Finally, My own PBL module

During the last semester of my master’s program, I developed and enacted my first PBL module. I collaborated with Dr. Anthony Pennings, Associate Chair of the Department of Technology and Society at SUNY Korea, to enact the project in his undergraduate Economics course. Since I had previously taken that course with him, I was acquainted with the course requirements. I spent a few days during my winter break brainstorming project ideas and reviewing the literature on PBL. After he accepted my second draft, we were good to go. The project was enacted over a three-week period for some 25 students. Enacting this module further confirmed my convictions about PBL and its potential for deeper enriched learning experiences in schools. I was also able to validate a framework for developing PBL modules which I briefly describe in this piece along with some insights generated from the project.

As a student-centered approach, PBL is meant to be a rewarding experience for both students and instructors. As I discuss in my project paper, this assertion is valid. An analysis of the surveys I administered to student before and after the PBL module showed an overwhelmingly positive reactions to their project experience. Students were glad to be working on real-world issues while mastering subject content. The instructor, Dr. Pennings was also very glad about the entire module. He observed positive spillover effects from the module into subsequent topics that were discussed in the course, making for a uniquely engaging course. As the facilitator, my journal reflections showed positive gains in student performance and understanding.

An insight from my project was the positive spillover effects of the module. In the literature, when benefits of PBL are being discussed, spillover effects are seldom mentioned. The reason is it is difficult to measure. Also, it is unintentionally subsumed under the general benefits of PBL. But qualitatively, we can describe the spillover “variable”. Dr. Pennings observed that knowing the student knowledge level, i.e. knowing what the students knew and didn’t know, helped him in subsequent units of the same course. It doesn’t stop there; the project students undertook prepared them to understand concepts in the subsequent units as well. To an extent, the module generated insights for each agent in the system, creating a feedback loop of sorts.

My project helped me understand PBL at a deeper level, and from a different perspective. I utilized lines of inquiry as a conceptual model to assist students, as well as to perform scaffolding. It proved successful and immensely useful. Throughout my research in PBL, I have always wondered, “Will students accept this?” Taking into full cognizance the three factors (competence, interest, and focus)[1, p. 375] that drive student engagement in PBL, I think students will focus if they are led to become competent in their interests. There’s a formula; all we need do is bake the cake.

Notes

[1] P. Blumenfeld, E. Soloway, R. Marx, J. Krajcik, M. Guzdial, and A. Palincsar, “Motivating Project-Based Learning: Sustaining the Doing, Supporting the Learning,” Educational Psychologist, vol. 26, no. 3 & 4. pp. 369–398, 1991.