CTL’s Vision of Schooling Includes Project Based Learning

Project based learning helps CTL achieve one of our goals: to advance a vision of schooling that engages all students in interesting and rigorous work, develops their talents and abilities, and prepares them for college and career.

Written By dwalker

On May 15, 2019
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One of our goals at CTL is to advance a vision of schooling that engages all students in interesting and rigorous work, develops their talents and abilities, and prepares them for college and career.  That sounds like a tall order, but we know from our 20 years of experience as a company that without this vision, we will not achieve excellence or equity for every student enrolled in K-12 education.  The graphic included in this blog post represents our view of project-based learning as an approach promoting rigor and engagement and reflecting both our experience and research findings.

CTL's PBL GraphicOur experience tells us that many students are bored and disengaged in classroom learning, especially as they reach middle and secondary grades.  This is due to a host of reasons, including lack of literacy skills needed to master content, and also lack of voice, choice and a belief that the work they are assigned has meaning and value.

Research on inquiry or project-based learning documents that this approach achieves the following:

  • Long term retention of content across subject areas.
  •  Better student performance on high stakes tests.
  •  Reduction in the achievement gap for low-income students.
  • Development of 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and reasoning.
  • Development of college and career ready skills noted by ACT, Inc. as equally important with content knowledge, such as the ability to organize learning, manage time, seek out resources, set goals and self-assess.

 

Looking again at the graphic, our PBL model starts with teacher planning based on content standards in all disciplines.  The first ring is comprised of three elements that distinguish our PBL model from others.

  1.  Academic Literacy:  For students to address rigorous content, especially at the middle and high school levels, they need strong literacy skills.  These include vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.  A barrier for many students in courses like chemistry and algebra is the technical vocabulary which holds the key to understanding foundational concepts.  In addition, students need to develop speed and “automaticity,” the ability to not stumble over words or get lost in explanations, but to recognize words, word meanings, and author’s intent.  Related to that is comprehension: understanding the big ideas as well as supporting details, and being able to identify tone, audience, and purpose.
  2. Artful Thinking: A strong research-based exists regarding the arts impact on core content learning, development of problem-solving skills and creativity.  In addition, the arts can develop communication, collaboration, and leadership—all 21st century skills. In our model, we build on the visual and performing arts as well as on design thinking, which promotes the use of creative problem-solving, development and testing of models and prototypes, and authentic assessment from those who will use the solution or product developed.
  3. Digital Thinking: Technology has opened many doors for teachers and students alike.  More important than computers is the type of thinking that develops as students use Web 2.0 tools to identify resources, network with others as part of a larger learning community, create and share new learning, and develop original work products that demonstrate both rigor and originality. Digital thinking emphasizes making connections from a broad array of possibilities.

The connections to real-world issues and application of learning are an integral part of the model, as is creating a culture that honors collaboration, extended investigation and making work products available to a larger audience. For more detail on how the model plays out, see this post by Drew Perkins.

Summary Statement:

One of our goals at CTL is to advance a vision of schooling that engages all students in interesting and rigorous work, develops their talents and abilities, and prepares them for college and career.