But there's been a distinction drawn by some researchers between project-based
learning and problem-based learning (e.g., Blumenfeld et al., 1991). Projects
have as their aim the production of some public artifact that has an audience
that links the classroom to some activity setting outside it. Done
successfully, projects have the potential to transform relationships in
several
ways. For example, for teachers, doing a project and having student work
displayed either in the school or at some public event is a political event
within schools, in some cases bringing some extra cache or prestige to the
teacher who shares student work with a broader audience or (where support is
not so strong) signifies risk and resistance to a prevailing school culture.
Students, for their part, may construct the activity in different ways than
they typically do in school, not as an 'assignment' but as something else
altogether.
In this connection, it's so important to recognize the importance of both
_audience_ (as constructed by participants in the classroom) and the
connection
to communities of practice outside the immediate school setting. When the
audiences for student work are expanded, and when the projects enable
relations
to expand beyond the school, there's much more potential for project-based
learning to have powerful effects on teaching and learning practice.
Bill
Reference:
Blumenfeld, P.C., Soloway, E., Marx, R.W., Krajcik, J.S., Guzdial, M., &
Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing,
supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26 (3 & 4), 369-398.
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Bill Penuel, PhD
Research Social Scientist
Center for Technology in Learning
SRI International
333 Ravenswood Avenue, Mailstop BS116
Menlo Park, CA 94025
tel: 650-859-5001
fax: 650-859-4605
Check out our websites at:
http://www.cilt.org
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