Monday, November 12, 2012

Problem-Based Learning for Life: Engaging High School Students using the SC ATE Approach



“Yesterday when we were starting the careers project, the students were looking up salary information on the computer. They kept seeing all these internships and asking, ‘Mr. Bell, where do I find out about internships?’ And I kept telling them, ‘That’s what tomorrow is all about.’
 That level of career interest is not something most people expect from students who are not bound for a four-year college or university. But it is something that South Florence High School science and physics teacher Andrew Bell sees all the time.We caught up with Bell as he was taking high school juniors and seniors to meet with representatives from South Carolina Advanced Technological Education (SC ATE) on a tour of the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SiMT) at Florence-Darlington Technical College.
SiMT boasts a modern, state-of-art rapid-prototyping facility – the kind of facility that sparks the imagination of students considering careers as technicians. Also sparking students’ imagination was Progress Energy Power Careers Coordinator Lee McCollum, who discussed career and internship possibilities with the students.
Engaging High School Students with Problem-Based Learning
“I’ve always been geared more towards the project stuff,” says Bell, who wanted to use toothpick bridges and mousetrap cars and roller coasters in class. “I wasn’t one of these  ‘Here’s the math, here’s your assignment’ people. I was more like, ‘Here’s the math, and here’s how it fits the real world.”
That made SC ATE’s Technology Gateway curriculum and Bell a good match. “I went to the first Instructional Leadership Institute (ILI) several years ago. It was impressive to see this program already mapped out, along with how to actually teach it.”
Nurturing Problem-Based Learning
Growing the problem-based learning program at South Florence High School has taken time and patience. The first year, local officials were supportive, but other obstacles intervened. After some time, however, Bell was able to introduce PBL concepts into the curriculum. And it seemed to work well with the students.
Bell started with freshmen and sophomores in Physical Science. “Some things lined up really well with simple machines and electronics.” Now, some three years later, the program has spread to Conceptual Physics, a course that does not count as a lab science for a four-year college, but it does count as a science for graduation. That allows Bell the freedom to run the course almost fully as a problem-based class.
Besides the technical careers project and simple machines unit, Bell will also use the vehicle safety systems project that was developed at last year’s Instructional Leadership Institute. “They develop a new safety system for vehicles, and we test it with eggs simulating the human body. And if they crack during the first test, they have to go back and start again. Then they have a second test, and a third. And if they fail, they have to go back to square one.” The models are relatively small, the size of a mousetrap car. Students can try things like using egg cartons or a foam deployment system. That way they can see whether foam is as good as a seatbelt or an airbag, or if foam is better. Or they might come up with their own idea and see whether it can work.
Eventually, Bell hopes to build an entire PBL teaching team. “Three years ago, [math teacher Shawn] Fischer attended the Instructional Leadership Institute. Then last year we had [English teacher Kevin] Smith attend. So now we do have a math, an English, and a science person.” The goal is to emulate college-level problem-based learning with STEM components in a high school environment to better prepare students for further training and successful careers as technicians.
Lessons Learned
Bell has learned a few lessons about problem-based learning.
• Problem-based learning pushes students to learn more deeply. “It was always kind of fun to see them come in imagining that it was going to be easy. When they would actually get into it, they would say ‘This is a lot harder.’ But the students enjoyed working in pairs and teams, and it ultimately forced them to learn more than they thought they could.
• Problem-based learning creates better communicators. From the beginning, Bell’s students haven’t just created projects, they have presented projects. They have purged ums and ahs from their
vocabulary and developed a professional bearing. Written progress reports and lab reports are the essence of the curriculum, not an add-on.
• Problem-based learning creates team players. From the beginning, Bell has his students act and work together as a team. “Each person has a part and reports back, which is also very good for keeping the students accountable to one another as well as to me.”
• Problem-based learning makes students more ready for the workplace. At the end of a project, students have to evaluate each other’s contribution. “It helps, I think, for the real world, too,” says Bell, because students learn what real-world employers are looking for.
Thomas Andrew Bell is a science teacher at South Florence High School in Florence, South Carolina.

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