As a teacher, I've seen the remarkable impact of PBL on my fourth-grade students. PBL harnesses their innate curiosity and enthusiasm for exploration. It's like giving them the keys to a world of knowledge, where they tackle real-life challenges, collaborate, and solve problems. Watching them work together, conduct research, and apply their learning to tangible projects is incredibly rewarding. It's more than academic growth; it's about nurturing their self-confidence and instilling a lifelong love for learning. PBL equips my fourth graders who are also English as a second language learners, with essential skills and a sense of achievement that sets them on a great path into middle school. Especially with the new digital aspects we can add to our projects.
I love and agree with this so hard. The way I got into programming wasn't by finding a site to just show me how to code, but I had a goal in mind that required using programming. I learned SO MUCH from that experience and it unlocked a whole new level of learning from there on out, project after project. Excellent video!
This method works in the business world because there's an incentive of pay and career advancement. It doesn't work in high school because most students don't care about getting A's. Plus the project grade is shared, so the only student that actually cares about their grades does all the work.
This could be true of any class in school, IMO, and this applied technique has a better chance of engaging otherwise disinterested teenagers than a paper test. Beyond just trying to get every kid engaged, though, I think we should more conscientiously sort students by competency and engagement. And IMO, this will involve necessarily make a lot of school much more optional.
Not all projects have to be group-based. In fact, you want your students to create their own solo projects to learn how to come up with ideas, plan for them, and execute them. Group projects are best for learning to cooperate and for students to bring their different abilities and skills together. When students are given the freedom to create personal projects within the subject, they tend to care more about them than non-personal ones. This tends to be a much better approach since not all students will care about getting an A grade; certain students do, but not all.
Damn you guys are right, in High School I made elaborate presentations and rehearsed a lot for my projects. Now that I've graduated, I am confident i can have a good discussion with a professional in regards to certain topics because of what I've retained from analysis, research and presentation. (I've even bantered with a Historian talking about Julius Caesar and tiny details about his battles, including terrain.) But when if I were to be asked if I remember topics learnt through sheer classwork, I wouldn't be able to name even 1. My favourite being among Greek History and Julius Caesar, I can recite their histories off by heart and enthusiastically. But even for topics I'm not interested in like other histories, finance, law etc. I can still talk about with a smile as long as I've done presentation projects for them, which my teacher made us do a lot which I'm thankful now because it makes me seem sophisticated and educated to other people lmao. Now I'm considering making presentations for fun, and uploading them for youtube just for the sake of learning new things and retaining them as easily as I did with presentations in high school.
Learning through projects is the key to success. In society, people are often told exactly what to do, but not where to go. This is how dreams and opportunities fail, and people are left with resentment, only to pass it on to their kids. We are put through so much stress and pressure to fit in and be a picture perfect student based off of what the schools want. We learn common core, English, Science, history, Social studies, and other subjects without having a purpose for it other than copying and pasting answers. When we don’t know where to go, school just turns into clay scooping. There is no inner blueprint or framework that we have to follow in spite of being given the tools. We eventually become burned out, and we lose the enthusiasm to learn more. When we set a creative goal or big picture idea, it is more rewarding. It becomes muscle memory, and we actually want to learn more rather than just learning to get by and giving someone else what they want rather than what we want.
Definitely a better path than sitting and listening, but it's not flawless. Kids of young age, namely before 5th grade, are hardly responsible about school projects, treating it as either free-time or claiming they don't have enough skills to give a significant contribution. They are still in development of their super-ego after all. Sit and listen is just more comfortable to every-day teach because all children are constantly on the same path and have a clear guideline to follow. Group projects are a peak of learning, but require extra motivation and efforts from both children and especially teacher, which is draining on a day to day basis.
There was just a conference in New Hampshire some Co-workers of mine went to for professional development that covered this in depth, by having the teachers perform project based learning task themselves and using the experience to inform their teaching. As a teacher this is honestly my favorite method, but it is often hampered by time, class size, and online constraints. Of course we find ways around these things, I had a French Revolution themed "escape room" last year where students had to piece together clues to figure out the causes and consequences of the revolution, including a basked of decapitated ping pong balls, but it took a long time to design and implement. A central data base of such projects with clear lesson plans on how to adapt them to different classroom room environments I feel would go a long way to improving day to day instruction, especially for newer teachers.
