APAsample

Information Avalanche

Running head: PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Project Based Learning and the Information Avalanche

Gail Gruber

New Mexico State University
Abstract

The challenge of teaching in an era of change is discussed with emphasis on collaboration through Project Based Learning. Professional development is required in order to make any project using a "new" teaching style viable. Use of the Internet to spawn these collaborations is basic to many of the example projects. The information glut on the Internet is likened to an avalanche, hard to stop once it has begun. Working together, educators and students can survive the avalanche.

Project Based Learning and the Information Avalanche

Teaching in an era of change is truly a challenge. Teachers must design learning situations for their students that make use of the most current information, as well as engage them fully. Students and teachers are challenged to determine the worth of the information they have found in or on the various electronic information sources. Information overload threatens to overwhelm everyone in education as they learn how to sort through the vast amount of available resources. The avalanche has begun and it is too late to return to the "Three Rs."
In his book, The Road Ahead, Bill Gates (1996) challenges the education community to adopt change and give children the skills they'll need to succeed in the Information Age. Gates goes on to state that "the people who resist change will be confronted by the growing number of people who see that better ways of learning are available thanks to technology. Foremost among the agents of change will be the children themselves." (p. 212) This change is truly in the hands of the children.
Norton and Wiburg (1998) introduce educators to new designs for learning which can meet this challenge. They suggest an integrated approach to teaching information skills within the context of subject area curriculum and classroom learning along with a process approach. A specific process approach which they recommend is centered around three general categories of activity: "searching for information, sorting and judging information, and creating and communicating ideas and concepts as the result of information use (SSCC)." (p. 163) This process needs to be embedded in everyday instruction in order for students to become productive knowledge workers.
A teaching/learning process that is based on projects provides a format for students to use the vast resources available on the Internet. When the learners have a hand in project design, it also meets the needs of learners from various cultures. Collaboration is essential in order for this style of learning to be successful.
Students need to be knowledge workers who are ardent in their pursuit of "the answer." Shor (1992) contends that students also need to have a hand in the creation of "the question." This calls for collaboration between the teacher and students as they decide what and how they are going to study. Granted, teachers must always keep in mind the competencies developed by the state and the tests that will determine the effectiveness of the teaching/learning cycle. However, many schools have proven that if the students are truly knowledge workers and they have taken part in the design of learning, testing will show their grasp of concepts and problem solving.
Collaboration must also exist outside of the classroom. Teachers need to share knowledge and resources now more than ever before. Schools can no longer afford to have long hallways with closed doors. The Internet also allows teachers to collaborate with their colleagues throughout other districts, states, and nations. Andres (1995) suggests creating "telecommunities" in order to unite students and teach them to work cooperatively. She continues: "Collaborative learning becomes even more significant when the students who are working together are from different nations with varied cultures, histories, and socio-political beliefs." (p. 1) The best collaborative projects, according to Andres, have students "measure, collect, evaluate, write, read, publish, stimulate, hypothesize, compare, debate, examine, investigate, organize, share, and report." This creates plenty of jobs to be assigned to team members. The teacher becomes a guide when these collaborations take place. However, in order for a successful learning environment to be nurtured, sufficient and appropriate professional development must take place.
Collaboration in project based learning requires a new kind of professional development. The New Zealand Ministry of Education and the Christchurch College of Education surveyed teachers to discover their perceived needs in order to "use information technologies in their teaching/learning programs." They were surprised by the number of individuals expressing a desire to participate in long-term technology planning and to have more ongoing support (Ham, 1997).
"The challenge we gave to the teachers was relatively simple and short term: to try something new with their students, using new technologies. The challenge they gave to their schools as a result was probably greater and more enduring: to devise management and administrative systems that will allow innovation and development in instructional technologies to flourish and be continually fueled from within the school, rather than temporarily stimulated from without." (p. 68)
Teachers were willing to teach in a new way; however, they desired the support which they felt was needed in order to be successful. It will serve professional development experts well to listen to the suggestions of practicing classroom teachers.
Woolley (1998) describes a training project at the International School of Bangkok, Thailand. Traditional forms of technology training were not ensuring that the teachers would take the information back to the classroom in the form of projects. A new framework for training was structured around four themes: inquiry, communication, construction, and expression. Woolley states that this new framework "has made a vast difference in the way teachers use technology. It isn't that teachers are using more complex programs; if anything, they have simplified their technology choices. The difference is the focus on how technology connects to learning." (p. 65) The connection of technology to learning is the goal of all educators. The lessons learned in this project should be adapted to schools throughout the world.
Fran Castiello (1998) made use of a World Wide Web site named GlobalLearn to help her class overcome limited access. "Not having a computer with Internet access in my classroom is like having my car parked in the neighbor's garage," stated Castiello, a teacher from Connecticut. She was able to use a computer lab only at certain hours; however, Castiello was able to make optimum use of it to allow her students to become part of a global project. The class became part of an expedition across Asia and "met" children along the way. Of the lesson outcomes Castiello wirtes:
"I realized that this activity had two important outcomes. First, my students were included: they saw themselves on the charts right next to Arnur, the boy from Kazakhstan. They were amazed at the differences but truly shocked by the similarities. They enjoyed studying themselves as well as Arnur. Second, a lot of learning took place during the activity: drawing conclusions, comparing and contrasting, inquiring, predicting, sequencing, collaborating, visualizing, analyzing, reading, speaking, and forming opinions--and all in one easy lesson!" (p. 19)
A visit to the GlobalLearn site shows that there is a current expedition through South America which classes may join.
Rogers (1994) notes the use of various "news stories" which have been put on the World Wide Web during significant times in recent history to show that the Internet can provide classrooms much more personal and "real" news. It is his view that the use of these resources in the curriculum brings the "world" into the classroom. He shows how students are learning to think of themselves as global citizens through incorporation of such resources in their learning. He states:
"Students who have the opportunities described here have already begun to make their own paradigm shifts regarding their place in the world, and how to relate to it. As the global market economy grows, these students as adults will have advantages in their experience and mindset over those who were isolated to their own classrooms and communities." (p. 10)
Rogers uses the term project-enhanced learning to describe the way that content areas are embedded in the activities teachers are designing for these resources.
Cohen and Holzman-Benshalom (1997) write of the enthusiasm for learning which even the least motivated students gained through a multimedia project at Yad-Giora Junior High School in Herzliya, Israel. Students personalized the information learned in the course in ways which the teachers did not expect. "Teachers were pleased to find that the new system promoted meaningful learning as it increased students' motivation and improved their relationsihp with their teachers." (p. 66) Faculty in this project noted that the students became much more proficient than teachers at using the technology. Many times project based learning causes the teachers and learners to switch roles.
Michelle Hollenbeck (1997) describes the details of a project that "began as an inexpensive way to incorporate technology and authenticity into a social science curriculum" and has "grown into an amateur ham radio club and class that brings the world to the classroom's door." (p. 72) Students studies to earn an FCC Novice Class amateur radio license. The students helped Hollenbeck learn Morse code when she struggled. These students in Kansas now have friends all around the world and are bringing social studies to life. "Not all our projects work the first time, and some never work, but the students' determination remains constant." (p. 74) Success in every adventure to incorporate technology is not absolutely required in order for learning to take place. The students learn along with the teachers as they work out the kinks in each project.
In order for a project to have meaning, it needs to be real. The Cheasapeake Bay national Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia provides real data for students to use in projects (Lynch and Walton, 1998). The authors state:
"Integrating this plethora of information into a classroom may seem daunting at first. With a good imagination and knowledge of the availability of information; however, a teacher can enrich a routine unit by incorporating real data in a way that brings concepts home to students." (p. 26)
In this project, the students are making use of the same data used by scientists. Data that has been collected by volunteers and entered onto the database is accessible on the Internet. To bring the information closer to the students, classes perform hands-on collection of trash and add it to the data sets. Comparisons and implications can then be developed among the class, their community, and others active in the project.
Anyone who has spent time on the Internet can attest to the avalanche of information. Teachers and students need to choose their information wisely. However, through project based instruction, the teaching/learning process can be centered on authentic problems and real world settings. Dede (1998) believes that the task of educators is to "prepare our children to function in a future civilization created by the biggest leap in technology since the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago. The key to meeting this challenge centers on facilitating students' mastery of sophisticated knowledge." (p. vi) Students who are working with "real" data, solving "real" problems, internalize the learning which takes place.
This facilitation of knowledge mastery is not a natural progression from the teaching methods previously taught; it is a giant leap. Proper professional development is required to meet the needs of educators seeking to perfect this style of teaching. A new design of the learning environment needs to become the norm. Making use of the designs for learning offered by Norton and Wiburg (1998) will help teachers make this leap. Working together, educators and students can survive the avalanche.

