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| Developing the curriculum and assessment processes | ||||||||
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Develop Learning Strategies
The problem scenario is not the problem to be solved, but the scenario. Part of emerging orthodoxy of Problem Based Learning is that the students are only given the scenario or ‘badly-constructed’ problem, and from this they must actually develop the problem statement. The scenario for this program is:
Reading and analysing this scenario should encourage much discussion and posing of questions needing to be answered. The types of questions might look like this: The legal issues
The earth science issues
The logging company
Timber issues
The cultural and ethical issues
Learning practices may include:
Students should write down everything they know about the situation. They should start with any information contained in the scenario, then add knowledge they already have. Sometimes people have information they are not quite sure about and this can be listed separately. Learning practices may include:
Students should develop a problem statement from their analysis of what is known. They should describe in one or two sentences exactly what the group is trying to solve, produce, respond to, discover or investigate. This problem statement may have to be revised as new relevant information is discovered. Learning practices may include:
Students make up a ‘What do we need to know?’ list of questions which need to be answered to solve the problem. Some questions may be concerning concepts or principles that need to be learned to address the problem. Other questions may be about getting hold of more information. These questions will guide searches for information through publicly accessible sources. Learning practices may include:
Students list, then carry out the actions they need to do in order to obtain the required information. This might include library searches, using search engines to find information on the world wide web, consulting experts in earth sciences/ecology, or looking at relevant galleries and exhibitions at the Melbourne Museum. Learning practices may include:
At this point, students analyse the information they have gathered. It may be necessary to revise the problem statement at this point. Then they will need to recommend a solution to the problem based on data they have researched. Learning practices may include:
Students present their findings making recommendations, predictions, inferences, or other appropriate resolution of the problem supported by their analysis of information. This presentation may take many different forms: written, spoken, print based, web-published. audio or video. Learning practices may include:
Gather materials/texts The internet It is a good idea to provide students with some resources and texts and to let them find others themselves. The resources on the internet can be overwhelming, so you can make it easy to start with by giving them some references to websites and literature which they are likely to require. A few reliable websites with well-researched links can also be of use. You may even have some printouts and relevant literature in the classroom for people to use in the classroom, especially if you don’t always have ready access to the internet. As well as internet skills in Search Engine use, quite early on in the process you will need to help your students critically evaluate resources they find. You can develop your own criteria, or get students to ask:
In this context, a good exercise is to look at information on woodchips or clearfelling on a timber industry website and on the Wilderness Society/Australian Conservation Foundation site, asking these questions and comparing the ‘facts’. Some organisations have titles which might indicate they are pro-conservation, when in fact they are disguised ‘fronts’ for the timber industry. As well as doing searches for information about forests and timber, the ABC science websites are useful. I also happened upon the NASA-ETE site for science education. This site uses satellite imaging exercises to mathematically calculate changes to the environment and also has short, clearly written texts, with photos. It uses Problem Based Learning as an approach, and although the content is based on North American forests, much could be translated into the Australian context. Melbourne Museum
The planning for an excursion to the Melbourne Museum can happen at an early stage in the project, but would probably be of greater value after students have completed some research into the topic through internet resources, so that they are clear about what they need to know. They could devise their own goals for the excursion and use these to evaluate the visit. Preparation for the visit could include getting any relevant materials from the museum’s website. Return trips to the Museum and/or its Study Centre may also be useful in terms of developing research skills and for acquiring knowledge to inform the problem solving.
Other sources As well as libraries, there are many environmental education associations which may be useful. These are listed in the Environmental education directory for Victoria, published by the Victorian Association for Environmental Education Inc. An example of a publication which clearly explains some ‘wood and tree’ issues is Woodchips or wildlife—the case against logging our native forests by Barry Traill, published by the Victorian National Parks association (Environmental Papers Vol1, #1, Oct 1995). Recent news sources may also be relevant. For example, at the time of writing this snapshot, Queensland has been in the news regarding a proposed forest policy which claims to be acceptable to conservationists and the timber industry. Adopt appropriate assessment process The assessment process should be transparent and fair. The criteria against which students are being assessed should be presented and clearly explained to the students, as should the ‘evidence collecting‘ process. It’s useful to discuss with students the best ways of gathering this evidence so that it is fair, reliable and valid. Methods can then be agreed on, and a documentation system can be set up which enables students and teachers to see what has been completed and what still needs to be worked on. For this type of program, assessment methods can include, observation, portfolios, work diaries and oral and written presentations. Assessment can include peer and self assessment as well as teacher assessment. Identify stages in the sequence of learning for reaching expected performance levels Each of the Problem Based Learning Steps could be seen as stages for taking stock of skills and knowledge acquired and building up a body of evidence towards the summative assessment. Develop appropriate assessment tasks For this kind of program assessment tasks as such may not be required, as the whole program integrates learning and assessment. However it may be a good idea to set out an information sheet for students clearly explaining what is expected, but leaving room for what is negotiated and agreed with the students. Here is an example: The wood and the trees What you will learn This project will help you learn the following:
Assessment outline To demonstrate your learning processes have been successful, you will need to provide evidence that you have achieved the following outcomes: 1 Understand the meaning of several complex pieces of writing which give you information about ‘wood and trees’.
2 Distinguish between fact and opinion and understand the purpose of the writer in written texts about ‘wood and trees’.
3 Interpret information from ‘wood and trees’ texts which have diagrams, graphics, tables and visual information.
4 Write texts for particular purposes and audiences, communicating complex relationships between ideas.
5 Gather information through oral communication such as interviews and phone calls.
6 Explore issues and solve problems through discussion.
7 Reflect on whether you are using effective ways of learning, and improve on these.
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| The
Wood and the Trees
Setting up the program and selecting participants Initial or Placement Assessment Developing the curriculum and assessment processes |
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