This is my the maker movement is so popular, as is STEAM education programs. They all mix learning theory with hands on experience. It engages the mind and body, and as one additional thing I remember from primary school was never being able to sit still (still an problem), projects stop the fidget and restlessness I experienced in a traditional classroom environment.
I had a lot of anxiety starting in kindergarten probably owing to moving to a new school district a short while after starting. Projects, working with other children, terrified me. That being said, in my personal life I learn more by doing. Except chess.
Yes, chess requires quite a lot of theory too, because for a sport like chess it would become impractical to try to understand all the concepts that have developed in about 2000 or so years of this game being played by different generations... Not to say theory is the most important thing in chess, as Magnus himself once said, just play more games to get better.... Trying out different things also has its fair share in helping to learn chess as it tells what practically works and what doesn't
I agree. I struggle to learn when being forced to try and take in too much info in a "boring" way. I also struggle to retain info that I haven't discovered myself or that doesn't have a clear use. I do believe that would help a lot, it would help lots of kids be able to understand what they're being told and why
Much of what I have learned was from doing often failing but often taking on projects that were just beyond my skill. Also why, ie if you’re teaching computers show what is inside. I’m planning to teach our grandkids much by doing
Excellent video as always Sprouts! PBL also serves an important role in my field of workplace learning as adults often appreciate the greater emphasis on applying what their learning rather than merely absorbing information passively. For related topics to PBL, I encourage viewers to also look into self-determination theory, Malcolm Knowles' andragogy, and situated learning/communities of practice, as these concepts have been invaluable to my work. In fact, Sprouts has already made other fantastic videos exploring these very topics!
This is a good learning style, as some people learn kinesthetically, but for introverts or people with social anxiety, they may be too nervous to actually attempt to engage their other teammates, would want to work independently, or could just hand it over to somebody with more "leadership" capabilities.
please make a video about 21st century education 1.way of thinking 1.1 critical thinking 1.2 creative thinking 2. way of working 2.1 communication 2.2 collaboration 3.way of working 3.1 ICT literacy 3.2 information literacy
no wonder I hated school,,, and church.. at age 75 I find the more and longer I sit, it becomes harder, to get moving again. The more I move during the day the better I feel at the end. working as a laborer in construction I learn everything starts with the foundation!
I still struggle use project based learning in programming, by create project, but every got stuck my "perfectionism" side always like blame me because i'm not learn the theory first, what should i do to migrate from conventional with learning theory first then build project into learn by straight to build project?
Maybe you are correct. But how could it be possible for PBL in learning Mathematical theorems, literature and some other subjects where theory is the basic learning objective. I recommend PBL but it could not be possible to learn everything through PBL.
Back in school, there were a few kids that were allowed to play video games and all of them spoke better English than I. They learned it because they had to in order to progress. I think math and reading is possible to teach that way once the two become tools to achieve something greater.
Wonderful method, thought 18 minutes construction time would be too short time because students would be really enthusiastic in defending their discussion...would love to try this method.
For me, I could never really focus in or be bothered to do the learning needed for a topic unless its related to a project or something practical, like life skills. But if there was a tangible purpose to the acquisition of some knowledge I could easily spend lots of time diving into the books.
I think the original premise is fallacious. I don't remember learning to read, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an important part of my education. It was probably the greatest milestone.
I know project-based learning is my favorite approach personally, however I still think learning theory is always important. Sometimes, when working on a software, you can fail and never find the solution. While you can ask amenable fellows for help, you shouldn't expect any answer. A project-based environment that, when you fail, forces you to turn to theory, though, might be better suited for the retention of that knowledge, forcing you to analyze what it brought to the table, pros and cons?
I literally did the spaghetti/marshmallow thing in 4th grade gifted class some 30 years ago, and yes, I do remember it vividly. We used gumdrops instead of marshmallows, though. And no tape. Tape is for the weak.
