chapter 4

I agreed with some of the pitfalls of a not made from scratch project. I am definitely sure about the step by step kind of pitfall. Any project that holds your hand too much is not letting you learn through your mistakes and doesn't leave enough room for individual results. I also think that another offending pitfall technology that glosses over traditional teaching, because the point to PBL is that it isn't traditional learning but more about the students looking for information and finding things out for themselves. I think that being flexible is commandment number one in being a teacher in general so that they brought it up in PBL as well, I certainly agree. A topic of a project can't be to restricting. You need to let the project be carried in a different direction if you see the kids leaning that way. I thought the ocean/boat example was great, that the students lead the teachers in a different direction. I also like the idea of having real world project base. When things are based in the real world it is preparing students for being outside of a school setting and true problem solving. I like that a good project involves other people. I think that its important for the students to build communication skills too. I think good projects come from real world problems. Students need things from the outside world because that's what they live in. Its things that keep them engaged and cross over multiple subjects. Steps that lead to a good project first of all is research. By the teacher and then by the students. I think knowing about the subject Would be a start. Collaborating with colleagues and getting feedback before trying it on the students. I think involving others outside of the classroom is an important step to have children dealing with others. And my last big step would be recording our findings as a class to improve and add to the project the next time around. This chapter really helped me to think about the project we are doing and things that I should watch for in my own project. I think it showed me to stay flexible and let the project lead itself.