Project-Based Learning PBL

Based Learning
ABP Projects
Dr. Clara Alvarado Zamorano

Future Classroom Project

Interactive Spaces and Systems for Education

Center for Applied Sciences and Technological Development

UNAM

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WHAT IS ABP?

It is an educational proposal that aims for the student to develop skills and competencies.
It promotes that learning be meaningful and developed in small working groups.
in the search to solve a challenging problem or analyze a present situation in the
everyday environment, presented by the teacher, or even by the students themselves, with the
purpose of triggering the self-directed learning of your students.

It is based on constructivism, on studies by psychologists and educators such as Vygotsky, Bruner,

Piaget and Dewey, linked to the growing understanding of how the brain works
human, in how it stores, retrieves and integrates information; considers learning as
result of mental constructions of new ideas or concepts, based on the
previous knowledge that individuals possess.

ABP alters the traditional conception of the teaching-learning process - the teacher as
responsible for transferring content and students as passive receivers of
knowledge-, without this meaning that the lecture class stops being efficient.

This educational proposal aims to:

Focus learning on the student by developing interdisciplinary learning activities.

long term, under their responsibility, which is why the teacher acts as the mediator or guide that
provides guidance and resources as tasks are undertaken.

Improve the ability to solve problems or analyze situations in the everyday environment,
developing structured activities.

Enhance the student's self-learning ability.

Improve the ability to work in teams with people of diverse cultural backgrounds and levels.
integrating various disciplinary areas of knowledge.

Develop higher-order mental skills (searching, analyzing, and synthesizing information;

conceptualization and critical use of information; systemic and critical thinking; research
and metacognition).

Achieve that students learn to make the necessary decisions to reach an adequate level
of quality with the existing time constraints.

Encourage knowledge and skills in the use of ICT in the context of projects.

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2. CHARACTERISTICS OF PBL

It focuses on a problem that needs to be solved or a situation to be analyzed based on a

plan de acción donde los estudiantes identifican el ¿qué?, ¿para qué?, ¿cómo?, ¿con quién?,
When? Where? How much? With what? Risk factors to face, measures
alternatives to ensure success, expected results, etc.

Student-centered learning, developing learning activities

interdisciplinary, long-term, under their responsibility.

• Involves collaborative work in small teams of teachers and students (with profiles,
disciplinary areas and different cultures that promote learning and prepare the
students to work in various environments), to achieve specific objectives;
strategies to maximize results and minimize loss of time and information in
benefit of organizational objectives. The members exchange information, activate
Previous knowledge promotes research and they mutually feed back into each other.

The teacher acts as a mediator or guide, offering resources and advice as needed.
they conduct research; it does not constitute the main source of access to information, it is oriented
to a broad range of explicit learning objectives, discusses a specific situation
(perhaps unexpected) that a student or a group of students has found. It has the
final responsibility of the evaluation, using the tools and methodology of the
comprehensive evaluation, and must face and overcome the challenge that each student is
building their new knowledge instead of studying the same content as others
other students. The teacher learns alongside his students, demonstrating that
learning must be lifelong.

Projects with application in everyday environments beyond the classroom, selected according to
student interests. With meaningful content for students, directly
observable in its environment.

Requires a high level of internal motivation, commitment, perseverance, dedication, and effort.
by all the actors involved.

It involves meaningful learning of conceptual content, skills and abilities, and

attitudes.

It implies self-directed learning. Students gather and analyze information, make

discoveries and report on their results; they can achieve additional goals (not
foreseen) as they explore complex themes from various perspectives. Greater
autonomy that in a traditional class and make use of various resources.

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 Project-Based Learning PBL

• Promotes the development of relationships. As teachers and students interact to

plan and work, they learn to develop relationships regardless of their differences.
previous experiences. Relationships based on trust, joint effort, and communication.
When working with ABP, intercultural sensitivities and skills arise.
language, which is typically not required in traditional teaching models.

With specific objectives related to the standards of the educational curriculum for the century
XXI.

• With defined learning products (materials, videos, presentations, discussions,

posters, etc.).

Interrelationship between the academic, the everyday, and labor competencies.

Feedback and evaluation by experts.

Reflection and self-assessment by the student.

Evaluation based on learning evidence (portfolios, journals, etc.).

With clearly defined stages of initiation, development, and completion.

