Example PBL's Log

1) Operation: “Redo the Zoo” PBL for 5th & 6th grades PBL EXAMPLE ONE
This PBL is all about the Zoo, at the beginning of the unit students take a trip to the zoo. By the end of the unit students will be able to make their own zoo, or "redo the zoo". By taking a tour and walking around the zoo students will be able to see what aspects of the zoo that they like, and which aspects they do not like. This PBL allows students to show their creative side. Their final project will be in form of a visual display board and a written proposal. Students will show reasoning and proof through calculations, conjectures, and also journals which they will be keeping.

The students will be broken up into groups, where each group member gets a different position. Such as one person is the zoologist and one is the builder. Each member of the group will work together to create a new zoo. After fifteen days of working together and also mini lessons, students will comprise a final project and present it to the class.

Adopt-A-Lot Problem Based Learning PBL EXAMPLE TWO

This example is about students adopting a lot or park because it relates to the students interests. This PBL allows the students to sort of become involved with their community. The students will be divided into groups of four to five randomly. However, each student does not have their own role. The students were given a problem were they were design a park on a given budget. When the ran out of their budget they had to come up with ways that they could fund raise the extra money in which they needed.


2) Strengths and Weakness's of This Activity
I have learned a lot about PBL's through this activity. This activity really strengthened my knowledge on the subject. By actually being able to see two different examples I could sort of see which example was a better one. I learned that with a PBL you must be extremely detail orientated. In a PBL you want to make sure that you include everything that is needed and more. I also learned that the rational should help you learn what the whole PBL is going to be about. I'm really glad that we were given the opportunity to do this blogging about PBL's before we started our own PBL's. I now know what we are going to be completing, how detailed we have to be, and what we need to do to get it done.

3) Compare and Contrast the Two PBL's

These two PBLs are very different from each other. The first PBL is very organized, has pictures, great descriptions, and also a ton of extra information such as many student pages, teacher pages, and resources. The second PBL has the main information, however it is lacking the extra information that really make the first PBL great. The PBL on "redo a zoo" also seems that it would be a lot more interesting to students. In this PBL students get to travel to a Zoo, which can be very exciting for some students. The PBL's are different because the first example seems to show more student involvement and inquiry.

4) Critique the strengths and weakness's
I really enjoyed the first PBL because it pointed out very thoroughly how each of the process standards were going to be shown throughout the lesson. In the second PBL they did not explain at all how they were going to incorporate each process standard. For example in the first PBL, "A connection is made to the area of language arts when students write in their journals and give their oral presentations at the end of the project." They stated how they were going to show connections through other subjects. They also showed how they were going to show connections with other subjects later in the PBL. However in the 2nd example, they only showed it in the end. Another strength of the first PBL is their student pages. These student pages seem perfect for a 6th grade student. They have a good amount of pictures to get the students involved, but also the information learned on the student pages is very beneficial. One thing that I really liked about the 2nd example was that they had well thought out guided questions for each day of their daily schedule. For example a question was "Are you frequently reviewing your budget?". This is an example of many of their questions that all seem to be about keeping the students on track with the PBL. Another strength of the first PBL example was that their rationale and brief description of their PBL. This let me know exactly what there lessons and what there overall unit was going to be. However, with the second example of the PBL I was left confused after reading their rationale and had to continue reading the rest of the PBL before I understood what they were trying to do. In the first PBL each student had their own role "The students will have the opportunity to choose from the following roles: architect, zoologist, horticulturalist, builder, and an accountant", however in the 2nd PBL example the student were not any specific position.

5) Is math the main focus? 1st PBL example
At first for the first PBL example I was not quite sure on how they were going to relate building a zoo back to 6th grade math. However, when I continued to read the PBL I realized that it had a lot to do with math. Through this PBL students are going to be doing numbering and operations, geometry, measurement and algebra. Through this they will be using prior knowledge and will gain a lot of new knowledge, For example, by the end of this unit students will be able to calculate percentages when computing a budget. The level of math that is expected through their objectives and the new knowledge that they will gain directly correlates with the Illinois state standards that they listed.

Is math the main focus?2nd PBL example
This example does have to do with math. The students will need to budget their money. However, in this PBL example the way math is related is not as clear as it was in the first. In the first example they stated numerous times how math was to be incorporated however I did not really see that much in this example. They did have math objectives where it said things that students would be learning such as proportions, budgeting, and graphing.

6) Assessment - 1st PBL example
Throughout the entire unit there will be multiple assessments. There will be informal assessments consisting of journals and also observation. There will also be a formal assessment through quiz's throughout the unit. The final assessment will be on a portfolio that they make and also through a final presentation. I find these ways of assessment very beneficial. Some students work better with formal assessment and other work better with informal assessments, this gives students equal opportunities of both types throughout the unit. The actual assessment part of the PBL however did not address specifically how they were going to asses the students involving math. Throughout the PBL you could clearly see how the math was going to be assessed.


Assessment - 2nd PBL example
This example did a really good job with their assessment. There were examples of informal assessments; journals, student teacher conferences, and direct observation. There were also formal assessments such as a written proposal, notes, and a fund raising plan. There is also a assessment on a portfolio in which they will complete. One thing that that really stuck out was their rubric for the portfolio, these rubrics were extremely detailed which would really benefit the students. Even though the math assesment was not clearly explained in the assessment portion of the PBL, throughout the entire lesson you could see where and what math topics were being assessed.