On Friday, March 18, the Education Committee of Berwyn C.A.R.E.S. hosted a discussion of project-based learning at a private home. We were fortunate to be joined by Daniel Ryan, founder and director of The Children’s School, and Marilyn McManus, principal of Hiawatha School and Pershing School, who offered their insights into the process of learning through purposeful activity.
Mr. Ryan gave us some background on progressive education, a philosophy of education connected with the work of John Dewey (founder of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools) and Francis Parker (founder of the Francis W. Parker School). In this philosophy, learning involves a process of inquiry, activity, and reflection. Instead of asking children to passively absorb information, as was typical of schools in the 19th century, progressive education challenged them to be actively engaged in their learning experiences, and gave them opportunities to put new skills and concepts to immediate use in the context of meaningful work. It emphasized learning by doing, intrinsic motivation, and active citizenship. Mr. Ryan explained that progressive education had some great successes through the 1920s and 1930s, but fell out of favor in part because of the demand to prepare students for factory work, which made up a large share of the job market in the 1950s.
In the economic and educational climate of the 21st century, progressive education is beginning to attract renewed interest among teachers, parents, and civic leaders. Mr. Ryan mentioned the revival of the Progressive Educators Network, a national organization which will host its annual conference in Chicago in November.
Mrs. McManus confirmed for us that a philosophy of learning by doing is by no means confined to private schools. With the new technological tools available in District 100 schools, students have been able to immerse themselves in active and collaborative learning experiences like Challenge Based Learning, a model of project-based learning developed by Apple. Teachers have been receiving professional development in Challenge Based Learning and have been implementing it in their classrooms. Mrs. McManus reported that these projects have strengthened student engagement and helped students make connections between their school learning and their daily lives outside of school.
When asked what parents could do to support Challenge Based Learning and other project-based learning in Berwyn’s schools, Mrs. McManus suggested that teachers respond to some degree to parents’ expectations, and that parent and community enthusiasm for these kinds of learning experiences could help prompt more teachers to implement them. Shelley Titzer suggested that the Berwyn C.A.R.E.S. Education Committee tackle the task of investigating and documenting Challenge Based Learning and other classroom projects centered around inquiry, investigation, and real-world problems.
One question that came up was whether students whose teachers ventured beyond textbooks and standardized lesson plans to incorporate project-based learning would be adequately prepared for state testing and able to master basic skills in reading and math. Mrs. McManus shared that some of her most creative teachers had the best results when ISAT exams were compared by classroom. Mr. Ryan affirmed that there is research on project-based learning which shows it to be correlated with an increase in students’ standardized test scores, not a decrease.
Another question was whether the terms project-based learning, inquiry-based learning and problem-based learning were interchangeable. We did not go into this question in depth at the meeting, but both Mrs. McManus and Mr. Ryan have noted that educators often use them interchangeably. The terms progressive education and constructivist education come from educational philosophy and theory; project-based learning is a teaching practice that is often, though not exclusively, associated with these theories.
One more question was whether school leaders in Berwyn would have an interest in possibly joining one of the national networks of schools that research and support models of project-based learning (examples mentioned were Expeditionary Learning and New Tech Network). Mrs. McManus thought that they would.
In terms of school connections and networks, Mr. Ryan mentioned that he is eager to establish relationships between the teachers at his private school (located in North Berwyn) and those at surrounding public schools, in the hopes that they can learn from one another. He would be glad to welcome Berwyn teachers and administrators as visitors to his school.
Throughout the evening, committee members voiced their hopes for schools that would support skills like critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and effective collaboration and communication, as well as dispositions like curiosity, independence, and self-motivation.
Our next steps will be to seek out research on classroom practices that support these skills and dispositions, and to look for examples of those practices which are currently under way in Berwyn’s schools. We would welcome the involvement of C.A.R.E.S. members and other interested community members. To join the C.A.R.E.S. Education Committee or to learn more about our work, please email Shelley Titzer or Gloria Mitchell.
Further reading on Project-Based Learning:
Edutopia
www.edutopia.org The Web site of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization which advocates for “innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students to thrive in their future education, careers and adult lives.” Project-Based Learning is one of six Core Strategies supported by the foundation’s research, and Edutopia contains a wealth of information on the implementation of PBL in diverse classrooms across the country.
The Buck Institute for Education
www.buckinstitute.org
BIE is also a nonprofit organization. Its mission is to improve 21st century teaching and learning throughout the world by creating and disseminating products, practices and knowledge for effective Project-Based Learning.
Project-Based Learning: Inspiring Middle School Students to Engage in Deep and Active Learning
http://schools.nyc.gov/documents/teachandlearn/project_basedFinal.pdf
A publication of the NYC Department of Education. One passage of special note: “English Language Learners, in particular, thrive in a project-based learning environment because projects give them the opportunity to learn with others through peer-to-peer exchange, to develop their academic vocabularies through conversation, to use their own strengths and cultural backgrounds, and to accelerate their language acquisition at the same time that they are learning about topics of interest. Project-based learning requires the production of authentic (oral and written) language from ELLs.”
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