Class 2 Homework: Projects - What makes them work?

[Jane Krauss]

After reading about qualities of good projects Your task was to examine projects, dig deep into a few and discuss. Please briefly describe one or several projects that interested you and answer: What makes them work?

[Barbara Forester]

After digging through a few of these projects and reading about the qualities of good projects, I would say there are some definite key elements that these projects have. At the same time, they are many different directions project-based learning can take, as one can see from the wide variety of projects on-line. The one common criteria that these projects seem to have is that they are driven by real world problems and experiences that take students out of the classroom and into the real world. The Four Rivers/One World project was more of a hands-on experience for students from five different countries to take a closer look at water pollution. The City Building Project focused on students designing a "Never Before Seen City", a project that could continue throughout the year. What impressed me about both these projects was the higher levels of critical thinking skills and problem solving skills the learner is required to use.

[Jane Krauss]

Isn't community and city a major 3rd grade topic? I can see the 'never before seen city' being a great project. Kids learning what cities need to operate would be an essential understanding (big idea).... worth thinking on... I don't sleep at night because of you people but it's so creative and fun and important I'm happy to stay up with the night owls.

[Crista Lawson]

The projects that work have a global prospective and deal with subjects that people all over the world can relate to. The kindness project on oracle dealt ways to be kind and expanded out into the community. The Big Problem Project was created by student from Canada, Thailand, and the USA. I think it is powerful for students to see that issues and concerns they have are similar to others all around the globe. Students also have a role in helping or changing the world in some way.

[Jane Krauss]

I have a bent for the global ones, too. I like the idea of the Kindness Project. Kids would have to agree on an operational definition of "kindness".
I'm thinking on your election project...

[Jamie Nicholsen]

As I explored projects online I came to the realization that no two projects are alike. They each have been created under their own big idea and the process that it has taken to get to the end has been different. Two projects that caught my attention were Time for Tolerance and Math Movies. These are two very different projects that have been created by students in a classroom, possibly sharing their ideas, collaborating, and developing a project with other students through the internet. There are many qualities that the process of these projects share.

[Jane Krauss]

I like how you are able to look through a project and imagine it--- "two very different projects that have been created by students in a classroom, possibly sharing their ideas, collaborating, and developing a project with other students through the internet." -- picturing a project is essential to adopting/adapting/successfully executing a project.

[DJ Ellis]

Homesteading to Mars is a good quality project for students to do. I can image students being very engaged and excited to work on this activity. This is a great pbl because it integrates many subjects into one topic such as defining what makes a community and what is necessary for life. Students will need to work as a team to complete the task and be creative. They also will need to present their proposal in the form of a multimedia scrapbook, which will be very visual and personal. My only suggestion about this project would be to not just limit the class to research one planet; in fact I would assign each group in the class a particular planet. Then the presentations would all be different plus students will learn something new about each planet in our solar system.


The Marble roll project is another exciting activity for students to do. I can see students getting very excited about having their marble travel the farthest. This project has the competitive element, which sparks student interest. I do like the idea of students sending their data to a central website to be able to compare data easily because they can see how other groups are doing. It also continues to fuel the competition. I do think this project has lots of potential however, there will need to be some clear expectations of how students are to work with each other and stay on task.

[Jane Krauss]

Re: ...there will need to be some clear expectations of how students are to work with each other and stay on task. YEP! You'd have to predict how the class management should go-- knowing your kids, their cooperative learning experiences, etc-- it's very contextual.

[Sarah B. Jones]

I examined the "Uncommercial" and the "Water Pollution Project".
I was very interested in these projects and felt they could be used or adapted to fit into the curriculum I teach. There are many things they had in common that I believe are qualities of good projects.

- They stressed issues that lead students to in-depth exploration of topics.
In the "Uncommercial", students were able to choose a social issue of concern. In the "Water Pollution Project", students were able to study water issues related to the area around them and compare those issues to another place. They used collaboration to come up with solutions for the issues.

- They required the use of essential tools and skills, including technology, for learning, self management, and project management.
Both groups integrated several forms of technology into their projects. Also both had rubrics in place that guided student work to foster self management and project management.

- Both encouraged collaboration through large or small group student-led presentations and class project result evaluations.
Collaboration was essential to both groups and both groups incorporated a presentation-like style of sharing information and discussing planning.

- Most importantly, both groups studied real world problems that made their work meaningful.

I think the trick to all this pbl is to find a way to manipulate the curriculum into a project that is meaningful and is a real world problem today.

[Jane Krauss]

On your last note, I'd consider both local and universal. Communities worldwide struggle with water quality, resource scarcity, affordable housing, health care, inequality among different classes or races of people... the list is endless-- and universal (nice opp to address global citizenship)

[Jane Krauss]

Do you do Land and Water, the STC science kit? I'm always surprised this good kit doesn't do more with pollution. I think your studies of water quality (local, global) could be very interesting and globally collaborative. Where is the best water in the world? (ala Mingling at the Monster's Ball kids would have to define "best" (with help))

[Susan]

I used your del.icio.us website and looked up your websites about digital storytelling. This has so many sites to visit.....my goal when I'm planning my project is to promote creativity with real world experiences of using digital tools. There will be collaborating with their peers and teachers to problem solve as they develop their own story to share.