Teacher empowerment

How empowered are teachers?  Do teachers have the power to utilize instructional strategies in their classroom that they believe would benifit students?

June 1, 2012

Follow the  link http://pbln.imsa.edu/resources/articles/problemlog.html  and click on Spring 2009, Volume 9 Issue. Read the essay on 'Pedagogic Growth Through PBL'. Then comment on the following statement:

'I feel convinced that the education system as a whole has to make changes in terms of learning through problems rather than focusing on learning to master standards.'

Designing a PBL activity

Design a PBL for your students

Things to remember

vStart with an ill structured problem

vHave more than 1 standard  involved

vProblem should related to students’ interest

vProblem should have Real life connection

vProblem should be open ended

vResources should be easily available

•Lesson plan for PBL

Have the following completed  when you design your PBL

•Title

•Standards Involved

•Objectives

•Scenario

•Kind of box chart used

•Final product

•Rubric for Assessment

•Teacher notes on break up of PBL (Implementation plan)

Tips for designing your PBL

•Think of a real life problem that is relevant to your students -- Context

•Draw a concept map connecting the main problem to various factors

•For example think of obesity and everything associated with it  -- Connection

•Choose one factor (around a standard) and create a scenario around that factor  -- Content

•Have clear expectations on what you want students to learn ( Reflect)  but do not communicate this in the scenario directly

•Have a plan to facilitate students to analyze and reason  (Reason)

•Have easily available resources for students to research (Research)

•Create a rubric

•Write teacher notes on how you will break up the case (implementation plan)

PBL Resources

Many of you expressed that you need resources for creating PBL activities.
Here are some resources might be helpful in writing PBL cases in your subject area.

http://www.cse.emory.edu/cases/
http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/
http://www.udel.edu/inst/

May 30, 2012, Blog # 1-

Choose one of the topics below to blog:
A] Problem Based Learning if implemented the right way encompasses inquiry, higher order thinking, critical thinking and much more. Explain why you agree or diagree with the author.

B] On page 9, the author compares and contrasts traditional teacher centered instructions to the student centered PBL. What do you see as the urgent need to move away from the traditional teaching to the student centered inductive learning.