PBL and PjBL

Why We Should Utilise This

Strategy
Deborah Saxton, March 2022

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 Objective: Provide support for use of PBL and PjBL

Standards that can be addressed using PBL

include:

❏ ISTE Standards for Educators: Learner, Leader

and Facilitator
❏ ISTE Standards for Students: Empowered
Learner, Innovative Designer and Creative
Communicator
❏ CSTP Standards 1-4
Deborah Saxton

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 Cartoon depicting woman
asking man, “ What skills
do you have?” He replies,
“Tests. I can take tests.”
Deborah Saxton

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 21st Century Skills

Hop onto Jamboard #1

- list the 21st century

strategies you’ve
used in the past
week
graphic showing listing 21st century skills, entrepreneurship,
Deborah Saxton involvement, attitude, curiosity, creating, communicating,
thinking, participating, thinking, colving, language, math,
basics, ICT. 4
 Knowledge in use
What does this mean to you?

How do you design lessons to cater to this concept?

Jot your thoughts onto Jamboard #2

Deborah Saxton

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 Knowledge in use or action is the basis for P(j)BL

● content is applied, not discrete

● the purpose of learning the material is clear
● connections are made both within and across subject areas
● learning is student centered, with scaffolding
● iterations of student produced material increase
understanding

Deborah Saxton

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 Proponents for P(j)BL advocate that

● students gain if they have opportunity to

leverage their knowledge to produce solutions
to authentic problems

● students’ mindset towards learning improves

● understanding of content is deeper

https://rdcu.be/cJP6h
Miller, E.C., Krajcik, J.S. Promoting deep learning through
Deborah Saxton project-based learning: a design problem. Discip Interdscip Sci
Educ Res 1, 7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-019-
0009-6 7
 PBL can help

make
prepare
learning
make learning develop 21st students
more
cross-curricular century skills for life
student
centered

Deborah Saxton

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Recent studies ( > 6000 students in 114 schools) by USC
and Michigan State University show that

● PB classrooms outperformed traditional classes by 8%

● a second year of teaching with PBL raised scores by

10%

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 Alt Text: A graph with pass
rate on y axis and on the y axis
two plots , one of scores in a
traditional classroom and one
in a PBL class. Scores for
traditional class are 37% while
PBL class scored 45%.

Source:
Youki Terada
Edutopia , Feb 21 2021 10
PBL Boosts Science Scores Across All Reading Levels.

Study of 2371 3rd grade students

Alt text: Graph showing

science performance on y
axis, versus reading percentile
on x axis for traditional vs PBL
classroom. For every reading
percentil group test scores in
science are increased by at
least 8 percentage points.

Source:
Youki Terada
Edutopia , Feb 21 202111
Alt Text:
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Deborah Saxton

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Recent PBL in 7th grade science

● If identical twins marry will their

children be identical?

● resources developed ideas related to

meiosis, sexual reproduction and
heredity

● culminating project was recording a

presentation and production of
accompanying booklet
Deborah Saxton
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 Now You Try

You know your students well - consider some

topics that you feel they would be engaged in
working on as a PBL.

Share out.

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Author John Spencer shares in his article “
Seven Myths Keeping Teachers From Implementin
g Creative Projects
,”

“As I shifted toward a PBL approach, I realized

that it wasn’t about adding something new to the
plate. It was about reorganizing my plate.”

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 Examples of P(j)BL

How can I help birds in my community grow and

thrive?

What is the most equitable way to elect a new

member of government?

Design A Restaurant

Banned Book Week

Deborah Saxton
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 Now You Try - Together
English
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1.A
Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate
or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically

Social Studies
7.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social struc­tures of the
sub-Saharan civilizations of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa

Math
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.C.5 Understand that the probability of a chance event is a number
between 0 and 1 that expresses the likelihood of the event occurring. Larger numbers indicate
greater likelihood. A probability near 0 indicates an unlikely event, a probability around 1/2
indicates an event that is neither unlikely nor likely, and a probability near 1 indicates a likely event

Deborah Saxton
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 PBL benefits

Images of human surrounded by text

reading collaboration, control,
personalization, enjoymnet, challenge,
relevance

Image of child and adult hands cradling a

globe

Cartoon of 3 girls linking arms and raising

fists in sign of empowerment
Line drawing of man with light bulb
above his head signifying thought
processes.
Deborah Saxton
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 Now You Try

Which of our students would this approach

benefit?

Which beneficial aspects of PBL would help

reach and support all learners?

Deborah Saxton
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 Questions?

Deborah Saxton
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