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Learner Centered not Teacher Centered

A great advantage of project-based learning is that the learner can become responsible for their own learning and adapt their learning to meet their particular needs. The background experience and knowledge of every learner is different, as are their learning styles and career goals. What each needs to learn is different. In PBL, the teacher is not viewed as "a sage on the stage, but a "guide on the side” and learners are encouraged to take on the responsibility for their own learning and decision-making—as they must be in life and career. Read on to learn more about the changing role of the teacher and students...

The PBL Teacher as Facilitator

An essential element in the success of project-based learning is the teacher who not only selects and designs the project based on learner needs, but also serves as a guide to learners in their problem-solving and self-directed learning activities. The teacher in this role is usually referred to as a facilitator. The facilitator does not lecture or provide the learner with information he may need to understand the problem, as the expertise of the world provides that through self-directed learning. Instead, the facilitator stimulates and guides the learner through interactive Socratic questioning. Taking on the role of facilitator rather than instructor can be challenging for some educators. We are comfortable with the "sage on the stage" role. Converting to the "guide on the side" isn't always easy. In addition to your own difficulties with this role, your students may have some trouble with your new role during the initial stages of a PBL unit. 

An excerpt from a teacher may help clarify the new roles of teacher and student:

I can remember when I went to Novato, California for my own Buck Institute PBL training. The workshop started out just like any other; there were staff introductions, information about college credit, and of course we had to know where and when lunch would be served. The preliminaries only took about half an hour and then we were put right into the middle of the PBL process. At this point, our hosts passed out the Buck Institute handbooks. Then the director dropped the bombshell; he calmly told us to use the rest of the workshop time, two more full days, to create our own PBL units. As we stared in amazement, he and the rest of our "instructors" left. Now in your minds, picture a room filled with educators who have been left with a new handbook, an impossible task and total confusion. Can you feel the tension? You should have heard the grumbles and complaints. Soon most of us started looking at the handbook, trying to connect something new with our old schema. I was having a very hard time trying to differentiate between the driving question and the problem scenario.  After spending some futile time complaining, I noticed that one of our instructors were hanging around outside the classroom door. I summoned all the courage I could and then sent my team-mate out to ask for some clarification. He was actually glad to see her and welcomed the question. Then he did something radical, he came back into the classroom and addressed our question to the whole class. From that point on we knew that we were only going to get instruction and information if we asked for it. We had to have a "need to know" and be comfortable enough to ask for assistance in order to accomplish our task. For the rest of the workshop, our instructors were in the classroom moving among the groups, tutoring where needed. On occasion these tutors would notice that many of us were having the same problems. At those points, they would stop all of us and pull us together for direct instruction.

In order for you to be able to be successful in developing student-centered activities and at the same time meet the needs of all your students, it is important to consider your own teaching style. Without getting into the greater discussion of learning theory and the various instructional models and styles, I will just say that I prefer to view learning theories on a continuum with student-centered environments on one extreme, teacher-centered environments on the other, and a whole lot of muddiness in the middle. Regardless of what theories are espoused as more effective, the truth is that the majority of teaching typically occurs at the teacher-centered end of the spectrum. While this may be appropriate in some instances, the Project Based Learning model usually encourage more student-centered (constructivist) teaching methods. 

Take a look at your project thus far. How would you characterize it in terms of student-centered vs. teacher-centered? If you find that your style is more teacher-centered, (many of you will since research shows that we teach pretty much the way that we have been taught) what are some ways that you might move to a more student-centered approach? Of course, determining the approach best suited to you will depend upon a variety of factors: content, intended audience, teaching style, delivery method, etc. etc.

Role of the Student

The PBL approach requires that students take charge of their own learning. This is difficult for students who are more familiar with instructor-led lectures. Now they are being asked to define the learning issues of a project, make decisions required by the project, do research beyond their textbooks (perhaps outside class time), propose solutions to problems, and create projects useful in authentic environments. In addition, all this must be done cooperatively with their group members. Naturally, students are likely at first to resist this approach to learning. An engaging entry activity is the trigger to minimize the resistance and begin the problem solving process. 

Once the student groups are engaged, brainstorming, development of hypothesis, identification of further information requirements and forming possible solutions usually gets under way.  As questions are posed and answered, students refine their hypotheses and reformulate the problem. They may move through further cycles of information gathering and problem reformulation, gaining information from a range of sources. During this process, students become aware of where their individual knowledge, understanding and skills are lacking, and formulate their individual personal learning needs. Student Responsibilities in PBL will include the following:

• Students generally define the project and conditions for development.
• Students usually decide how to access, evaluate and utilize information.
• Students usually determine their own strategies for defining the project, seeking information, analyzing and testing the data and making a product.
• Students usually determine their own roles.
• Students usually self evaluate their performances.
• Students generally evaluate peers.
• Students generally solve group personality issues

Meeting the Needs of All Students

Students with Special Needs

Now is the time, in the planning stage, to think about how you might adapt your project for students with special needs. One concern may revolve around the technology tools that you will be using. How much do you know about Assistive/Adaptive Technologies? About Diverse Learning Styles? Take time now to add to your existing knowledge base in both of these areas.

The Teacher's Network website (http://teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/adjust/) provides links to a variety of strategies for adjusting your teaching style to better meet the needs of specific populations of students - at risk students for example. Choose one or two articles to read and think about how you might adjust your teaching to meet the needs of all your learners.

Culminating Activity

Once the products are completed, they need to be presented in a culminating event. A culminating event is the end activity that showcases the content learning and skill development that has taken place during the unit. It is also a chance for social interaction.

Their culminating product will often represent a blend of content knowledge and skills that give students an opportunity to demonstrate learning across a variety of topics and skills. Culminating products are often presented during significant, high-stakes occasions involving audiences beyond the classroom, thus encouraging students to go beyond the mere "show-and-tell." Through the culminating event students are encouraged to demonstrate in-depth learning. This in-depth learning should also encourage students to showcase their knowledge level to the upper end of Bloom's Taxonomy--indicating that evaluation and synthesis have been met.

Culminating Event Ideas (not an inclusive list):

• History Fair
• Exhibits
• Student Presentations
• Science Fair
• Poetry Reading
• Design Exhibition
• Sharing of Goods created (i.e. baking bread)
• Presenting Designs to Local Businesses
• Live Demonstrations of Products

Celebration is an important aspect of the PBL process. When students have invested their time and energy in a successful project, especially a major project, help them acknowledge what they have accomplished. Include parents, administrators, other students, community members, other teachers, or anyone else who was involved in the project. The celebration can be a part of the debriefing day, or planned as a special event such as a reception, ceremony, or presentation of awards.

Debriefing and Evaluating the Project

Debriefing will assist you in understanding how you can apply your current project experience projects you may attempt in the future.  The debriefing process is not a solo act for the instructor.  Students should be included in this phase of the process as well.

When you and your students look back and examine the victories and the struggles with the project, you develop a tool kit for problem solving that will be of tremendous value to all in the future.

There are several important questions you should ask yourself during the debrief: Did you meet the standards-based objectives you set at the beginning of the unit? and Can your students demonstrate achievement in those objectives?  How will you show whether or not you have met the goals of the unit?  There are several methods to evaluate whether students have achieved the project goals.  The table below will give you a brief overview of four of these methods: Performance, Product, Test, and Self Report.                   

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