Project Based Learning? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When these people go to Novato, they're going to
> the Buck Institute for Education.
>
> It teaches something called "project based
> learning" (whatever that is). But hey, the county
> also spends money on Eric Jensen's "brain based
> learning" and "teaching with poverty in mind"
> (whatever these are) as well as Flip Flippen's
> "capturing kids' hearts" (whatever that is).
>
> How much of this do we really need? How much of it
> can we really afford? If the school board thinks
> this is going to keep happening, sure there's a
> billion dollar shortfall or whatever the number
> is.
>
> There's probably "retraining" as well. A teacher
> at school x where they do "brain based learning"
> is going to be all at sea after a transfer to
> school y, which just happens to be a "project
> based learning" school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project-based_learning
Some people criticize it as promoting "social loafing". In other words, the kids form groups, and some kids very quickly figure out who is going to do all of the work, and then they slack. And the teacher can't factor this in to the grades, because the group outcome is what is judged, and it is very difficult to see what is going on behind the scenes. And the outcome is due to a select few whose parents don't allow them to slack. Any parent of a smart, responsible child can tell you this story. They get sick of being used. Some request to do all the work for themselves and be left out of the group project because it is easier than working like a dog, having unreliable kids not do their part, enduring last-minute crises (all-nighters) due to kids who don't do their part because they know the good kids will eventually do it, etc. The kids end up fighting about the work because what these slackers don't do affects the final grade and impacts the others who do all the work.
We paid how much for this?
Maybe they did some project based learning on how to do up their travel claims, since their methods were similar.