1. Who? Roots and Traditions of Project Based Learning

2. Piaget *Children are active, experiential based learners *Children possess natural curiosity and motivation to learn about the world *Children construct their own knowledge experimentation and trail and error

3. John Dewey Turn of the Century psychologist – Learning by doing – Learning based on past experiences – Facilitating learning through a created need for knowledge “The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences.”

4. Sylvia Chard and Lillian Katz Early Childhood Education Specialists – Major contemporary advocates of PBL – Collaborate on “Engaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach” – Based heavily on constructivist theory of learning

5. Continued….. School is life, students and teacher should experience it as part of their whole, real life Students learn from – First hand observation – Hands on experience – Systematic instruction – Personal reflection – Knowledge through interaction with environment

6. Howard Gardner Multiple Intelligence Theory – Students contain a unique blend of intelligences – Linguistic, logical-mathematical, Bodily, Spatial, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal. Project Zero – Educational research group - Harvard Studying performance based assessment To understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts Theory of MI used to develop more personalized curriculum, instruction, and assessment

7. Collective Influence on PBL Piaget – Students construct their own knowledge through active experimentation and experiences. Dewey – Students learn by doing Chard and Katz – “Engaging Children’s Minds: The project Approach” – democratic societies are more likely to flourish when citizens seek an in-depth understanding of the complex issues they must address and about which they must make choices and decisionshttp://www.projectapproach.org/theory-s4http://www.projectapproach.org/theory-s4 Gardner – “The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think & How Schools Should Teach” – students are failing to genuinely understand concepts because they are not learning by doing http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/gardner.htmlhttp://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/gardner.html – Theory of Multiple Intelligences