IB PYP

1. IB PYP And Project Based Learning

2. KWL Chart • At your tables, complete the KWL chart • What do you know about Project Based Learning • What do you wonder or want to know about PBL • Time limit of 3 minutes • Brief sharing for 2 minutes

3. Taking the PYP Forward: The Future of IB Primary Years Programme “Problem-based and project-based learning (PBL) are approaches that have enjoyed certain prominence within the changing educational landscape over the past number of years. The PBLs support the kind of inquiry and trandisciplinary thinking that is at the heart of the PYP. Also, these approaches heavily support the inclusion of ICT as a major catalyst and enabler in a learning environment that seeks to develop students’ abilities to apply and transfer what they have learned within new environment and contexts. Project-based learning – powered by contemporary technologies – is a strategy certain to turn traditional classrooms upside down. When students learn by engaging in real world projects, nearly every aspect of their experience changes. Instead of following the teacher’s lead, learners pursue their own questions to create their own meaning. Does this not mirror some of the goals of the PYP exhibition”? ~by Greg Curtis and Jason Cone

4. Buck Institute for Education • Buck Institute for Education • 1987 California, 1990’s focus on PBL • www.bie.org • Project Based Learning Explained video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMCZvGesRz8 • Aldrich Staff development page • These links • More on PBL • Project Based Learning in the Elementary Grades

5. 8 Essential Elements of PBL • Significant Content • 21st Century Skills • In-Depth Inquiry • Driving Question • Need to Know • Voice & Choice • Revision & Reflection • Public Audience

8. Comparison • Student Centered • Self-directed • Discover, apply, present • Collaboration • Students & Teacher decision making • Varied instructional strategies • Long-term investigations • Standards-based • Ongoing assessments • Real-world connections • Reflection • Teacher-centered • Teacher-directed • Listen, memorize, repeat • Independence • Teacher decision making • Direct instruction • Short isolated lessons with predetermined answers • Standards-based • Assessment tests • School-based activities • Quizzes & Tests Traditional Classroom PYP/PBL Classroom

9. Project Examples • In this project, young students take on the role of botanists, exploring the question, How does the world change during the school year? They record observations and collect data on tree changes during each season. Later in the project, the students share their findings with the Arbor Day Foundation and compare the effects of seasonal changes with e-pals in Australia. • In this project, social studies students assume the roles of staffers to a US ambassador working in a developing country. They research a country and debate issues related to determining how to spend a humanitarian aid budget. During this project, students consider the question, How can individuals made a difference in the world?

10. Project Examples • In this project, students answer the question How can we diagnose a sick patient and recommend the best treatment? by playing the role of medical school students. They learn about body systems and then research and gather more information on the human body in order to present their analysis and conclusions to a panel of adults in the role of medical school professors. • After receiving a request from the principal, students work in teams to propose rules for different areas of the school in answer to the question What rules and consequence should we have at our school?Students generated questions, reviewed other school’s discipline plans and interviewed other students, teachers and administrators in order to create individual student posters and team video commercials to persuade the school to adopt their proposed rules.

11. Project Examples • In this project, students work in teams to generate research questions, read about and document observations of local woodland animals in order to answer the question How can we create a picture book about the life cycles of creatures in Oldham County? After creating a watercolor illustrated book with text about local animals, they present their work to representatives of the County Conservation District and display their book in the Conservation District Office. • In this project, students will create an opinion piece for the state government web page on state tourist attractions as they answer the question, What is most special or unique about the geography of The Golden State?After developing questions and researching the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California, they will write opinion pieces stating details and conclusions supporting their findings.

12. Benefits • Increased motivation to learn • Builds critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication • Technology integration • Relevant, meaningful real world connections • Civic participation & global awareness-action • Increased academic achievement • Increased engagement in learning • Improved knowledge retention • Benefits all students (learning levels & styles) • Improved higher-order thinking

13. What’s next… • Think back to KWL chart • Leave on tables • Refer back later • What are you still wondering about/want to learn • Write on exit slip • Hand to Rebecca on way out