers, I feel that the students would get lost in paper work and methods for trying to solve the problem. Even working together, the project seemed completely overwhelming without the established roles given to each specific student. After re-reading over what makes a good PBL and the steps that makes a good model for a PBL, I think that this version would be overwhelming and confusing. However, the concept behind the PBL started off in a positive way, but became too divergent and messy toward the middle of the project. Students did not even start working on their budget plan until approximately day 14. This did not give the students much time to complete their actual budget plan. If I were to change anything about this PBL, I would make it more organized. I think that by giving each student a role to complete, students would better be able to research a specific part to contribute to the group. I also believe that the guided questions could be more focused and less divergent. Students working together on this project might get lost in the overwhelming amount of worksheets and assessments. I think that by creating a more authentic assessment relating to journal work or a portfolio, students would be able to show their individual learning process while working together. I would make my mini-lessons more incorporative into the actual PBL assignment rather than just basic activities that teach concepts of proportions and fractions. I feel like the mini-lessons given in this PBL are examples of the way that most every day math teachers teach. Instead of exploring a concept, they are given a worksheet in order to find answers. These are just a few ways I would change this PBL assignment.
# 1 Continued
Summary of PBL--Operation "Redo the Zoo" (grades 5-6)
Students get the opportunity to take a field trip to the zoo and create their own design and budget plan for an exhibit they'd like to see at the zoo. There are four groups of students who each are given a specific role and task to contribute to their overall problem. These students will become an expert on their role and will research information and bring their thoughts back to the remaining group members who will also share their information. Over a 15 day period, students will design an exhibit and a budget plan for a specific zoo area. Students will keep math journals to document information and their learning process. Through mini-lessons, students will develop a portfolio. At the end of the PBL, students will present their design and budget plan to the rest of the class.
# 2 and 4/Comments About Strengths and Weaknesses as well as Critiques and examples
I believe that overall this is a strong PBL for grades 5-6. The overall problem is relative to what the children know and adds on to their prior knowledge through an interesting topic. The subject of 'the zoo' is always very interesting at any grade level and designing your own exhibit and budget plan would be something that not every student gets to do in real-life. Although this is not directly related to an actual activity they could do in real-life, the concepts behind the PBL directly relate to real-life concepts that the students could connect to on an every day basis. The PBL is very organized and presents a a difficult problem in which students are each given the role of some sort of 'expert.' The students then are able to decipher the problem, make a plan, and establish methods for solving the plan--all essential components of a model PBL. Students then are able to take their 'expert' part and gather information that relates to their individual role for their group. When students come back together as a group they use communication skills to decipher the best method for designing and budgeting their problem. Students build upon their research throughout the project and complete graphs, charts, pictures, and representations. The problem is messy and seems overwhelming at first, but when divided among 4 other group members over a period of 15 days, students can realize that a big problem can be minimized through communication and individual accountability. Higher level thinking is evolved throughout the entire PBL and students keeps logs and journals of their learning process. The teacher guides the overall PBL by giving different challenges that can help break the overall problem down a little bit while also enhancing the learning process. Students seem to always be working hands-on or interactively through the use of applets and technology. They also get to listen to a speaker from a zoo and go on an actual field trip to the zoo. Cross-curricular needs are met through many of the standards and goals presented in other subject content areas. All of the objectives presented are well-established and are grade-related. I really do not see any weaknesses throughout this PBL. If I had more experience with creating a PBL or seeing one in use I might be able to pin-point specific weaknesses, but from the knowledge I have gained about PBL's I think this is a great example that models all of the necessary components of a challenging PBL that is grade appropriate. I don't think I would change a whole lot to the overall organization of this PBL. I might add some assessment ideas to go along with the actual PBL presented. By developing a portfolio along the way, students might find the learning process more valuable. If during the mini-lessons students were able to add to their portfolio and obtain valuable information guiding them back to their problem at hand, I think they would be encouraged to keep working toward better methods. This is the only part that I would change. I loved how the group incorporated different units for other subjects as well as incorporated grade-appropriate standards and goals.