3. ADVANTAGES AND DIFFICULTIES OF PBL

advantages

Integration between learning in school and experiences in the everyday environment.

Students make use of higher-order mental skills instead of memorizing.

data in isolated contexts.

It promotes thinking and acting based on the design of a project, creating a plan with
defined strategies to provide a solution to a question and not just to meet objectives
curricular.

Development of collaboration skills and competencies to build knowledge, to

allow students to share ideas among themselves, express their own opinions, take
decisions and negotiating solutions, managing time, skills necessary for the future
job positions.

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 Project-Based Learning PBL

It stimulates emotional, intellectual, and personal growth through direct experiences with
people and students from different disciplines and located in different contexts.

Skills are developed and techniques for problem solving are learned by being in
contact with people from diverse cultures and with different viewpoints.

One learns to evaluate the work of peers.

One learns to give constructive feedback to oneself and to colleagues.

Encourages students to experiment, engage in discovery-based learning,

learn from their mistakes and face and overcome difficult and unexpected challenges.

Increase in motivation, higher school attendance, greater participation in class and

better disposition to perform tasks. Students retain a greater amount of
knowledge and skills when they are engaged in stimulating projects.

Increase in self-esteem. Students take pride in achieving something of value.

outside the classroom and making contributions to the school or the community.

Increase in individual learning strengths and their different approaches and styles
toward this.

Learning that encourages the use of new technologies.

In summary, PBL supports students to: (1) acquire knowledge and skills
basics, (2) learn to solve complicated problems and (3) carry out difficult tasks
using various knowledge and skills.

DIFFICULTIES:

Requires a well-defined plan of activities and tasks, in order to meet the

objectives and tasks proposed.

It implies higher cost and duration.

Difficulty in integrating and matching the different schedules for communication among the
participants, so the integration of ICT is an area of opportunity.

It takes time and patience to remain open to diverse ideas and opinions.

The differences between cultures create unintentional misunderstandings.

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It is not always natural or comfortable to act in a special way to carry out projects.
It involves making modifications and continuous improvements during its development.

Third-party collaboration is often required, which does not always participate in

the expected form.

4. ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER WHEN SETTING THE OBJECTIVES OF PBL

The participants must have clear objectives so that the project is planned and completed.
effectively. The more involved the students are in the process, the more they will
to retain and to take responsibility for their own learning, so that the teacher and
students must jointly establish the essential elements and expectations of the
project.

The ABP aims to promote the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills, affective and
skills that promote, for example: Project planning; search, analysis
integration and synthesis of information; motivation and responsibility; collaboration and
communication; active participation; decision-making; time and resource management.

For the selection of the problem to be solved or situation to be analyzed, taking into account
that can be proposed by the teacher, or by the students themselves, with the purpose of
to unleash self-directed learning, aspects such as the following must be considered:

Be significant, around problems or situations linked to everyday context.

It is limited (the possibility of resolving it in time and with the available resources).

It is relevant (the elements of analysis are within reach of the students).

In order for the project to be planned and completed effectively, the participants must have
clear objectives and rules of the game.

Situation or problem: describe the topic or problem that the project seeks to address or solve.

Project purpose: concise explanation of the ultimate objective of the project.

Performance specifications.

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Instructions for developing the project (include schedule of tasks and short-term goals)
deadline).

Quality criteria that the project must meet.

Description and purpose of the project: concise explanation of the ultimate goal of the project and
on how to address the situation or the problem.

Performance specifications: criteria or quality standards that the project must

fulfill.

• Participants in the project and their assigned roles (team members, experts, members
from the community, staff of the educational institution.

Regarding development:

Types of problems to solve.

Concepts and principles that students must be able to apply.

Cognitive and affective skills to develop, as well as abilities.

Necessary resources (laboratory, computers, finances, permits, ...) and access of the
students.

• Management of resources (minimum experience with computers requires additional support

to use them).

• Workplace(s) (in the classroom, at school, in the community, online).

Availability of tutors as support.

About the evaluation:

What is expected for them to learn.

How the start, the process, and the outcome will be evaluated.

What quality criteria must be met.

• Possible evaluations and their characteristics (personal, peer, to the teacher, to the process, to the
project, to the results)

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How the performance of students will be assessed; both the process of

learning as the final product.

