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Exploratory Project: Project-Based Learning!

PROJECT BASED LEARNING “ A dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge ” (Edutopia, 2019). INTRODUCTION Project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach used by teachers to increase student engagement and create meaningful connections between the classroom and the real-world. PBL is not equivalent to traditional school projects. The chart on the right emphasizes the differences between projects and project-based learning. PBL challenges students to “ work on a project over an extended period of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question ” (What is PBL?) . The project typically ends with a presentation given to an audience outside of the school community demonstrating the skills and knowledge gained. PBL helps “ students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking , creativity , and communi...
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ELL Placement

In my adolescent development class, we were assigned a weekly placement in a neighboring school. Different students in the class have different roles in each of the schools they visit. I have been paired up with a 16-year-old girl named Binsa from Nepal (note that I have changed her name for privacy and confidentiality). Binsa came to the United States in 2015 and is in the beginning levels for speaking, listening, reading, and writing English. Nepal is a Himalayan country in South Asia landlocked between China and India with the rough population of 27,474,000. The official language is Nepali and it's spoken by 44.6% of the population. Hindu is the predominant religion in Nepal with 81.3% of the population practicing. Nepal was closed to the outside world until the 1950s. It is one of the world's poorest countries with the bulk of the economy relying on tourism and aid from other countries. In April of 2015, a devastating earthquake hit, killing thousands of people, des...
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"The Unexpected Benefit of Celebrating Failure"

Video Summary: The speaker of the TED Talk on failure works for X- The Moon Shot Factory. At X, the goal is to uncover a huge problem, think of a radical solution, and then try to prove that you’re wrong. If you do the hardest parts first, it will keep you from hitting a dead end farther down the road. Discovering problems in a project sometimes puts in on a better path. For example, one team at X was working on a car that was almost in complete control and would only turn the power steering on if something went wrong. When the feedback came that this was a terrible idea, for drivers weren’t paying attention like they should have been, the team shifted their perspective and began working on a car that is in complete control. Screenshot from the video showing X’s thought process for projects Employees at X are rewarded and promoted if their idea fails in order for them to feel safe in failing. This idea stemmed from the consensus of being uncomfortable with working on risky...
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