Activity 1: Project Based Learning

Overview
The 21st Century Skills Early Learning Framework (ELF) was developed to encourage all
teachers, (as well as providers of services to young children, administrators and
policymakers) to incorporate young learners as they develop strategies for full integration
of 21st-century skills into their programs. It covers learning and innovation skills (4Cs);
life and career skills; and information, media and technology skills.

 Critical thinking
 Creativity
 Collaboration
 Communication

Critical thinking is all about my students solving problems.

Creativity teaches my students to think outside the box.

Collaboration shows my students how to work together to achieve a common goal.

Communication lets my young students learn how to best convey their ideas.

Holy Trinity school administration advocates for the integration of 21st century skills
(along with technology literacy and social-emotional development) in early learning
experiences for the pre-K class. We desire that our students will learn to build the skills
they need not only when entering school but also in life. This agenda identifies early
childhood as the years from preschooler through kindergarten.

Many children can express their creative thoughts and feelings through many activities,
including painting, writing, drawing, sculpture, drama, dance, movement, and scientific
exploration. Creativity can be expressed in many forms such as how a child approaches a
task or a new problem.

PBL Theme and Task Goals

One way for our pre-K children to discover how to manage working together is through
project-based learning, or PBL. It is an educational process whereby students learn by
actively engaging with a complex, real-world problem or question. Project-based learning
often involves a long-term project or problem that students can work on.
Educators (and especially many of my colleagues) are painfully well acquainted with the
spectacle known as “burnout.” Some days it seems that the bulbs have gone out in our
faculty lounge and administration building. But what if, hypothetically speaking of course,
this syndrome also affected our prized students? How would they talk and act? Teachers
around our school to whom I have put this question immediately suggest such symptoms as
disengagement and apathy – or, conversely, thoughtlessness and aggression. Either tuning
out or acting out might signal that a student was burning out. In both cases, he or she
would presumably just go through the motions of learning, handing in uninspired work and
counting the minutes or days until freedom.

Of course, no sooner is this sketch of a hypothetical student begun than we recognize it as

a depiction of real life. The fact is that students act this way every day. But now let us ask
what we know from research and experience in the workplace about the cause of burnout.
The best predictor, it turns out, is not too much work, too little time, or too little
compensation. Rather, it is powerlessness – a lack of control over what one is doing.

Combine that fact with the premise that there is no minimum age for burnout, and the
conclusion that emerges is this: much of what is disturbing about students’ attitudes
and behavior may be a function of the fact that they have little to say about what
happens to them all day. They are compelled to follow someone else’s rules, study
someone else’s curriculum, and submit continually to someone else’s evaluation. The
mystery, really, is not that so many students are indifferent about what they must
do in school but that any of them are not.
Our PBL Mission
In my honest opinion, there is nothing novel about the idea that students should be able to
participate, individually and collectively, in making decisions. This conviction has long played
a role in schools designated as progressive, democratic, open, free, experimental, or
alternative; in educational philosophies called developmental, constructivist, holistic, or
learner-centered; in specific innovations such as whole-language learning, discovery-based
science, or authentic assessment; and in the daily practice of teachers whose instinct is to
treat children with respect.

But if the concept is not exactly novel, neither do we usually take the time to tease this
element out of various traditions and examine it. Why is it so important that children have
a chance to make decisions about their learning? How might this opportunity be provided
about academic matters as well as other aspects of school life? What limits on students’
right to choose are necessary, and what restrictions compromise the idea too deeply?
Finally, what barriers might account for the fact that students so rarely feel a sense of
self-determination today? A close inspection of these issues will reveal that the question
of choice is both more complex and more compelling than many educators seem to assume.
Our PBL Goal…!!
The students in our pre-K class will design their own “ULIMATE CHOICE-TIME
CURRICULUM FORMAT”.

