Real School approach to Project-Based Learning (PBL)

Background on Project-Based Learning

A patient goes to the doctor with a headache. The doctor based on his years of experience and what he studied in medical school, arrives at a solution. Considering the human body is a complex machine, Is diagnosing the problem as easy as it sounds? The fact is, All the answers to health issues & complications cannot be contained in the medical books.

Because the approach of studying concepts and analyzing case studies was not working with Doctors, Howard Barrows ( Physician and a Medical educator) developed a technique for teaching where medical students should be able to integrate, use, reuse knowledge in the context of patients’ problems; the symptoms, signs, laboratory data and course of illness. Barrows designed a series of problems. No other information was given. The students had to research a situation, read through materials, develop trigger questions, ideate and arrive at solutions. This is technique is what we know popularly as Problem Based Learning or PBL

If reading from a book and regurgitating it when a problem arises in our human body does not work, then how can this method of learning work in other realms of education.

Harrows created a system of teaching where Doctors could apply education that they acquired in a clinical setup. With “Real School” this is our approach to PBL.

Real School: Real-life Problems

We create an active learning and engaging environment where students are given REAL LIFE PROBLEMS. Milk Overflowing, a common kitchen problem another common problem of misplacing a key. Here are issues that we go through in our everyday life. There may be a million solutions to it. Our mentors train them to identify what they need to learn to solve those problems and arrive at a practical solution. Once students master the strategy to solve problems, then Problem Solving no longer remains a mindset but an ability that is needed for every phase of their life. And one that is essential to shape them into confident and independent individuals. Real School Projects: The Project Statement is the backbone of the Project

The effectiveness of PBL lies in defining the Project statement. The primary reason for a PBL to not have the intended result is a weak Project Statement. We have a few examples of what a Project Statement is not. That is followed by how we design our Project Statement for our Real School Projects.

A Project statement does not look for a scientific answer

Difference between

What is Newton’s 2nd law of motion? And…

Solve the problem of airplane accidents using Newton’s 2nd Law of motion is HUGE.

Defining the topic will mean giving a technical answer. Here is what is wrong with this approach. The child will regurgitate information that he has learned by way of books and lectures. The answer may be a word for word or maybe in his own words. The answer may be right or maybe wrong. But in both these cases, one thing is for sure. He does not have a thorough understanding of the concept.

Project Statement should have the ability to take roots and conceptualize in the mind of the learner

What happens when we ask him to study the basics of newton’s law in context with aerodynamics? The conceptualizing takes place in the mind of the student. He not only needs to understand the meaning but has a solution for reducing the risk of plane accidents

A Project Statement: should not create a roadblock for learning

“Demonstrate Newton’s 2nd law using a space shuttle and an airplane.”

This is a very confusing Project statement. If the problem statement is not concise or clear, there may be a heavy dependence on the facilitator in terms of explaining the problem, then the very fundamental of PBL learning approach fails. The role of a facilitator is very important in a PBL structure. A facilitator creates an environment which allows the student to think critically, to look for risks, to understand the challenges and independently solve problems. And he can only do that if the problem statement is easy to understand.

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