PBL planning Tools for The Classroom
It’s no surprise that all good project-based learning and Inquiry-based learning project plans start with a meaningful, personal, relevant and real-world driving question or wondering. Do your students have a driving question worksheet to start their planning process?
Planning Unit plan. Project plan. Week plan. Lesson plan. Minute plan. As teachers, sometimes it feels like all we do is PLAN. But for all professionals, it’s the same. We’re asked to manage our time, prioritize, organize, and initiate tasks. Why? So we can be our most productive selves. There are so many tools and resources in cyberspace to help teachers and other professionals plan. Entrepreneurs use a business model canvas, engineers use the design thinking process, scientists use the scientific method, and teachers have unit and lesson plan templates. We all use some form of model, blueprint, or roadmap to guide our plans.
Our schools are getting overwhelmed with buzzwords - agency, student-led, personalized, student-centered, voice, and choice - all emphasizing teachers to give students the opportunity to learn how to learn. But, the agency we all want our students to embrace has to start with a plan. Not a teacher’s plan. A student’s plan.
But, the agency we all want our students to embrace has to start with a plan. Not a teacher’s plan. A student’s plan.
So the question naturally follows, do our students have the tools they need to truly plan on their own? To be agents? To personalize their work? To make their voices and choices heard? As an entrepreneur, I frequently get asked what is on our company roadmap. We need to start asking our students what is on theirs. Spinndle’s roadmaps guide students through projects without taking away their agency. Roadmaps address the what. Students see the full scope of a project and the milestones along the way. What do we start on? What’s coming next? Roadmaps leave the how up to the students, providing them enough structure and flexibility to be self-sufficient. To plan.
We’ve put together a library of common project planning pieces, starting with a driving question worksheet that gives students the framework to think like designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and problem-solvers. With our student planning tools, students can move through important thinking routines central to all student-led learning experiences like PBL, Passion Projects, Design Thinking, STEAM, Maker, and Capstone. Our driving question worksheet frames all of these valuable learning experiences.
A 4-step driving question worksheet for students.
This driving question worksheet for students helps them identify their interests, hobbies, passions, goals they wish to pursue or challenges they want to address. What topic holds their interest the most? The driving question worksheet is a digital and customizable google document that students can work through independently or in groups. The model follows the QFT method.
Step 1
Identify passion, goals, curiosities or challenges
The best driving questions stem from a passion, goal, curiosity or challenge that the student wishes to pursue. So first, a student needs to list topics of interest or list subtopics of interest under a theme assigned to them down.
Step 2
List wonderings or NTK’s
Next, students list their wonderings around each topic. What do they need to know (NTK) around each topic? What do they wonder?
Step 2
Do light investigation
Students then make a list of questions around each wondering and do light research and exploration to identify which topic holds their interest the longest. Students narrow down to the wondering(s) that raise the most questions.
Step 3
Categorize
Is there any overlap in wonderings? Can you categorize your initial findings from your initial investigation? Are there commonalities? Can you bring two wonderings together?
Step 4
Write a driving question that speaks to your goals
This question will produce a deep, sustained inquiry. It is not a short-term goal, but a long-term endeavour. Students will not only use the driving question worksheet below to check-off the criteria for a quality driving question, but they will be able to identify their goals. What they want to learn/do? Why they want to learn/do it? What is their purpose?
Now that students have determined a direction for their project that is both relevant and meaningful to them, it’s time to organize their investigations. Students turn their driving question into guiding questions. Students then build their resources bank from there.
(Optional - For design thinking projects) Now that students have a list of resources (interview, survey, observations, websites, books, etc.) it is time to assemble a focus group, possible mentors, or audience. Who is affected? Who can help answer these questions?
(Optional - for design thinking projects) Students need to build more understanding of the topic or problem they are addressing. In order to build a greater understanding students can interview, observe, survey or research jobs, pains, keeps, gains.
(Optional - for design thinking projects) It’s time to empathize. Students put themselves in the audience/end-users shoes to get a better feel of the problem or job to be done. Students go deeper in their learning and understanding when they take a more “hands-on” approach to their investigations.
Time to define the problem statement. Students put together all their investigations to determine the need or opportunity. Here is where they can determine the work to be done or create something new.
Ideate solutions! Students turn their problem statement into “How might we…” questions to spark innovation.
Are any of these ideas actually possible? Unique? Students seek feedback, test and sanity check their ideas.
Great! Now they have an idea. It’s time to turn the investigations and ideations into action! Students first need to set a goal and pressure test it. Students also need to determine project objectives. Who? What? When? Where? Why?
Ok. Managing time. Students need to set realistic deadlines. What can they achieve by when? It’s important to break down larger goals into more tangible steps.
Lastly, students need to understand how to present their work. Depending on who their intended audience is - there are better ways or channels to reach specific audiences depending on where they hang out.
There we have it! Students have everything they need to plan and personalize their projects start to finish!