References

Andres, Y.M. (1995). Collaboration in the classroom and over the Internet. GlobalSchoolNet Foundation. http://www.gsn.org/teach/articles/collaboration.html (Feb 1, 1998)
Castiello, F. (April, 1998). An eye on the world. Learning & Leading with Technology 25, 7: 17-20.
Cohen, R. and Holzman-Benshalom, Y. (Nov. 1997). Multimedia in junior high. Educational Leadership 55,3: 64-66.
Dede, C. Editor (1998). 1998 ASCD year book: Learning with technology. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Gates, B. (1996). The road ahead. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Ham, V. (Nov, 1997). Teachers speak up about managing technology. Educational Leadership 55, 3: 67-68/
Hollenbeck, M. (Nov. 1997). High-frequency learning. Educational Leadership 55, 3: 72-74.
Lynch, M. P. and Walton, S. A. (Feb. 1998) Talking trash on the Internet. Learning & Leading with Technology. 25, 5: 26-31.
Norton, P. and Wiburg, K. (1998). Teaching with technology. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.
Rogers, A. (1994). Global literacy in a Gutenberg culture. GlobalSchoolNet Foundation. http://www.gsn.org/teach/articles/gutenberg.html. (Feb 1, 1998)
Shor, I. (1992). Empowering education. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Woolley, G. (Feb. 1998). Connecting technology and learning. Educational Leadership 55, 5: 62-65.

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Index of course materials Course designed by Gail Gruber, WNMU, Silver City, NM