pert-Gawron
Heather Wolpert-Gawron is an award-winning middle school teacher. She has authored workbooks on teaching Internet Literacy, Project Based Writing, and Nonfiction Reading Strategies for the Common Core. She is the author of ˜Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers and Writing Behind Every Door: Teaching Common Core Writing Across the Content Areas. Heather blogs for The George Lucas Educational Foundation's Edutopia.org as well as her own www.tweenteacher.com:
I get asked this question often by nervous teachers with wonderful intentions. And here's how I respond: Don't worry about it. Are you basing your units on the following:
Bringing outside expertise into the classroom?
21st Century Methods of Communication?
Subject Matter Integration?
Then most likely, you can make the argument that you are doing any of 'em. Do your units tell a story where students role play (engineer, architect, board member, etc...) to give them a framework of how to pitch a final product? Do your units combine oral presentation, writing, creating, technology, and literacy?
Project-based, Problem-based, Inquiry-based. These all encompass the above elements. So for that reason I say that teachers shouldn't get too hung up on the terms and instead focus on rich practice that reaches so many different levels of learners.
So everyone take a breath and don't get too concerned about the nomenclature. If you're utilizing these elements, you're teaching with passion, you're teaching with engagement, and you're teaching with rigor.
Response From Ron Berger
Ron Berger, Chief Academic Officer for Expeditionary Learning, taught public school for more than twenty-five years. He is the author of An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students and a co-author of Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools through Student-Engaged Assessment and Transformational Literacy: Making the Common Core Shift with Work That Matters:
What are the differences between project-based, problem-based and inquiry learning?
This is a great question, and a difficult one! These practices share a lot of characteristics, but also have many nuanced differences. I'll do my best to tease out those distinctions here.
The most important thing about these three models of instruction is what they share: they all put students in a leadership role in pursuing learning, and they all require students to grapple with challenges and formulate ideas or solutions. As for what distinguishes each model, there is not a simple answer. Definitions for each model vary and the models overlap in many ways. While proponents for any particular model tend to use tight definitions to describe it, as a whole the terms are often used loosely--and even interchangeably--in general educational settings.
Inquiry learning is the broadest term and project- and problem-based learning are both subsets. Inquiry learning includes all instructional strategies that compel students to explore materials and concepts. This approach is found, for example, in the pre-school model of the Reggio Emilia Schools; in the elementary school technique of Guided Discovery, framed by the Responsive Classroom model; by the Montessori model; and by a wide range of art and science programs that use discovery and experimentation to encourage students to develop ideas, techniques, and hypotheses. Discrete practices such as Socratic Seminars that involve students in leading inquiry-based discussions are also often seen as part of inquiry learning. You can see high school students leading an inquiry-based discussion protocol very capably here.
Problem-based and Project-based learning are terms that are often used interchangeably. There is not universal agreement on how they may be distinct, but those who distinguish them tend to cite these differences:
- Real World Connection
- Project-based learning is typically used for real world-connected projects for authentic audiences (e.g., students interview local civil rights heroes and publish a book to honor their stories; students create