As an adult, we find so many people and often ourselves to be ‘doing a job’. It should be more like ‘pursuing a career’. One can say, well, it pays you at the end of the day. But, the question is, will you ever be happy and satisfied ‘doing that job’ versus doing something that you are passionate about or find meaning in? This problem is not an adult problem. It is how we have been wired right from our childhood. We are not connected to the end result that our contribution brings about. We are always told – teachers, textbooks, parents, elders. We do not ‘find out’. We are not given a platform to ask questions. If we were to find out something, by asking questions, we will be in sync with our inner self – what we want to know, what we want to do.
In this context, let us first learn a little about Project Based Learning (PBL). For a project to be meaningful, first, students must perceive the work as personally meaningful, as something that really matters and they want to do a good job at it. Second, a meaningful project fulfills an educational purpose. When children encounter new and strange things happening they naturally formulate questions such as, “What’s going on? “Why is this happening?”, “What does this mean?”, “What will happen in the future?” When they decide to answer these questions, they embark on a new journey.
According to a definition, “Project-based learning” is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.”
The essential project design elements are:
- Significant Content – PBL emphasises on important knowledge and concepts. It challenges students to interact and challenge with depth and be critical about content.
- 21st-Century Skills – PBL develops critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication before and during the projects.
- In-Depth Inquiry – PBL is designed in a way that lets children dive deeper into the subject and find their own way helping them develop background knowledge to come up with creative solutions to the original problem.
- Driving Question – This helps in capturing the project focus. It highlights the major theme giving students a sense of purpose and challenge.
- Need to know – This is the kick start event to keep the students’ curiosity up and the questions going on. This can involve anything that makes the child say ‘I need to know more’.
- Student Voice & Choice – Voice & Choice allows for projects to become personally meaningful and relevant to students as they take ownership of their own learning.
- Reflection & Revision – PBL stands for high-quality output which entails several rounds of feedback and iterations.
- Public Audience – PBL recognizes the need to make the project visible and discussable. This adds to the project’s authenticity and value learners as individuals.
Life is all about learning new things, acquiring new skills, meeting with the new people, exploring new places and conquering our dreams. A right education from the right time helps to get all these essentials. It makes the learners the lifelong learners and it makes them know what they are learning and why they are learning. It enables them to make the connection of their learning with real world and above all it opens the endless opportunities in front of them.
Neeti Tripathi
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