It's sad that the amount of these decreases as the grade level goes up. Projects, field trips, science experiments, engaging demonstrations, opportunities for self-individual achievement*, free experimentation, class games, and group projects are all much better ways to learn anything than bucking up, shutting up, and trying not to fall asleep to someone showing you something that you may barely understand, and likely not need in your life moving forward. (Espically in higher grades. They need project based learning as much as the lower grades do.) *the opportunities students have to work twords on something they are passionate about, and potentially get an unexpected reward.
didactic learning vs project learning: lecture and listening to teacher speak vs students sort themselves into groups and given a complex problem to solve. knowledge easily forgotten vs knowledge easily remembered. no communication no creativity vs communication and creativity required to succeed. no failure no pain vs learning the right way to fail and deal with pain of failure
This is very interesting video, exactly focus on pros indicating or giving about cons of both. However, the animations are too dynamic which sometimes distract the viewer from actual content. It is too much information and increase the cognitive workload which eventually makes it difficult to understand sometimes. An optimal animation....like removing the coloring or only having coloring pattern would help....anyways overall great video. Just wanted to give feedback because the content of your videos is super awesome!!
I'm a big fan of project-based learning, and it's a significant part of my course. However, I disagree with the paradigm in the video. The has to be some type of lecture content in order for students to understand the context of what they are doing / did. This is why use a flipped classroom model, in which the students watch my lectures in place of homework, and we spend class time doing hands-on activities.
In the age of internet and AI, students can do the extensive reading and the research by themselves. Schools are meant to give students the motivation to learn, the safety space to apply what they learn, and the chance to socialize with many types of people. 💫
@@braincuriosities a mind map is a technique used to understand, memorize and encode information. It’s a physical form of how your brain views information
Well it depends upon what kind of worker you want you come out on the other side. If would be great if we wanted smart independent workers, but most employers would like something workable and mid-range and cheap.
Project Based Learning (PBL) method is quite correct approach for active learning. However, there is an essential missing component. In addition to PBL, practical exposure to the real business world is equally vital. It is very important to blend theoretical education with practical education. After spending time around 18 years theoretical education, I find myself lacking practical abilities for the real business world. This experience feels like a significant waste of time.
You have ignored many of the negative issues in PBL. The major one is that students typically reinvent the wheel, badly. Smart people learn from others mistakes.
The both are fragile. The conventional way mass-produces people who only memorize. PBL works fine only when team members are fine. In the end, I have learned most of skills from off-school trial and error alone.
Too bad schools i've been to cancel class projects every time so now everyone likes to talk too much but is also anti-social due to never being used to team work.
As a teacher, I've seen the remarkable impact of PBL on my fourth-grade students. PBL harnesses their innate curiosity and enthusiasm for exploration. It's like giving them the keys to a world of knowledge, where they tackle real-life challenges, collaborate, and solve problems. Watching them work together, conduct research, and apply their learning to tangible projects is incredibly rewarding. It's more than academic growth; it's about nurturing their self-confidence and instilling a lifelong love for learning. PBL equips my fourth graders who are also English as a second language learners, with essential skills and a sense of achievement that sets them on a great path into middle school. Especially with the new digital aspects we can add to our projects.
@mitchellsmith it will be very kind of you if you could share some project ideas with us which really excite your students.
I love and agree with this so hard. The way I got into programming wasn't by finding a site to just show me how to code, but I had a goal in mind that required using programming. I learned SO MUCH from that experience and it unlocked a whole new level of learning from there on out, project after project.
Excellent video!
Thank you, Daniel! Keep learning, you're doing great :)
Same! I tried the CS50 python course but got bored half through. This year I joined a robotics team and helped code most of the robot.
This method works in the business world because there's an incentive of pay and career advancement. It doesn't work in high school because most students don't care about getting A's. Plus the project grade is shared, so the only student that actually cares about their grades does all the work.
This could be true of any class in school, IMO, and this applied technique has a better chance of engaging otherwise disinterested teenagers than a paper test. Beyond just trying to get every kid engaged, though, I think we should more conscientiously sort students by competency and engagement. And IMO, this will involve necessarily make a lot of school much more optional.
