Project-based learning and technology go together like peanut butter and jelly! If STEM/the standards were the jelly and PBL was the peanut butter (emphasis on the PB), technology would be the bread that brings it all together into a cohesive whole. Looking at the SAMR model helps us, as teachers, identify how we are integrating technology into our teaching/classrooms. The SAMR model also encourages teachers to continue "moving up the ladder". Modification and redefinition comprise the transformation end of the ladder that teachers should be striving towards. Commonsensemedia.org states in their video "Introduction to the SAMR Model", "transforming leaning promotes higher order thinking skills", and it continued by listing some examples of those 21st century learning skills: analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
If we teachers are reaching from the "redefinition" end of the SAMR ladder, we should consider the eight essential project design elements from the PBL Gold Standard. Redefinition, "allows for the creation of new tasks that were previously inconceivable". The PBL Gold Standard provides the process to achieve redefinition; technology is the vehicle students can use to get there.
If I consider a PBL project that I created with a small group of teachers from a variety of districts across Pennsylvania, we can get a clear picture of how to achieve redefinition through technology and PBL. To begin, students are tackling a challenging problem/question: How do you run an effective campaign? This question is thoroughly authentic, as it addresses a topic that is relevant to every student living in this country. They will be tackling this question from 5 different subject perspectives (English, Statistics, American History, Public Speaking, and Business) allowing for sustained and in-depth inquiry into the topic. Student voice and choice is plentiful starting with the politician Q & A with student-submitted questions and going all the way through their final products, corresponding with the five subjects. Several public products will be the result: a campaign speech, a timeline/research product, a research journal for the website, a campaign platform website, campaign commercial creation/filming, and a map infographic. All of which will undergo critique and revision before the culminating event. Students will then reflect independently and as groups, thus completing all eight of the essential project design elements.
However, those design elements will never come to fruition without some serious technology integration. Let's take a look at what role technology will play in each product:
- Campaign Speech
- Google Docs with peer collaboration via commenting and suggesting features
- iMovie
- Timeline/Research Product in History
- Prezi Timeline
- Research Journal for the Website
- Blogger or something similar for public view and collaboration
- Campaign Platform Website Creation
- HTML5 coding
- Campaign Commercial Creation/Filming
- iMovie
- Map Infographic
- Infographic software such as Canva.com
All of these products would be inconceivable without the use of the above technology, making this entire PBL project on the "redefinition" rung of the SAMR ladder. As Common Sense Media said in their video, "Integrating technology adds a whole new layer to teaching and learning".
References
Gorman, M. (2014). Essential Connections of STEM, PBL, and Tech Integration… What Would Dewey Think?. 21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning. Retrieved 10 April 2017, from https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/essential-connections-of-stem-pbl-and-tech-integration-what-would-dewey-think/
Introduction to the SAMR Model. (2017). Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 10 April 2017, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/introduction-to-the-samr-model
Mergendoller, J., & Larmer, J. (2015). Why We Changed Our Model of the “8 Essential Elements of PBL” | Blog | Project Based Learning | BIE. Bie.org. Retrieved 10 April 2017, from http://www.bie.org/blog/why_we_changed_our_model_of_the_8_essential_elements_of_pbl
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