Challenge 20/20

http://pixabay.com/en/gear-globe-earth-world-flag-76736/

I think the two challenges that apply best to my grade level would be deforestation and water pollution. Our last PYP unit of the year is called "Waste Not, Want Not" and in this unit we discuss different resources and the different problems those resources face.  This year we had the students research the different resources and they are becoming "experts" in the topic, and are trying to come up with some "action" that relates to saving that resource.  The 4 topics we are studying are deforestation, water pollution, oil spills, and food scarcity.

I think that integrating these projects into this last unit would be great.  Since there are so many 4th grade teachers in the class we can collaborate together as well as with other schools.  We will discuss this in one of our grade level meetings and make a decision together.

The Human Slinky

I chose this picture because Ellie's pose fits perfectly as a bridge or a connector between two lands.  I thought it would be funny to use her as a human "slinky".  I think this ad would be targeted to people who are travelling or looking to expand their horizons.   The ad's message is to connect between lands and cultures, and to share new experiences, maybe it would work as a study abroad advertisement, or for a travel agency. The target audience would be people who are looking for new experiences, or to travel.  The visual enhance the message because it makes it fun, and it is different to other things you see around.

What Motivates Us?

Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation

In his TED talk, Dan Pink tells us how incentives are not always the best way to motivate people.  He mentions different examples where people display weaker performance when there is a reward.  While most of his talk is about businesses, it is not very different in a classroom setting. Teachers tend to fall into this incentive-based system.  Students do what you want them to do (and not more) and they get a ticket, or a sticker, or a brownie, or marbles... or... you get the idea.  However, they don't always get why (or what) they are doing, or what purpose it has on the greater scheme of things (like Geometry... I had some students ask why they needed to learn about acute angles if they were never going to use it).

Dan Pink says that people work better when the incentive is based on three things: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
So what are these three things that will motivate most people into working better?

Autonomy relates to independence.  They get to make the decisions
Mastery is the absolute understanding or knowledge in a subject
Purpose is knowing why you are learning something

These three things, in my opinion, relate to project based learning.  Students have the autonomy of what and how they do it.  They also decide when and where they will be getting their work done.  The students will then figure out, through trial and error, and a lot of research, what it is they need to know.  They will become "experts" on the topic.  They will also understand what the purpose is to learning this particular information, and will be able to relate it to their lives.

I will leave you with this quote, and a thought....
“People do not fail in life because they aim too high and miss. They fail in life, because they aim too low and hit.” (Unknown)


Do we aim low in life because we are just trying to do what is "needed" to get the reward?

Projects vs PBL

In these flowcharts I am showing the differences between doing "projects" vs. project based learning.  

 In a classroom where the students do "projects" the teacher lectures the students regarding a topic and their project reflects only their knowledge at the end of the unit.

In  a PBL classroom the teacher acts as a mentor or a guide and helps the students understand the topic through their own research.    The students then reflect on their learning after the project is done.


Watching the video and creating these flow charts made me  reflect on on the PYP projects we do in 4th grade, and whether they are "just projects" or if we are actually leading PBL units of inquiry.  For example, on our leader unit we first discuss what are the differences between a positive and a negative leader, and then we assign leaders for the students to research... Would it be better if we assigned the project first and then had the kids decide if their leader is positive or negative based on their findings?  Thoughts?