The following post was written by a Year 11 student, Ted, for our school newsletter. It is published here with his permission:

PBL

The keys to successful project based learning.

You are a 1, you are a 2, you are 3…; Alright class break up into groups of 3; Or even better, we are going to 8406.

These are all tell-tale signs of project based learning and innovative teaching within our school.  And from my experience students eyes light up when they are given a project based task, not because they make them think deeper, but because they see it as an easy lesson.

As a student, we have been subject to various teaching strategies which have been implemented in order to make us think deeper.  However, are these project based tasks actually achieving this goal? Or are we just seeing them as an easy lesson where we don’t have to do anything at all and eventually create a mediocre piece of work.

Recently a speaker from High Tech High in San Diego came to talk to a group of students and teachers about the effectiveness of the project focused learning in their school.  She presented a school model focused around an interactive classroom where students guide their own learning and teachers act as mentors.  The students are given a task which incorporates mathematics, science, technology, history, and many other aspects of essential schoolwork knowledge and are given a period of time to complete this task.

So how is this schooling model effective?  The culture and leadership is key to the success of the project based learning in High Tech High.  Students are encouraged to try new things and not be afraid of failure, which often occurs.  Students are given input into how they want to learn the required information, thus allowing them to sustain interest in a project over a long period of time.  Teachers act as mentors and their role is focused on being a mentor who does not restrict the learning of the students but encourages them to push the boundaries and try new things. Schooling departments work together to enable projects to teach a wide variety of skills which is not restricted to one subject.  Time is given in class to complete the project so students can collaborate and are not forced to complete the project outside of school time.  A sense of pride is instilled in the students’ work which encourages students to present the best project possible at the end of the time frame.

These key aspects of the project based learning at High Tech High are lacking in Sydney’s schools, primarily due to the conservative restrictions of our schooling system.  Teachers don’t have the required class time to undertake long period projects to teach the curriculum.  Different departments often do not have the correct relationships in place to ensure collaborative learning across a variety of schooling disciplines.  Students are not given input into their learning and often do not have the required interest in order to ensure self-driven learning which will reap the most positive outcomes.

I am not suggesting a total overhaul of the Australian schooling system, by removing lessons and teachers and allowing students to teach themselves.  However I think that undertaking project based tasks across two to three different departments occasionally throughout the year would enable deeper thinking and allow students to have a sense of pride in the work they have undertaken during their class time.