Exploring the Possibilities of PBLs

The Day I Was Born is an interesting concept in PBLs that not only relates to the individual student, but revolves around them as well. The students are to gather information about the world on the day they were born. The final result could take many forms from a basic report, a power point presentation, simulated newspaper, and many more. The concept of "Teacher as a co-learner" is a given and allows the students a unique chance to place themselves in a teaching role. Collaboration is "encouraged" but this would only benefit the students in gathering of information and how they present it since each student would most likely have a different birthday. In the write up of this particular PBL the IT utilized seems to be mostly web based. I would encourage if not require the students to use other methods as well.



As a science teacher, one of the most obvious choices for a PBL centers on the environment. One nice thing about the environment is that you dont have to look far to find one. Global Ecosystems is the name of a current PBL in use around the nation that is not only well put together, but also very "do-able" in most classrooms. The final project is a Field Guide that the students will present in a power point fashion on the web-site itself so all the participating classrooms can view each others work. There is an artistic element with the required photography, scientific writing is necessary for the captions, and use of IT is needed to bring the project together. Each group will inevitablly end up with very different results since they are looking at different ecosystems through their own eyes. I will bookmark this project for my future use.