5. MAIN STAGES FOR THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF

ABP PROJECT

A) Start

• Define the theme or topic (propose a solution to a problem or analyze a situation).

Facilitate a discussion with the whole class.

Establish the objectives, tasks, partial goals, and evaluation methods of the project.

Identify resources.

• Discuss How to define and develop a complex project? or How will it be obtained, for
to be able to carry out the project, the new knowledge they will need about the subject
students? Or how will the new and necessary knowledge or skills be acquired in
the ICT?

• Form the teams. Discuss the frequency and location of the meetings.

B) Initial Activities of the teams

• Preliminary planning. Knowledge about the topic is shared and possible suggestions are made.
tasks for the team.

• Tentatively establish how specific the project should be. Delve into the
knowledge.

• Tentatively specify the work plan. Divide the project into components and assign
responsibilities.

Feedback from the teacher.

C) Project development

Make sure that students complete the tasks and partial goals one by one. The plan
the work must divide the project into a sequence of tasks, each with its schedule and
meta.

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 Project-Based Learning PBL

With the professor's approval, the teams continuously adjust the project definition.

Team members participate in collaborative learning and problem-solving.

cooperative of problems.

There will be both a self-assessment and a mutual evaluation among the members of the
teams. The professor also evaluates and provides feedback.

• Progress towards completion. A project has as its final outcome a product, a

presentation or an interpretation directed towards a specific audience.

If necessary, the steps in this section are repeated until all partial goals are achieved.
they have reached.

D) Conclusion from the perspective of the students

Final review. Complete the project and polish the product, presentation, or interpretation.
finals.

Final evaluation. The completed work is presented in the agreed format. Generally, all
The class participates and, together with the teacher, provides constructive feedback.

• Closure. Individuals and teams analyze their products, presentations or final interpretations,
building on the feedback received.

E) Conclusion by the teacher

Facilitate a discussion and general evaluation of the project in the class.

• Keep a record of your notes. Reflect on the project, what worked well and what did not.
It needs to improve for the next time it is used in a class.

6. INTEGRAL EVALUATION

It implies:

the collaboration of students to establish the evaluation objectives and the method
assessment to be used, so that the student is motivated and actively committed.

the direct measurement of the student by the evidences of:

the development of higher-order thinking skills.
- their performance in the project,
the knowledge of its content

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 Project-Based Learning PBL

the creation of products (presentations, reports, interactive materials, posters,

staging, publications, fairs, etc.); a fundamental evidence of learning is the
student portfolio, which consolidates the courses taken, the consultation with experts, the
search and analysis of documents, etc.

The evaluation can be carried out in various modalities: self-assessment, peer assessment and
hetero-evaluation, as well as formative and summative assessment. Some teachers use the
formative assessment to grade the student, others only use the final product
as a basis for the evaluation (assessment or summative evaluation). Determine the indicators
to carry out the individual or team assessment.

A good learning environment allows the student to experience, try out things that
they may not yield good results. The assessment should encourage and reward that trial behavior
and error instead of punishing her.

7. ICT and ABP

ABP is an ambitious educational proposal, capable of achieving significant results and advancements.
in the students. However, the proposal for ongoing monitoring of the students,
both individually and collectively, it can imply a significant workload for the
teachers. It is in this sense that ICTs have a double role in project-based learning: on the one hand,
supporting the different tasks that each student and team carry out to solve the assignment
assigned, and; storing and managing the information that allows teachers to evaluate the
progress and difficulties of each team and individual.

Thus, PBL is a privileged situation to integrate ICT into the teaching process, giving them
a use directly linked to the tasks that must be solved, and not by the technology itself
same, as presented below:

Learning to use ICT based on its ability to support user tasks.

Increase the knowledge and skill they have in ICT as they
They work on the project. A project can be designed with a specific objective.
to encourage students to acquire new skills and
knowledge in technologies.

Search and organization of information

Web-quest development
Development of electronic portfolios
Digital information curation

Reencoding and creation of information.

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Collaborative work supported by ICT.

Presentation of results in multiple formats and forums.

Be part of an online academic community.

Learn to self-evaluate and evaluate others through the use of ICT.

• Commit to a network project, even while located in remote sites. The teacher can
make daily observations, at any time, to establish whether the student is
committed to the task, if it shows adequate collaboration.

The activities of ABP can be carried out with the ICT available at school, home or
the community.

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