1. What "dominant paradigm" is showing signs of wear?
According to the article, the “dominant paradigm” which is showing signs
of wear is the “instructional model of the teacher and the textbook as the
primary sources of knowledge, conveyed through lecturing, discussion, and
reading.”
2. According to the research, how does Project-Based Learning
support student learning better than traditional approaches? Describe three
benefits and cite the studies.
·
Benefit 1: Students who “had participated in the
project-based curriculum did better on conceptual problems presented in the
National Exam.” This means that students
who did project-based learning were better test takers, which is something that
all teachers like to see!
o Source: Boaler,
J. (1998)
·
Benefit 2: Students showed “Growth in their ability
to support their reasoning with clear arguments.” This means that the students were able to
back up their answers using effective means.
The skill of being able to do that is one that would be used in everyday
life by anyone!
o Source: Stepien,
Gallagher, & Workman (1993)
·
Benefit 3: Students earned higher scores in “content
mastery, sensitivity to audience, and coherent design. They performed equally well on standardized
test scores of basic skills.” This was
stated as the result of students creating brochures, which is an authentic
task. We’ve learned before that students
benefit from doing “real-life” projects, which is what project-based learning
is all about.
o Source: Penuel,
Means, & Simkins (2000)
3. According to the research, how does Problem-Based Learning
support student learning better than traditional approaches? Describe three
benefits and cite the studies.
·
Benefit 1: Students had an “enhanced ability to
plan a project after working on an analogous problem-based challenge.” Who doesn’t need planning skills in real
life?!? The earlier that we teach
students how to plan and execute a plan, the better off they will be.
o Source: Moore,
Sherwood, Bateman, Bransford, & Goldman (1996)
·
Benefit 2: Studies have documented “positive
changes for teachers and students in motivation, attitude toward learning, and
skills, including work habits, ciritical thinking skills, and problem-solving
abilities.” Getting a student to have a
positive attitude about learning is a very difficult challenge when just using
worksheets, etc. However, problem-based
learning is a way to mix the routine up for the students, which makes them
happier to learn.
o Sources: Bartscher,
Gould, & Nutter (1995); Peck, Peck, Sentz, & Zasa (1998); Tretten &
Zachariou (1995)
·
Benefit 3: “Students who may struggle in
traditional instructional settings have often been found to excel when they
have the opportunity to work in a PBL context, which better matches their
learning style or preference for collaboration and activity type.”
o Source: Boaler
(1997); Meyer, Turner, & Spencer (1997); Rosenfeld & Rosenfeld (1998)
4. According to the research, how does Learning by Design support
student learning better than traditional approaches? Describe three benefits
and cite the studies.
·
Benefit 1: Researchers observed that “design
activities are particularly good for helping students develop understanding of
complex systems…” Most people can
understand complex ideas whenever they have a model or design at which to
look. Students benefit from models,
too!
o Source: Perkins
(1986)
·
Benefit 2: “A positive effect on motivation and
sense of ownership over designs among both individuals and groups” was noticed. When students are genuinely motivated to do
their work, a much better product is produced.
o Source: Fortus
(2004)
·
Benefit 3: “Students were able to apply key
concepts in their design work.” There’s
nothing worse than a design of something which misses the mark in that key
concepts are not included. When learning
by design, students don’t have this problem as readily.
o Source: Fortus
(2004)
5. What are the differences between the three approaches?
All of these approaches have similar characteristics and benefits which
makes the line to differentiate between them quite fuzzy. However, a couple of differences that I’ve
noted are as follows: In project-based learning, the students can make a
project, while in problem-based learning, students don’t actually have to
produce a project in the end.
Furthermore, when learning by design, students can produce a model.
6. In your opinion, what is the most important benefit to learning that
is common across the three types of inquiry-based learning approaches?
In my opinion, the most important benefit to learning that is common across
the three types of inquiry-based learning approaches is the fact that the
learning is not the typical “dominant paradigm” that teachers have used for
hundreds of years. The traditional type
of teaching can be very boring, but inquiry-based learning is something new and
fresh that students enjoy. Thus, it is a
good thing!
Source:
www.edutopia.org. (2003, August 01). Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf
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