Chapter 4, Strategies for Discovery

     There are many potential pitfalls in project design. The first includes an activity that is very tedious and involved but contains little in the way of learning outcomes. In order to avoid such a situation, simply look at the size of the involvement of the project and what the learning outcome is. The next pitfall is layering technology onto a traditional approach. This means that although technology is implemented, it is not used in such a way that the overall learning experience is not amplified. Simply assigning students to create a Power Point is not implementing project-based learning. Another potential pitfall is not making the most of thematic units. The book provides the example of using apples as a theme in the fall season; the apples could be used in counting, drawing, etc., but this falls short of really becoming cross-disciplinary or giving students real-world examples. Making apples a rich thematic unit might be to have students learn the process of how apples go from the orchard to their tables. One last pitfall would be to over-script a project with too many steps. One of the many points of project-based learning is to get students to be self-starters, think for themselves about what the next step should be, and get curious about the world around them. Giving students too many preemptive steps hinders that curiosity.
     There are many elements that make a project a good one. Some of the features of a good project include:

• the openness for more than one learning path
• generative
• drive students to ask questions
• create curiosity and involve many details to interest students about their world
• contain realistic elements that cross many disciplines
• involve persons outside of school
• rely on rich resources
•  imply work with others to gain results
• students use methodology similar to professionals
• teach 21st century skills
• build important character traits (confidence, risk-taking, cooperation, etc.)
• give students the opportunity to learn by doing.

     Ideas for projects can come from just about any day-to-day experience. This chapter discusses a few directions to look. These include books, blogs and websites, news stories, contemporary issues, student interests or inquiries, common classroom issues and annoyances, or even a jumble of ideas mixed with new technology or tools. Even if the initial inquiry or question is answered by this project, students will more than likely begin to accumulate more questions, giving way to more and more projects.
     The steps to designing a project are as follows:
1. Make sure you've outlined learning objectives, core subjects, and any other disciplines that will be part of the project. This includes the 21st century skills that will be involved, as well as character traits.
2. Create an assessment or means by which you can evaluate how students are learning and if they're taking away the things you wanted them to learn from the project.
3. Think like a student, and try to visualize what that student (or students) might be interested in, want to learn about, or want to ask about a topic. Make sure that you've created enough of the foundation for the project but are still allowing for flexibility should the focus shift slightly.
4. Make a plan for how you'll introduce the idea to students, and how you'll get them excited about it. An introduction to a project that you've worked hard to plan could make or break it - it all comes down to how you can get your students interested.

     I think the main focus of this chapter relates to our class project because it really helped to give me some tips regarding how to plan lessons and projects for our hypothetical classroom. Sometimes it's difficult to really know how to start planning a project rather than just a lesson with some technology thrown into the mix. Recognizing the potential pitfalls before jumping in with both feet help to maintain caution and avoid some serious errors when creating a project.