Implementing PBL at Gimnasio Superior School part III

Music around the World!

How great it is to have a museum where you can see, touch, experiment and live how music started! Well, in our school we could observe all of these shows. Tenth-graders were in charge of this superb museum. The students could represent how the music was invented, starting from the decade of twenties and finishing with the glorious sixties. They tried to represent and show some special genres which were really remarkable during the corresponding decade; also they tried to display the audience some typical dances and guitarists from each decade. They prepared their presentations for weeks along with their grammar and reading teacher, they practiced their pronunciation, their body language and their dances as well. At the end, these were their presentations:

To conclude, if your students are always complaining about your classes, try to use project-based tasks; thus, they will enjoy what they are doing because it is a different way for them to learn. Finally, let me tell you that I am really proud of them because they are my beloved students!

Wilfrent Rueda Arango
Licenciado en Inglés
U. I. S.

Implementing PBL at Gimnasio Superior School part II

National History Museum

This time, ninth-graders showed their talent when representing their own cultural museum. What they did was to set a scene in which Colombia’s most important events were shown to the public. They started from the 1900’s up to date. The students tried to explain how these events changed our history: The thousand days war, the massacres in “Las Bananeras”, the Medellin Cartel, the so-called Bogotazo and some others. The sightseeing tour required hard-working rehearsals and pronunciation practice just to show to the school, how important is to know our history. Also, they could learn a foreign language in a different way when mainstreaming social studies and business subjects. Check out some photos of this museum!  

Implementing PBL at Gimnasio Superior School part I

Having fun with Dioramas!

A diorama is a 3-D miniature or life-size scene in which figures, stuffed wildlife, or other objects are arranged in a naturalistic setting against a painted background. This time, eight-graders had fun trying to create and recreate their own scenes or special thoughts. Some of them created real-life monuments; others built their favorite videogame or books scenes such as: The Statue of Liberty, a circus, Final Fantasy 13-2, Dracula, Super Mario, Don Quijote, the Taj-Mahal, Dubai, Mount Rushmore among others. Thus, their effort was bigger than they thought when doing their dioramas, but at the end their reward was greater. They could talk about their dioramas like real-pros because all of them got a great training in reading and pronunciation. However, the most important thing for them was the happiness they felt when they had the chance to show what they had built. As an example of this, check out these magnificent dioramas:

Project Based Learning at Gimnasio Superior School

PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Project Based Learning is an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.

Project Based Learning is synonymous with learning in depth. A well-designed project provokes students to encounter (and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline.
Project Based Learning teaches students 21 st century skills as well as content. These skills include communication and presentation skills, organization and time management skills, research and inquiry skills, self-assessment and reflection skills, and group participation and leadership skills.
Project Based Learning is generally done by groups of students working together toward a common goal. Performance is assessed on an individual basis, and takes into account the quality of the product produced, the depth of content understanding demonstrated, and the contributions made to the ongoing process of project realization.
Finally, Project Based Learning allows students to reflect upon their own ideas and opinions, exercise voice and choice, and make decisions that affect project outcomes and the learning process in general.
Combining these considerations, we define Project Based Learning as:

a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning essential knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.

Taken from: http://pbl-online.org/About/whatisPBL.htm

Aditionally to the previous information, you can watch a short video about PBL and how to work with it in your classes.