{"id":2513,"date":"2017-11-08T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T08:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2017-12-06T21:39:17","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T21:39:17","slug":"does-project-based-learning-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/does-project-based-learning-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Does project-based learning work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdobeStock_111982420_Credit\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The answer to the titular question depends on\u00a0a) your definition of “project-based learning,” and\u00a0b) your methodology for measuring success.<\/p>\n

In a just-published, comprehensive\u00a0literature review<\/a>, MDRC takes 84 pages to say: “we can’t really answer the question, because we don’t have consistent definitions or consistent methodologies.”<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Without a common set of PBL design principles, it is difficult to use the existing body of research to draw conclusions about PBL’s effectiveness. (p. 53)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

or<\/p>\n

More rigorous evidence is needed to confirm whether PBL is a better approach to prepare students for college and career than traditional teacher-directed methods. (p. 55)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s a frustrating answer.<\/p>\n

If you love and believe in PBL–and, more than most pedagogical theories, PBL really has true believers–you’d rather have a ringing endorsement.<\/p>\n

If you’re a skeptic–check out Kirschner’s emphatic rejection here<\/a>–you’d like this idea put to bed once and for all.<\/p>\n

In this review, however, the authors make clear that until we agree what PBL really is (and, what it isn’t), we can’t coherently measure its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

What Should Teachers Do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the absence of a clear research answer to this question, I have two suggestions.<\/p>\n

First: teacher experience matters. If you and your colleagues have experience teaching both PBL and direct-instruction curricula, and you’ve had good success with one or the other, then draw on\u00a0that experience<\/em>. As long as you’re being honest with yourselves, and keeping good records, then your experience is–for now–at least as good as any other information we’ve got.<\/p>\n

Second: rely on useful principles from cognitive science. Does PBL help your students pay attention<\/strong>? If yes, that’s good. Does PBL decrease their\u00a0motivation<\/strong>? If yes, that’s bad.<\/p>\n

Quite often, for instance, I find that PBL curricula overwhelm students’ working memory limits<\/strong>. If so, then it doesn’t matter that the curriculum ought to work, or was designed by experts, because it’s overwhelming working memory.<\/p>\n

In other words: if the curriculum sounds upliftingly progressive, but it violates basic principles of cognition, then put the rubric down and step away from the authentic question.<\/p>\n

Every curriculum must fit with the way that students’ brains work–including a PBL curriculum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(In case you’re wondering, “MDRC” stands for “Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.” It was created by the Ford Foundation; its lumpy name was simplified to MDRC in 2003. You can read its history here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The answer to the titular question depends on\u00a0a) your definition of “project-based learning,” and\u00a0b) your methodology for measuring success. In a just-published, comprehensive\u00a0literature review, MDRC takes 84 pages to say: “we can’t really answer the question, because we don’t have consistent definitions or consistent methodologies.” For example: Without a common set of PBL design principles, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15,19],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-classroom-advice","tag-skepticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2521,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}