Project Based Learning (PBL) is an amazing concept gives educators wonderful options and resources to take their students forward in this century. The skills they will practice and hone will make them valuable employees who find connecting to the world as easy as talking to their next door neighbor.
As easy as it is to leap into these projects, there are many possible obstacles to making the working path an easy ride. What I have found in my own work is that those that oversee our internet policies have made it difficult to access certain websites. This makes it very frustrating to find and use websites within the school day. This would require extra time researching websites and making the necessary requests to unblock the pages.
Most of the other components of PBL would require a period of adjustment to "teaching" in a new way. But if we really want to help our students become globally conscious it is imperative that educators try to make those changes. Teachers who are committed to sharing their knowledge and more importantly, sharing the desire to learn, will find no problems in making this shift to using a PBL. I see my challenge in this is not so much with myself, but with other teachers. Being able to show them that this will forever change the way they approach their subject matter will be a bumpy road. There are so many traditionalists and they don't like change!
But I feel that my other great challenge is time. I do not teach a subject that meets every day and it is difficult to assign outside work. Students become apathetic about homework and do not see the need to "keep up" with their assignments for a "specials" class. Although, perhaps, if the assignment were a PBL they will be more excited about their work and research that it won't be an issue. Now there is a thought.....
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