Project-Based Learning in an Information Technology Environment- by David Moursund

This article is about project-based learning in the classroom and how to incorporate information technology in order to increase its value in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  The author highlights nine different characteristics that are required to successfully use a project-based learning assignment that incorporates information technology: 1) They are learner-centered 2) They have authentic content and purpose 3) They are challenging 4) They involve the design and development of a product, presentation, or performance 5) They require collaboration and cooperative learning 6) They allow incremental and continual improvement 7) They are teacher-facilitated 8) They have explicit educational goals, and 9) They are rooted in constructivism.  It is not necessary to have every single one of these characteristics for every project, but they are certainly a good starting point for any successful IT-assisted project-based learning lesson.  It is very important that PBL be very learner centered.  That means that students should have some liberty when choosing a topic, and they should also be able to shape their projects to fit their own interests and abilities.  I feel that learner centered lessons is the most important characteristic out of the nine.  My next favorite characteristic is that the projects should be challenging.  If a project requires a large chunk of time to finish, possibly an entire semester or year, then it requires students to learn how to manage their time and schedules properly in order to finish the project on time.

Q1:  As a history teacher, how might I use some of these characteristics when using PBL?

A1:  I know that I will be using a lot of PBL activities in my classroom.  It is important that I keep them very learner-centered in order to keep students interested and motivated to work on them.  Also, I will try to explicitly link these projects directly to historical issues and problems.

Q2:  Which one of these characteristics is most important to a history class?

A2:  I think that characteristic #2 is the most important for a history class.  It states that, "Many projects focus on authentic, difficult, and current real-world problems, such as environmental or social problems.  The purpose of the project is to help solve such problems, which are complex and have no simple solutions.  This sort of project requires students to do research that draws from many sources of information.  Such sources may be complex and contain contradictory pieces of information.  Many projects require empirical research."  As a history teacher, it will be my goal to get students to think outside of the box when it comes to answering questions about current real-world problems as well as those from the past.  One thing that I am going to do in my classes is have my students regularly report on current events and relate those current events to something similar in the past.

"Us" and "Them":  Multimedia Explorations of Prejudice and Intolerance in American History - by Ilana Rembelinsky

First of all, this article is quite similar to many of the articles I have explored so far this semester regarding technology in the history/social science classroom.  It is very rich in the use of technology as a tool to create new and innovative ways to teach history.  The project allows students to study and explore primary sources using technology in ways not possible without access to multiple technological tools.  The project consists of reading stories of prejudice and intolerance from the SPLC's Us and Them.  Work on the project includes scanning images, using video cameras, word processors, and more.  As a future history teacher, I would love to be able to incorporate projects similar to this into my curriculum.

Q1:  How realistic is actually being able to do something like this when I become a teacher?

A1:  Not very likely at all.  Unfortunately, most school districts across the nation these days are suffering from the the current economic recession.  In the first couple of paragraphs the author states that "... Without this day to focus entirely on developing a new technology rich project, without the structure the district provided for its development, and without the extra quiet time to think about the day-to-day organization of 30 kids on five computers, this project would not have been possible."  The problem is that most school districts are not providing structure for developing new technology.

Q2:  What can I take from this article?

A2:  Even though the reality of having "one Mac PowerBook 520 and one PowerMac5300 with Apple VideoPlayer software... one Performa 580, one LCIII, one Mac Classic, and one black and white Apple OneScanner" is not very likely, there is still a lot of useful information I can pull from this article.  For example, creating first person narratives of the people who experienced the events discussed in primary sources can be a very useful way to teach history.