Overview
The CMK Futures team travels the world to create immersive, high-quality professional development experiences for schools interested in effective 21st century project-based learning (PBL) and learning by doing. Whether your school (or school system) is new to PBL and the tools and technologies of the global Maker Movement, or looking to sustain existing programs, we can design flexible professional learning opportunities to meet your needs, PK-12. The Victorian State of Victoria recently offered a highly successful three-day PBL 360 workshop for members of their “New Pedagogies Project.”
Our work is based on extensive practice assisting educators on six continents, in a wide variety of grade levels, subject areas and settings. Dr. Gary Stager has particular experience working with extremely gifted and severely at-risk learners, plus expertise in S.T.E.M. and the arts.
PBL 360 captures the spirit of the annual Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute in a local setting.
Options
Professional growth is ongoing, therefore professional development workshops need to be viewed as part of a continuum, not an inoculation. The PBL professional development workshops described below not only reflect educator’s specific needs, but are available in one, two or three-day events, supplemented by keynotes or community meetings, and may be followed-up with ongoing mentoring, consulting or online learning. Three days is recommended for greatest effect and capacity building.
While learning is interdisciplinary and not limited to age, we can tailor PD activities to emphasize specific subjects or grade levels.
These experiences embrace an expanding focus from learner, teacher, to transformational leader with a micro to systemic perspective. Video-based case studies, hands-on activities and brainstorming are all part of these highly interactive workshops.
Guiding principles
- Effective professional development must be situated as close to the teacher’s actual practice as possible
- You cannot teach in a manner never experienced as a learner
- Access to expertise is critical in any learning environment
- Practice is inseparable from theory
- We stand on the shoulders of giants and learn from the wisdom of those who ventured before us
- Modern knowledge construction requires computing
- Learning and the learner should be the focus of any education initiative
- Children are competent
- School transformation is impossible if you only change one variable
- Things need not be as they seem
Why 360?
Effective project-based learning requires more than the occasional classroom project, no matter how engaging such occasional activities might be. PBL 360 helps educators understand the powerful ideas behind project-based learning so they can implement PBL and transform the learning environment using digital technology and modern learning theory. PBL 360 helps teachers build a powerful, personal set of lenses and an ability to see “360 degrees” – meaning in every direction – with which to build new classroom practices.
Teachers, administrators and even parents should consider participation.
Reinventing ourselves
Piaget teaches us that knowledge is a consequence of experience. Therefore, any understanding of project-based learning or ability to implement it effectively must be grounded in personal experience. It is for this reason that all professional development pathways begin with day similar to a one-day Invent to Learn workshop. Subsequent workshop days will build upon personal reflections and lessons learned from the Invent to Learn experience. Flexibility and sensitivity to the specific needs of participants is paramount.
Day One – Learning Learning
Join colleagues for a day of hard fun and problem solving — where computing meets tinkering and design. The workshop begins with the case for project-based learning, making, tinkering, and engineering. Next, we will discuss strategies for effective prompt-setting. You will view examples of children engaged in complex problem solving with new game-changing technologies and identify lessons for your own classroom practice. Powerful ideas from the Reggio Emilia Approach, breakthroughs in science education, and the global maker movement combine to create rich learning experiences.
“In the future, science assessments will not assess students’ understanding of core ideas separately from their abilities to use the practices of science and engineering. They will be assessed together, showing that students not only “know” science concepts; but also that they can use their understanding to investigate the natural world through the practices of science inquiry, or solve meaningful problems through the practices of engineering design.” Next Generation Science Standards (2013)
Participants will have the chance to tinker with a range of exciting new low- and high-tech construction materials that can really amplify the potential of your students. The day culminates in the planning of a classroom project based on the TMI (Think-Make-Improve) design model.
A wide variety of technology, electronics, craft materials, and computer programming are all on the menu.
Day Two – Teaching
Day two begins with a period of reflection about the hands-on experiences the day before, focusing on teaching and project-based learning topics, including:
Reflections on previous day
- Compare and contrast with your own learning experience
- Compare and contrast with your current teaching practice
Project-based learning
- What is a project?
- Essential elements of effective PBL
Thematic curricula
- Making connections
- Meeting standards
Design technology and children’s engineering
- The case for tinkering
- Epistemological pluralism
- Learning styles
- Hands-on, minds-on
- Iterative design methodology
Teacher roles in a modern classroom
- Teacher as researcher
- Identifying the big ideas of your subject area or grade level
- Preparing learners for the “real world”
- What does real world learning look like?
- Lessons from the “Best Educational Ideas in the World”
- What we can learn from Reggio Emilia, El Sistema and the “Maker” community?
- Less Us, More Them
- Shifting agency to learners
- Creating independent learners
Classroom design to support PBL and hands-on learning
- Physical environment
- Centers, makerspaces, and Fab Labs
- Scheduling
Tools, technology, materials
- Computers as material
- Digital technology
- Programming
- Choices and options
PBL 360 models teaching practices that put teachers at the center of their own learning, just like we want for students. This in turn empowers teachers to continue to work through the logistics of changing classroom practice as they develop ongoing fluency in tools, technologies, and pedagogy. Teachers who learn what modern learning “feels” like are better able to translate this into everyday practice, supported by ongoing professional development and sound policy.
Day Three – Transformation
The third day focuses on the details and specifics of implementing and sustaining PBL in individual classrooms and collaboratively with colleagues. Participants will lead with:
Program Planning
- Curricular audit
- Standards, grade levels
- Assessment
Classroom Planning
- Planning PBL for your classroom
- Curricular projects vs. student-based inquiry
- Creating effective project prompts
Identifying Change
- The changing role of the teacher
- Shaping the PBL-supportive learning environment
- Does your school day support PBL?
- Action plan formulation
Advocacy
- Communicating a unifying vision with parents and the community
- Adjusting expectations for students, parents, community, administrators, and colleagues
- Creating alliances
- Identifying resources
Modern learning embraces a vision of students becoming part of a solution-oriented future where their talents, skills, and passions are rewarded. The changes in curriculum must therefore be matched with a change in pedagogy that supports these overarching goals. Teachers need to understand design thinking, for example, not just as a checklist, but as a new way to shape the learning environment. It is no longer acceptable to simply teach students to use digital tools that make work flow more efficient, nor will it be possible to segregate “making” and “doing” into vocational, non-college preparatory classes.
PBL 360 will help teachers create learning environments that meet these goals with professional development that is innovative, supportive, and sustainable.
Constructive Technology Workshop Materials
Although constructive technology evolves continuously, the following is the range of hardware and software that can be combined with traditional craft materials and recycled items supplied by the client. The specialized materials will be furnished by CMK Futures. Specific items may vary.
Cardboard construction
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Robotics
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eTextiles/soft circuits/wearable computers
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Computer Science, programming, and control
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Microcontroller engineering and programming
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New ways to create electrical circuits
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Electronics and Internet of Things
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Consumables
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Additional costs may be incurred for transporting supplies and for consumable materials depending on the number of participants and workshop location(s). Groups of more than 20 participants may require an additional facilitator.
Invent To Learn books may be purchased at a discount to be used in conjunction with the workshop.