I believe that during Free time children should be able to decide to choose where they
want to go, what they want to do, and how they want to do it. We will accommodate and
offer them the opportunity to create 6 Choice-time centers. They will know going into
the project design that when they want to leave a center, they are free to change centers.
This will limit the inevitable tension. But they will have to work together to decide which
of these 6 centers they would like to have

 Dramatic Play
 House Center
 Block Center
 Art Center
 Science Center
 Sensory Table
 Reading Center
 Writing Center
 ABC/Literacy Center
 Math Center
 Music Center
 Prop Boxes
Specific Project Teamwork Design Using 21st Century
Skills
During the development and design process for the PBL, 10 essential strategies will be
incorporated into the children’s work. The goal for us teachers is to support the delivery
of optimal 21st-century early learning experiences in school and beyond. Hey, it’s true that
if adults and school-age children can learn 24-7, so do the little ones!

Here are the ten effective 21st-century skills that will help my early learners in their
project. Each ULIMATE CHOICE-TIME CURRICULUM FORMAT CENTER in the design
process MUST BE:

1. Child-Centered

We as educators often look for occasions to focus on our student’s interests. If children
watch and show interest in a plane flying over them, take the opportunity to explore flight,
make paper planes or soar around outside pretending to be planes. Children are more likely
to engage in child-led activities and to concentrate on them than direct instruction.

2. Whole Child Focused

I plan to provide opportunities to help children develop skills beyond early language,
literacy and mathematics. I will offer feedback and encouragement on a regular basis to
reinforce skill development in essential skills, social-emotional development and foster
self-esteem.

3. Play-Based

I will encourage all types of play within the learning center environments – dramatic,
constructive, creative, physical and cooperative play.

4. Cooperative

We will provide opportunities for children to play and interact with each other (e.g.
dramatic play, puppet play, rule-based games, etc.). We can design activities where
children have opportunities to solve problems and innovate together.

5. Blended

Connect online play with hands-on play. We can provide opportunities for children to
explore and test skills online to create a more personalized experience that will allow
children to learn at their own pace. Learning is enhanced if the hands-on playful activities
are connected to what is learned online.

6. Flexible

We all need to be willing to change the plan. If the children are excited about a center
that they are planning, they must be able to explain why it would benefit the whole class
and be flexible if “their” plan doesn’t work out for the group.

7. Differentiated
I always want to “Change Things Up”. I hope to guide children to use different approaches
and to consider the learning styles of other students in the class. Some children always
need to be more active while others may prefer a calmer pace. For example, in teaching
children to count, I will have them sing out the numbers and provide materials they can
count when playing. I can also include counting as part of a story when I read to them. This
approach offers multiple options for children to absorb information.

Results and Assessments of PBL Design

 The “Finished Design” will be Evaluated Through Formative Assessment

We will observe the children as they play in their newly-designed centers. What skills have
they developed and what are they just beginning to learn? Use this ongoing feedback to
adjust activities and the learning environment to build on what they know and introduce
new concepts and content.

 Evaluate the Consistency of Learning at Play

We will create routines and expectations to help children feel secure, giving them the
confidence and freedom to explore the environment. Consistency also supports the
development of executive function skills, such as planning and organizing and self-
regulation.

 Create a Combination of Learning Domains

As educators we offer learning experiences to help children develop the 4Cs while
developing content knowledge. This intentional approach can be done while reading a story
and discussing the characters or during a science experiment through the problem-solving
experience.

References

Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Lajoie, S. P., Chan, L., Khurana, C., Lu, J., Cruz-Panesso, I., & Wiesman
J. (2013). Using online digital tools and video to support international problem-based
learning. In R. H. Sprague, Jr. (Ed.), 46thAnnual Hawaii International Conference on
System Services.
Docherty, C., Hoy, D., Topp, H., & Trinder, K. (2005). eLearning techniques supporting PBL
in clinical simulation. International Journal of Medical Informatics.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during
instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery,
problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist.

Gijbels, D., Dochy, F., Van den Bossche, P., & Segers, M. (2005). The effects of problem-
based learning: A meta-analysis from the angle of assessment. Review of Educational
Research.