6.9.4 Final Specific Personal Observations About Learning Through Project Based Lessons

What I have learned from lesson 6 I have learned about a project based lesson and I have found out that the most vital aspect in it is the  empowerment of the learner to do all his/her discovery work almost alone. In this respect, the teacher only unfolds the the lesson idea which is in line with the national curriculum and then guides the learners through giving them feedback. In the process of empowering the learners, it becomes clear that critical thinking is applied. On the other side, a constructionist approach to teaching becomes very easy to apply.
I have also learned that project based learning links the learners to the community in order to solve a given problem at hand. In this case, learners become vital to their community since they learn not to theoretically study and live every thing in books without applying it in the daily life. In fact even after school, the same skills obtained by the learner at school can easily be transfered to the field while at work. Project based lessons in my observation can completely wipe out the job seeking problem and instead puts in place job creators. However such a lesson requires a lot of creativity on the side of the teacher in order to wet-up the learners' appetite to research more about an unfolded topic under study by the teacher.

I have learned that the Internet is very vital in lessons which are project based. Even though the scenario to be researched about is a real problem out there in the community, learners can explore the Internet to learn more about cases like that one unfolded by the teacher. The Internet becomes a virtual laboratory where almost every thing can be found.

How what I have learned in this course might influence what I do in the classroom:
Since I have learned that a project based lesson eases my work and that it engages my learners, I will mostly use project based lessons. However from my observation, it requires a lot of time for some topics to be taught since the there are more than one step in the implementation of a project based lesson. Specifically on the side of science subjects which require a lot of observation, it goes to the whole day or more than one day to implement the lesson or to tickle the learners brain to accurately think and come up with sound solutions to a given problem at hand in the community.

The Plans that I have for implementing a project-based approach for a section of work in my curriculum.
I have a plan of lobbying my administrators at my school to fully install in our school Internet connection so that I design my lesson plans in line with the Project approach. I am planing to more often take my learners to the field so that all that is in the curriculum of Uganda is translated into what affects the community and then make my learners solve that very problem in my community.
I have plans of making my fellow teachers at my school adapt the project based approach to teaching. Although some aspects of such teaching are observed at our school in some subject and by some other teachers other than me, it is some times by accident and not by design. If they adapt to the same, I guess I will not find big resistance in its implementation.
  
  

1. I have learned that the project-based evaluation can effectively evaluate the entire learning experience of my student while following objective per objective. 
2.  I have learned that the content comprehension upon the project-based lesson by my students can easily be observed through the rubric results.  Through their presentation of the field findings in their respective groups for example, can depict that they learn how to Peer-assess themselves and make adjustments and improvements in their learning. 
3.  I have learned that the use of technology tools like Zunal at Zunal.com can help to create a Web-Quest and it guides me on how to write an introduction and lesson objectives, the learning strategy in form of a task, but the process gives chance to my students to select Web resource and materials which in turn helps them to work in line with the expectations from the designed assessment sheet/rubric.
4.  Also I have learned that project-based learning is never ending; therefore discrepancies in the whole process are inevitable. But if there are discrepancies in the WebQuest between what I intend and what actually happens during the lesson, it helps me to make appropriate revisions before the end of the lesson and what I include in here is an assessment tool/rubric so  that I get to know whether my students have achieved the learning objectives of the lesson or not. The assessment/rubric has elements for assessing each learning objective. 
5. I actually do not feel that summative assessment like a class test is still necessary once a project is complete because the level and rate of understanding and comprehension is checked both with in the WebQuest and during the study exercise since each stage of the lesson is observed as an independent component of the lesson-this even helps me and my students on how follow constructivist approach of teaching and learning through group work. 

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The Processing Phase 6.7.4

Project based teaching is one of the most interesting ways through which effective teaching and learning can take place. I have gained an insight into supporting the learning process when I learned that:
A project helps to bring reality to what is being taught. It helps to link to the community or brings the students' imagination that without them, the world would feel a pinch since no body would solve a given disturbing situation to the society. At first, students used not to have any say or could not add any voice to what was being taught and lessons turned or turn out to be boring to the learners. Projects based learning also improves constructivism through collaborative groups and promotes the 21st Century skill. It helps to fully integrate technology in teaching and best swings to the notion that 'If they can not learn the way we teach them, let us teach them the way they can learn'. Therefore all digital tools can be used when teaching or learning by both the teacher and the learners.

To be honest, I have not been using a project based method of teaching. How ever there are some elements of it which I have been using either by coincidence or by error. In this CCTI module I have experienced the Zunal.com website which helps to simplify the teaching work. It is how ever taxing when one is still learning it but after mastering it, it is one of the best ways of designing a project based lesson. The gathering phase more specifically helps to curate sites for students-just like as a parent initiates a toddler  child into the real walking exercise, when he walks then can run-it is exactly the same case that students are then advised to look for more URLS or links to explore more of a topic under study. 

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Pros and Cons of Pre-researching Resources For Learners 6.6.4

The pros and cons of pre-researching resources for learners are that:On the side of the Pros; there is critical thinking, creativity, sharing collaboration and communication not only from the teacher to his students but also from and among students themselves and among teachers as colleagues working on the project lesson. But it is almost a must to be ethical, to stay safe and manage risks in the digital world, and as well use technology to participate in educational, cultural and economic activities.

Whereas the Cons include; the fact that risk management in the digital world is quite big- as students are advised to look for more sites, they may open hoax URLS or misuse the web in for opening unbecoming media sources which leave digital footprints. Also if the students are too lazy, they may only utilize what the teacher gave them and do not look for more sources of information on the web

The advice I would you give to my learners when implementing a WebQuest if I require them to do additional research is that they should get information that is:

a)    Current with accessible URLS from the web,

b)    Credible information,

c)    Accurate/relevant information and it should be in line with the findings from the field or meet community needs.

What I have discovered is that technology simplifies teaching, helps to exchange ideas and provides more information beyond what the teacher would have had if he used analogue ways of teaching.

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6.5.4 Role play as a form of learner engagement

I have learned that role play as a form of learner engagement increases the students' level of eagerness and keenness to participate through observation. It also produces empirical evidence of a change in learner behavior since each individual at least throws a building block to knowledge through a notion of 'think as you apply'. Leaner engagement through role play requires a checklist and once it is tightly followed or revised where need be, systematic results are expected at the end of the lesson.

Role play helps to prepare quality of questions from the teacher in the task phase or at least students may pose out quality questions. This does not only help them to discover new phenomena but also replenishes the teachers' knowledge since every situation is a learning situation.

For sure I have ever engaged my learners into role play but using 'try and error' and some times doing it ineffectively due to the exorbitant number of students we teach in our class rooms. And some times the topics under study my prove to be difficult in posing the 'role play' technique when engaging learners. It can be done by simply unfolding the task and then assign each individual or small groups of individuals roles which at the end tailor as a group and come up with a new creation to the body of knowledge. 

Challenge Phase 6.4.4

There is no project without a challenge and therefore the challenge phase forms the core of the project-based learning. Learners understand most if they are challenged, more especially if they can add a voice to what is being taught to them. in this case, a teacher has to be more creative in order to meet the learners' reasoning and experience/mental processes.

The introduction phase unfolds every thing that the lesson will be about but most importantly, even if the introduction is captivating and meets the learners' level of interest and understanding, they may give out wrong answers or wrong findings in case the task set by the teacher in the challenge phase was not clear to them.
It actually feels good when you capture your students' attention, imagination and interest towards your lesson or project. It then means that you the teacher together with your students have not only contributed to the existing body of knowledge, but have also solved and existing problem which was facing the community.