A More Authentic Curriculum

One of our goals this year (based on student feedback) is to "connect our classes to the real world." According to student feedback from the climate & culture survey, they loved their CHS experience, but they wanted more "choice" in their learning and they wished our curriculum was more authentic.

For the past two years, I have been observing science classes and I love how teachers have collaborated on a phenomenon-based approach that starts with a claim and then students move to evidence-collecting and reasoning. 

Another approach to creating more real-world assignments is to sprinkle a few problem-based learning assignments throughout the year. For example, when I taught financial literacy, I pretty much taught it in the usual, traditional way. That was until I discovered Teacher College's Cowin Financial Literacy curriculum. In one assignment, students adopted the role of a financial planner to help an NFL player as a way to demonstrate they understood the chapter's main objectives. 

RESOURCES

Of course, creating such comprehensive mini-units or projects is time-consuming and might seem overwhelming. That is why it is important to collaborate with a colleague and plan one together.

I have also the following resources that can assist you in great projects.

  1. Buck's Institute (aka https://www.pblworks.org/) On its website you can find whitepapers on the benefits of performance-based learning. In addition, you can find a Project Library including 70+ standards-based PBL project ideas. They also have resources to support project-based learning.
  2. Edutopia's PBL topic page. Edutopia supports only a few education topics; fortunately, problem-based learning is one of them. Browse through their collection of lessons and videos to find great examples. 
  3. University of Delaware’s PBL Clearinghouse of Activities. One of the first things you need to do is create the problem. Ideally, this will be a real-world situation that resembles something students may encounter in their future careers or lives. Cases are often the basis of PBL activities. Previously developed PBL activities can be found at their clearinghouse.  
  4. Google Digital Skills Curriculum. Although this platform is more about using Google suite tools, it is a GREAT example of PBLs. Use the filter to find projects in your content specialty. 


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