Working with project-based learning in the Danish public school system is a perfect match. We have a tradition of involving students, and the school's staff places great importance on students' well-being. We have a broad range of subjects that aim to provide students with academic skills and insights to choose further education. However, over the past few years, I myself, have been challenged with many different subjects. While during my teacher training, I saw the many subjects as pedagogical security, where I "only" must teach in a specific subject area. Since then, I have started to view many subjects as a straitjacket for teachers' creativity.
Imagine a team meeting where teachers are in the process of planning a new project. The team goes through a creative process selected and facilitated by a team member. There is energy and creativity in the room. The problem is not finding an idea for the next project; it is choosing among the many good ideas. The process facilitator continues tirelessly and helps the team through a selection process, leaving them with one topic, a draft of an engaging question, and a product that students will create during the course.
The team has settled on the engaging question: "What makes a boat float?"
The product students should produce is a boat made of paper and duct tape that can be sailed by two students.
Idea development continues, and there is a lot of energy in the project. However, after 10 minutes, challenges begin to emerge. How many subjects can we actually incorporate into the project? After another ten minutes, the team has come up with two additional products:
A history podcast about the use of boats in exploration.
An English news segment about the Bermuda Triangle.
There is agreement that it makes sense – we can incorporate Danish, English, and history into the project. The question is whether the project improved with these new additions?
With project-based education, we want students to create products through in-depth subject exploration that provides them with academic insights to answer the engaging question. However, my personal experience is that as teachers, we often get caught up in the many individual subject goals and invent products that revolve around the overarching theme (in this case boats) but don't actually help students answer the engaging question.
A place to begin
To support the individual teams in the development of projects, we have developed a Product Iteration Tool that can assist the team in the continuous development and adjustment of product ideas. The goal of the tool is for the team to go through five simple steps to further develop their ideas so that the products are more closely related to the engaging question, ensure student involvement, and allow for feedback processes throughout the creation.
For a walkthrough of the tool, please watch the following short video.
Try using the product iteration tool to shed light on your current or upcoming project. It can be helpful to bring together two teams so that fresh perspectives are brought to the project.
Skuldre vi står på/Shoulders to stand on
The model has been developed with inspiration from several other iterative models. I have personally enjoyed and been greatly inspired by Ole Sejer Iversen's ideas from the book En designtilgang til teknologiforståelse.
By Jonas Lynggaard
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