# 3 Compare and Contrasting
PBL: Lounging Around VS. PBL: Operation "Redo the Zoo"
The Lounging Around PBL seemed to be challenging but way too overwhelming. The Operation "Redo the Zoo" PBL was challenging but was guided and divided into a more reasonable problem for the grade level given. After reading the problem for the Zoo PBL it seemed overwhelming, but as the guided questions and division among research through 'expert members,' students would be able to work through the stress of the situation. I also believe that through working individually and together, it provides a better opportunity for the groups to discuss reasoning and proof behind their research as well as lots of communication skills. I believe that in the second PBL, the standards and objectives were more directly related to the problem compared to the Lounging Around PBL. Although both experiences related to real-life situations, the budget plans and the amount of student-centered learning was completely different. Students in the Lounging around PBL seemed to not have any rhyme or reason for completing their PBL. When reading the model steps for a good PBL, it seemed as if the Operation "Redo the Zoo" PBL was incredible. Not only did it make the problem student-centered, higher-level, and learner-centered, the PBL focused on a situation where students used guided questions and steps to create a plan to solve their problem. Overall, I believe the Zoo PBL was a much better representation of a model PBL than the Lounge PBL.
#5. Thoughts on how math is or is not the main focus of the work/level expected
Lounging Around PBL
I think that math is definitely a strong focus in this PBL but I believe the objectives and standards behind the actual PBL are not strong. For example, I see that students are able to use transformations and flips and turns in order to create a lounge, but I do not think the actual concept is directly related to creating and building a lounge. When students would build the lounge they would primarily be focused on measurements and budgeting. The math concepts seem to diverge into other subject areas as the PBL continues. The overall PBL did not seem organized with math concepts or ideas. Doing worksheets and being assessed via worksheets does not seem authentic. Although math was a focus in the PBL, I think it was too unorganized to really see all the math concepts involved in the entire process.
Operation "Redo the Zoo" PBL
I could easily follow this PBL and was better able to see the actual math that went into the steps and model of the PBL. I liked that the students were able to take a field trip to the zoo to first being the process of visualization for the process. By planning out their math ideas first and then building on their prior knowledge they have a stronger basis to build from. Dividing each student up into an expert on part of the problem also gives the student an area of mathematics to focus on. When students come together they can learn about other ways that their group members used the same math concepts to relate to their area of expertise. When students use math journals and create diagrams, charts, graphs, etc. it really shows the use of math concepts and standards for this specific grade level as well as the authenticity that the teacher will be able to assess the students on. By keeping math logs of budget plans, measurements, time periods, students use many aspects of mathematics to explore concepts that they are familiar with. Students also use higher-level thinking in order to build upon their prior knowledge during the steps of this PBL.
# 6. Assessment
Students participating in the Lounging Around PBL were assessed based upon checklists and rubrics. I think that the checklists provide a valuable assessment for the teacher to see how the students are doing during specific assignments. The overall rubric assessment incorporated every activity and did not really show how math content or processes were evaluated. Their explanation of how math concepts and processes were detailed and understandable, but when it came down to the actual evaluation and assessment I think that the rubric did not do justice. I do not believe there was enough criteria for assessment for it to be an authentic assessment. I also believe that more math concepts needed to be incorporated into the assessment. In the PBL described below, students were able to use journals and portfolios to show their math concepts learning as well as their processes for completing the PBL. I think that this is a more authentic form of assessment based on the standards, objectives, and goals.
Students in the Zoo PBL were assessed both formally and informally. I liked how the students were assessed daily through student journals so the teacher could specifically which students may need more guiding throughout the process. This is where adaptations for some students could be realized and the teacher could better guide the student. Formal assessment thought a portfolio also shows a different type of assessment and quizzes were also given based on new knowledge learned. By incorporating both formal and informal assessments the PBL became more authentic. Students were also graded on their presentation of their overall PBL. Students are able to show their reasoning and proof through these types of assessment as well as show their communication and understanding through their presentation. Work in the portfolio also gives an example of how the students built upon prior knowledge and made connections to other subject areas. Overall I feel that the content standards and the processes were clearly shown through assessment in this PBL.
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