Just a Guide on the Side for PBL

After grouping the students together according to interests, they used their guiding questions for the focus of their research. This was the first thing they wrote down on the guide that would be used to organize all of their information for PBL. Before they began, they listed all that they knew about their topic and what they wanted to learn. From this, they began step 1 of the guide where they sought out a problem that needed to be solved. Step 2 involved forming a hypothesis about what they thought the solution or outcome would be as they thought about possibilities. During step 3, they continued with the guiding question in mind as they recorded more direct questions about their problem to help direct them in their research process. After recording several specific questions, they refined their problem statement in step 4, and they began step 5 of their research by using Diigo to bookmark, highlight, and organize all of the information pertaining to their project.

I have recorded one PBL group per class that provides an example of what their thoughts were at step 6 of the research process where they already had a possible solution to their problem. I asked them to provide insight about what they had discovered throughout the project.

Researching to Solve a Problem from kim trefz on Vimeo.

Researching to Problem Solve from kim trefz on Vimeo.

Researching to Problem Solve from Dawn Trefz on Vimeo.

Researching to Problem Solve from Dawn Trefz on Vimeo.

Researching with Diigo

Using Diigo for Research from kim trefz on Vimeo.

The students are learning to use Diigo which is a social networking website in which they are using for organizing their online research. They have the ability to save articles from reliable websites that support their topics, and they have the option to highlight and make notes as they share their discoveries with others in their group.

The students are now ready to begin their research with the goal of solving a problem regarding their space mission/aviation topic of choice. They will use their guiding questions and the more direct questions pertaining to their topic as they look for possible solutions throughout valid websites. They are learning to narrow their search through Googling specific topics, analyzing sites for validity, bookmarking the sites that are valuable for solving their problem, and Using a collaborative group created on Diigo that will allow them to share and store their information that they have gathered.