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Victoria
Bushkova, Artem Piddubny
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH
With
the beginning of the Industrial Age there were considerable changes made
throughout all aspects of education. The one-room schoolhouse model was
expanded towards a pattern where students moved from teacher to teacher and
room to room. Now, once more, our society undergoes significant shifts from an
Industrial Age to an Information Age. Survival under today's economy
circumstances demands workers with strong critical-thinking, interpersonal and
foundational skills. These include teamwork and problem solving skills,
effective oral and written communications skills, highly desirable in business
communities. Our educational system searches for ways to respond efficiently to
the changing requirements of today's global industry. As most instructors know,
students learn more when they are creating their own learning means. The usual
approach of providing students with information makes most of them learn and
forget almost at once, showing gives far better results but involving into a
practical task supports understanding. This concept should be acknowledged and
implemented nationwide. Students have to master academic content standards
while engaged in technology-integrated projects which supply learning
experiences that are not usually possible within the limits of the traditional
classroom. To implement the very method, project-based learning may be used as
an instructional approach to prepare students to succeed in today's dynamic
workplaces.
Project-based
learning emphasizes learning opportunities that are interdisciplinary,
student-centred, collaborative, and integrated with real-world issues and
practices. Environments which foster academic achievement through hands-on
learning can motivate students by engaging them in their own study. Students
utilize and integrate the content of different subject areas in the production
process, instead of in isolation or in an artificial environment. Thus,
learning becomes relevant and useful as students establish connections to real
life situations. Authentic projects also help develop real-world skills.
Integrating technology with project-based learning catches and holds the
attention of students who have grown up in the digital age and rely on
computers, video games, cell phones and digital music players for their
information and entertainment.
In
project-based learning, instruction and learning both occur within the context
of a problem assignment. Just as workers would confront complicated tasks in
the workplace, in a project-based learning environment, student teams are
presented with challenging problems that focus and act as triggers for what
they have to study. The project, which could evoke multiple problems, encourages
the learning process and gives it context. Typically, projects extend over time
to act as interactive vehicles to help students acquire new, necessary knowledge
and skill sets. Rather than working on a small project for a week, projects build
upon each other and can carry over from semester to semester as they facilitate
the learning process.
Project-based
approach can be a powerful combination of several instructional theories such
as:
· Experiential learning – Experiential learning is the
process where learners actively engage in creating their own knowledge;
experience is the teacher. Students learn by doing – rather than by listening –
in a highly applied environment.
· Collaboration – As collaborative, interpersonal and
communication skills are highly valued in today's workplace, this instructional
approach immerses students in a series of increasingly difficult projects while
working in teams.
· Competency-based learning – Well-defined competencies
are critical because they determine what will be taught and how it will be
assessed, they communicate what knowledge and skills learners must attend to,
and they indicate to potential employers the concrete skills that the graduates
possess.
· Integration – Content, projects and courses are
tightly woven together. What students learn in class feeds into what they are
doing on their projects.
· Learner-centred environment – In contrast to a
traditional education, which tends to be very teacher-centric with instruction
designed around faculty interests and teaching styles, in a learner-centred
environment, student needs and learning styles drive the educational process.
Combining
all the previous academic aspects project-based learning provides:
·
Higher
conformity with workplace needs;
·
A more improved
skill set and knowledge of subject matter;
·
Ameliorated
problem-solving and critical-thinking skills;
·
Better-developed
collaborative and leadership skills;
·
Greater
student interest, motivation and empowerment;
·
A
higher faculty satisfaction.
Because
of an opportunity to confront the complex aspects of real-world projects,
students learning in this type of setting will have a more perfected understanding
of the subject matter, as well as better technical and collaborative skills.
Facing numerous sophisticated problems that students will have to work through,
their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills will be improved in
comparison with students who learn in a traditional setting.
In
conclusion, as the Information Age continues to require knowledge workers who
are capable of adapting to an ever-changing workplace, our educational system
needs to prepare students to succeed in such an environment. Project-based
learning is preparing students to succeed in the real world. It is an effective
instructional approach that can equip graduates with the necessary value and
technical skills to contribute to the workplace. Graduates who have experience
with project-based learning will not only survive at their first job – they
will thrive.
Literature:
1.
Bowerman M. Technology for All // T.H.E. JOURNAL
(Technological Horizons in Education). – 2005. – Vol. 32, # 10. – Pp.20-24.
2.
3.
Gonzales
A. H., Nelson L. M. Learner-Centered Instruction
Promotes Student Success // T.H.E. JOURNAL (Technological Horizons in
Education). – 2005. – Vol. 32, # 6. – Pp.10-15.