This is the first blog in a series of short blogs about how Project Based Learning is working in our classrooms.
As our journey into the world of Project Based Learning is progressing, we are observing an increase in student confidence! There was a noticeable shift in confidence from the PBL presentations in Term 2 when comparing them to those in Term 1. The increase in confidence has not been limited to presentations; it has also been noticeable in students' day to day communication with teachers and peers.
The first example involves two boys in Belinda's class who I taught two years ago in Year 3. Both boys were shy and reluctant to talk, one who found it difficult to reply to their name when the roll was marked. Early in Term 3 I had separate unprompted discussions with them about their Space Junk task. My question to them was, 'What's your plan?'. They were more than happy to share their understandings, any new information they had and how they planned to present their learning's. Their confidence in their learning has made a huge improvement after only two terms of Project Based Learning.
The second example is a breakthrough that has been months in the making. A student in my class has had a very fixed mindset in regards to his learning over the last term and a bit. This morning in Genius Hour (students have 1hr a week to work on their own project) the student presented with great pride a floor plan of his dream house. The audience was intrigued and asked questions in which he was able to answer confidently. He even had a private aeroplane parked out the front. The rest of the day has seen him complete all tasks that were required of him with great enthusiasm.
I am not sure exactly what the effect size is for PBL and student confidence according to Hattie's Visible Learning, but prior achievement ranks 14th with an effect size of 0.67. If we as teachers give students a chance at succeeding, they will succeed, they will grow in confidence and they will enjoy learning. Through PBL students are engaged with other students and it exposes them to new skills that improves their communication ability.
Nathan