3 Reasons NOT to try Project-Based Learning in your High School Math Classroom…. and 1 Reason you Should
Project-based learning is an inquiry driven instructional approach based on student-centered design. The idea is that students will grapple with and learn content through exploring possible solutions or responses to an essential question.
Basically, what it breaks down to is:
- Launch an Essential Question to spark curiosity
- Build knowledge and learn content to help address the essential question
- Develop a solution through a process of critique and revision
- Present a solution to its intended audience.
Students are at the center of the project. Students express autonomy throughout the process as they make their own decisions in what they need to know, how they learn it and how to apply it.
What’s the catch?
Sounds awesome, right? But how can mathematics be taught using project-based learning? It
seems impossible, especially considering:
- Students (and teachers) are evaluated in mathematics on standardized tests
- There’s already too much material in the curriculum to cover it all
- There aren’t a lot of resources available to learn how to do it, and our time is already at a premium
These are all valid reasons why you might not want to try project-based learning in your classroom. Can you even imagine project-based learning in Algebra 1? How could students truly learn the procedural skills of algebraic manipulation to factor trinomials. Or project-based learning in Geometry? How could students learn to write proofs?What about project-based learning in Algebra 2 or higher mathematics… How can students learn synthetic division of polynomials in a project? I can’t teach math with project-based learning…
Stop stop. I just can’t anymore. Alright, if you’ve seen absolutely anything I have ever written or posted, you know that I don’t believe in any of what I just said. Here’s what I do believe….
- Project-based learning is an invaluable tool to use to help our students become better problem solvers and mathematical thinkers. It is an amazing asset to boosting quantitative literacy and reasoning.
- Not every standard could or should be addressed through project-based learning. Some of them simply aren’t rich enough to design a project around.
- When a teacher decides to use project-based learning in their classroom, that in and of itself is a project-based learning experience. You will constantly be learning and growing in your journey and you need to support of others to help push you to continue to grow.
So let’s address these reasons excuses about why you shouldn’t try project-based learning in your mathematics classroom:
Why I can’t teach project-based learning in high school math…
Because my students (and I) are evaluated on standardized tests
Where to begin with this one? We could talk all about the reasons why I am against standardized testing and think that it shouldn’t exist. But the reality is that testing does currently exist and that our students (and us teachers) are measured by the results of the test. Depending on the standardized tests your students take, they are engaging in a lot of procedural problems with some word problem reasoning thrown in.
On the SAT the big focus is on the “Heart of Algebra”, with a lot of the problems coming down to students being able to create (or, ya know, match) equations for a given situation. Well actually, that’s not so bad. Project-based learning is a great contextual approach to teaching algebra and gives students a leg up on understanding how to create equations for nearly any word problem scenario. In fact a few different studies have indicated that students perform as well or better in various testing scenarios.
Because there’s too much content to cover
You may not know this about me, but I worked as an independent contractor for curriculum review for five years. I have read through entire sets of curriculum from start to finish, multiple times. Good curriculum is hard to come by. A few are well developed and already problem-based. Others (and more of them) are more like updated versions of the textbooks we had when we were all in school– a lot of procedural practice, some story problems and not a lot of connection between the topics. I’m willing to bet you are operating with a curriculum that is the latter.
Using project-based learning, you’ll be able to connect multiple topics and go “deep” with the learning rather than wide. We’ve seen for decades that internationally, schools choose depth over breadth when it comes to mathematics and their students are excelling. With the pandemic, we’ve looked to narrow the scope and field of the common core state standards in an effort to prioritize depth over breadth. (Read more about the prioritization in this blog: Curriculum Planning in a Time of COVID-19) So if you have to forgo function composition to help students develop a deeper understanding of modeling real world phenomena with quadratic functions, I’d still call that a net positive.
Because there aren’t many resources learn how to do it
You’ve got me there. While there is an abundance of research and resources available on project-based learning as a pedagogical approach in general (just check Edutopia!), there’s next to none for mathematics. NCTM recently came out with a book, and I’ve seen another teacher authored book on Amazon. Full disclosure, I haven’t had a chance to read them. So if you’ve got the time, you could absolutely check them out (and if you do let me know how they are!)
But what about in your classroom? And with your curriculum? How can you effectively teach math with project-based learning for your specific situation?
What if I told you that you could? And that you could do so and get support in designing your own projects and implementation plan to meet your needs from someone who has been there done that seen it all?
How Plug + Play Project-Based Learning ™ Can Transform Your Classroom
Plug + Play Project-Based Learning™ provides secondary math teachers with a guide to designing projects that effectively reach and teach the students in their classroom. And it’s designed to work with whatever curriculum you’ve got.
Could I just sputter out some ideas for projects for you? Absolutely. Would those project ideas get you epic results? Not necessarily.
With Plug + Play Project-Based Learning™ you get to use YOUR expertise to craft killer project-based learning experience for your students. Let’s explore the elements of project-based learning and help you focus on the essentials to get started successfully.
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