Not all projects have to be group-based. In fact, you want your students to create their own solo projects to learn how to come up with ideas, plan for them, and execute them. Group projects are best for learning to cooperate and for students to bring their different abilities and skills together. When students are given the freedom to create personal projects within the subject, they tend to care more about them than non-personal ones. This tends to be a much better approach since not all students will care about getting an A grade; certain students do, but not all.
What imo? Short named of what?@@bvoyelr
What imo? Short named of what?@@bvoyelr
Damn you guys are right, in High School I made elaborate presentations and rehearsed a lot for my projects. Now that I've graduated, I am confident i can have a good discussion with a professional in regards to certain topics because of what I've retained from analysis, research and presentation. (I've even bantered with a Historian talking about Julius Caesar and tiny details about his battles, including terrain.) But when if I were to be asked if I remember topics learnt through sheer classwork, I wouldn't be able to name even 1.
My favourite being among Greek History and Julius Caesar, I can recite their histories off by heart and enthusiastically. But even for topics I'm not interested in like other histories, finance, law etc. I can still talk about with a smile as long as I've done presentation projects for them, which my teacher made us do a lot which I'm thankful now because it makes me seem sophisticated and educated to other people lmao.
Now I'm considering making presentations for fun, and uploading them for youtube just for the sake of learning new things and retaining them as easily as I did with presentations in high school.
Learning by doing is the best! It gives an insight to why something is useful too
Absolutely!
Learning through projects is the key to success. In society, people are often told exactly what to do, but not where to go. This is how dreams and opportunities fail, and people are left with resentment, only to pass it on to their kids. We are put through so much stress and pressure to fit in and be a picture perfect student based off of what the schools want. We learn common core, English, Science, history, Social studies, and other subjects without having a purpose for it other than copying and pasting answers. When we don’t know where to go, school just turns into clay scooping. There is no inner blueprint or framework that we have to follow in spite of being given the tools. We eventually become burned out, and we lose the enthusiasm to learn more.
When we set a creative goal or big picture idea, it is more rewarding. It becomes muscle memory, and we actually want to learn more rather than just learning to get by and giving someone else what they want rather than what we want.
"They learn to learn . . "
The most important thing we can give our children!
Exactly!
If public schools does PBL, the educational path for our children Will be smooth sailing
China just implemented that 2022 at all public schools nationwide.
Definitely a better path than sitting and listening, but it's not flawless.
Kids of young age, namely before 5th grade, are hardly responsible about school projects, treating it as either free-time or claiming they don't have enough skills to give a significant contribution. They are still in development of their super-ego after all.
Sit and listen is just more comfortable to every-day teach because all children are constantly on the same path and have a clear guideline to follow. Group projects are a peak of learning, but require extra motivation and efforts from both children and especially teacher, which is draining on a day to day basis.
There was just a conference in New Hampshire some Co-workers of mine went to for professional development that covered this in depth, by having the teachers perform project based learning task themselves and using the experience to inform their teaching. As a teacher this is honestly my favorite method, but it is often hampered by time, class size, and online constraints. Of course we find ways around these things, I had a French Revolution themed "escape room" last year where students had to piece together clues to figure out the causes and consequences of the revolution, including a basked of decapitated ping pong balls, but it took a long time to design and implement. A central data base of such projects with clear lesson plans on how to adapt them to different classroom room environments I feel would go a long way to improving day to day instruction, especially for newer teachers.
Very insightful comment. Thanks for sharing!
This is my the maker movement is so popular, as is STEAM education programs. They all mix learning theory with hands on experience. It engages the mind and body, and as one additional thing I remember from primary school was never being able to sit still (still an problem), projects stop the fidget and restlessness I experienced in a traditional classroom environment.
I had a lot of anxiety starting in kindergarten probably owing to moving to a new school district a short while after starting. Projects, working with other children, terrified me.
That being said, in my personal life I learn more by doing. Except chess.
So, are you good at cooking, cleaning, sexing etc?
Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, chess requires quite a lot of theory too, because for a sport like chess it would become impractical to try to understand all the concepts that have developed in about 2000 or so years of this game being played by different generations...
Not to say theory is the most important thing in chess, as Magnus himself once said, just play more games to get better.... Trying out different things also has its fair share in helping to learn chess as it tells what practically works and what doesn't
I agree.
I struggle to learn when being forced to try and take in too much info in a "boring" way. I also struggle to retain info that I haven't discovered myself or that doesn't have a clear use.
I do believe that would help a lot, it would help lots of kids be able to understand what they're being told and why
The hybrid approach is the best, IMHO - the key is balance
So I was right; learning coding via projects and including writing was much better to go for.
Yesss, tutorial hell is real and the only way to get out of it is doing projects yourself
Much of what I have learned was from doing often failing but often taking on projects that were just beyond my skill. Also why, ie if you’re teaching computers show what is inside.
I’m planning to teach our grandkids much by doing
I can relate :)
Excellent video as always Sprouts! PBL also serves an important role in my field of workplace learning as adults often appreciate the greater emphasis on applying what their learning rather than merely absorbing information passively. For related topics to PBL, I encourage viewers to also look into self-determination theory, Malcolm Knowles' andragogy, and situated learning/communities of practice, as these concepts have been invaluable to my work. In fact, Sprouts has already made other fantastic videos exploring these very topics!
Thanks Discoflex!
This is a good learning style, as some people learn kinesthetically, but for introverts or people with social anxiety, they may be too nervous to actually attempt to engage their other teammates, would want to work independently, or could just hand it over to somebody with more "leadership" capabilities.
please make a video about 21st century education
1.way of thinking
1.1 critical thinking
1.2 creative thinking
2. way of working
2.1 communication
2.2 collaboration
3.way of working
3.1 ICT literacy
3.2 information literacy
what software do you use to create these videos?
Learning by doing is always better!
no wonder I hated school,,, and church.. at age 75 I find the more and longer I sit, it becomes harder, to get moving again. The more I move during the day the better I feel at the end. working as a laborer in construction I learn everything starts with the foundation!
I still struggle use project based learning in programming, by create project, but every got stuck my "perfectionism" side always like blame me because i'm not learn the theory first, what should i do to migrate from conventional with learning theory first then build project into learn by straight to build project?
Maybe you are correct. But how could it be possible for PBL in learning Mathematical theorems, literature and some other subjects where theory is the basic learning objective. I recommend PBL but it could not be possible to learn everything through PBL.
Back in school, there were a few kids that were allowed to play video games and all of them spoke better English than I. They learned it because they had to in order to progress. I think math and reading is possible to teach that way once the two become tools to achieve something greater.
Wonderful method, thought 18 minutes construction time would be too short time because students would be really enthusiastic in defending their discussion...would love to try this method.
Pls try and tell me what you have found!
For me, I could never really focus in or be bothered to do the learning needed for a topic unless its related to a project or something practical, like life skills. But if there was a tangible purpose to the acquisition of some knowledge I could easily spend lots of time diving into the books.
Thanks for sharing
I think the original premise is fallacious. I don't remember learning to read, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an important part of my education. It was probably the greatest milestone.
Excellent point! Thanks for pointing that out.
Thank you sprouts! You are really the best educatiinal channel. ❤
So nice of you. Keep learning:)
Thanks for this video it's very useful
We can learn in a better way by doing.
I know project-based learning is my favorite approach personally, however I still think learning theory is always important. Sometimes, when working on a software, you can fail and never find the solution. While you can ask amenable fellows for help, you shouldn't expect any answer. A project-based environment that, when you fail, forces you to turn to theory, though, might be better suited for the retention of that knowledge, forcing you to analyze what it brought to the table, pros and cons?
Excellent point!
I think it’s one of the best ways of learning.
I learnt that traditional teaching involves Learning about the tool without context
Through the pbl we can learn the context of tools
I literally did the spaghetti/marshmallow thing in 4th grade gifted class some 30 years ago, and yes, I do remember it vividly.
