After the Project

If you want to improve in some domain and grow your skills, it is critical to take time to reflect after you've attempted something significant.  Project-based learning is no different.  After a project, students, teachers, and other stakeholders need opportunities to debrief and reflect on what has been learned and accomplished.  As part of planning my own PBL unit, I've spent some time considering what will happen after the unit to make sure the learning, for everyone involved, continues.

Through some contacts in my district, I'm working on arrangements for a working engineer to attend the final presentations students will deliver.  I'm hoping that once the presentations are complete, the engineer will be willing to take some time to share with my students their perspective on how the project compares or contrasts with the actual work of an engineer.  With luck, they'll even be brave enough to field some questions from my students.  I've attempted to model the project on the process a professional engineer will follow and have made frequent references to that when I've done less rigorous design challenges in the past, but my voice carries limited weight.  It will make a much more significant impression if someone actually working in the field delivers that message.

I also want students to reflect a bit on their own contributions and learning during the project.  For each unit, I provide students with a list of the learning targets that includes space for them to self-assess their understanding, both at the beginning and the end of a unit.  After the final presentations are complete, students can revisit their learning target checklist to complete the after ratings and see the improvements they have made.

I also have a goal this year to start each term with a discussion of what makes a good lab group member.  My intention is to use the results of the discussion to create a rubric for collaboration that my students and I can periodically revisit.  Right after a PBL unit seems like a perfect time to use such a rubric.  I plan to have students evaluate themselves, and each of their group members after the final presentations.

Finally, I need to consider how I will gather the data I need to continue refining the unit.  I'll be keeping notes of my observations during the project as a reference for myself.  I also developed a survey I 'll have my students complete in order to give me some feedback.   These should provide me with some good information for me to reflect on the project and determine what revisions need to happen.

My involvement with the EngrTEAMS project will give me some additional sources of data, at least during this first year of the project.  The researchers involved have developed a pre- and post-surveys designed to examine student attitudes and understandings of the engineering process.  I'll have access to my students' results, which should help me identify areas for improvement.  In addition, one of the researchers involved in the project has been working with me as an instructional coach.  As part of that, she will be observing my classroom during the project and will meet with me to support my reflection.

One of the powerful aspects of PBL is that the learning doesn't stop when the project does.  If done right, the endpoint of the project will provide a point for the students and teacher alike to reflect on their learning and identify areas for future growth.