We used gumdrops instead of marshmallows, though. And no tape. Tape is for the weak.
Wonderful!
Would you please consider explaining the Gettier problem in terms of metaphysics? It looks even more interesting since I learned about it.
It's sad that the amount of these decreases as the grade level goes up.
Projects, field trips, science experiments, engaging demonstrations, opportunities for self-individual achievement*, free experimentation, class games, and group projects are all much better ways to learn anything than bucking up, shutting up, and trying not to fall asleep to someone showing you something that you may barely understand, and likely not need in your life moving forward. (Espically in higher grades. They need project based learning as much as the lower grades do.)
*the opportunities students have to work twords on something they are passionate about, and potentially get an unexpected reward.
So true! ("bucking up, shutting up, and trying not to fall asleep..." I love that!)
didactic learning vs project learning: lecture and listening to teacher speak vs students sort themselves into groups and given a complex problem to solve. knowledge easily forgotten vs knowledge easily remembered. no communication no creativity vs communication and creativity required to succeed. no failure no pain vs learning the right way to fail and deal with pain of failure
Yess. Thanks for sharing the points.
Constructivism is the way to go.
Right!
Haven't they done this in Sweden?
As a young teacher, I am still confuse how to make the marking scheme for PBL. Can anyone give me suggestion?
This is very interesting video, exactly focus on pros indicating or giving about cons of both. However, the animations are too dynamic which sometimes distract the viewer from actual content. It is too much information and increase the cognitive workload which eventually makes it difficult to understand sometimes. An optimal animation....like removing the coloring or only having coloring pattern would help....anyways overall great video. Just wanted to give feedback because the content of your videos is super awesome!!
For us, it is a dream..🎉 hope this changes. Which is not changing from 200+ years ago
Slow but steady !
Amazing video. How do you create these videos?
Hey, thank you! We have a great team who makes it possible. The art is all hand drawn first that gets transformed into animations.
Can you suggest me how you make them? The app used to make it.
I'm a big fan of project-based learning, and it's a significant part of my course. However, I disagree with the paradigm in the video. The has to be some type of lecture content in order for students to understand the context of what they are doing / did. This is why use a flipped classroom model, in which the students watch my lectures in place of homework, and we spend class time doing hands-on activities.
Please make a video on J Krishnamurthy on learning and teaching.
Noted. Can you submit it to our topics.sproutsschools.com list?
Great work done
Thank you!
In the age of internet and AI, students can do the extensive reading and the research by themselves. Schools are meant to give students the motivation to learn, the safety space to apply what they learn, and the chance to socialize with many types of people. 💫
Please make a video about mind mapping, keep up the great work!
What do you mean by mind mapping? 🤔
@@braincuriosities a mind map is a technique used to understand, memorize and encode information. It’s a physical form of how your brain views information
Well it depends upon what kind of worker you want you come out on the other side. If would be great if we wanted smart independent workers, but most employers would like something workable and mid-range and cheap.
Maybe this is the reason why I still remember some activities in elementary and senior high
I cant even remember what my teacher taught me last week😅
Yes. Projects stick!
We taught playwriting by have our students write mini plays. Now their work will be performed by actors to get further feedback.
Project Based Learning (PBL) method is quite correct approach for active learning. However, there is an essential missing component. In addition to PBL, practical exposure to the real business world is equally vital. It is very important to blend theoretical education with practical education. After spending time around 18 years theoretical education, I find myself lacking practical abilities for the real business world. This experience feels like a significant waste of time.
I like it
✌
You have ignored many of the negative issues in PBL. The major one is that students typically reinvent the wheel, badly. Smart people learn from others mistakes.
Maybe this is why I got a low grade in my languages class-
Not just you.
The both are fragile.
The conventional way mass-produces people who only memorize.
PBL works fine only when team members are fine.
In the end, I have learned most of skills from off-school trial and error alone.
Too bad schools i've been to cancel class projects every time so now everyone likes to talk too much but is also anti-social due to never being used to team work.
bro favourite colour is orange lol
You lost me in the first sentence. I dont have friends.
Ofcourse you do! Sprouts is your friend. ;)