How to Assess Student Understanding in Project-Based Learning
True Project-based Learning is absolutely inspiring! Instead of teaching as isolated classrooms, teaching becomes a team effort. I can’t help but think of all the amazing things we can do in a school with PBL. When teachers work as a team, I see the potential of amazing differentiation. Lessons move from teaching isolated standards to integrating standards across the curriculum to enhance and deepen learning and understanding.
I love the idea Isselhardt talks about when he mentions the necessity of creating a standards map that allows teachers to cluster standards and create a “Path” for learning (2013). This allows learning to become more cohesive. Standards become applicable rather than memorized facts.
Wiggins puts it perfectly when he states that education’s main purpose should be to deepen student’s understanding (2015). Albert Einstein sums it up when he says, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think” (n.d. ,2017). Understanding by Design makes that transformation possible. Teachers might think that adopting this system for teaching would make it harder to assess student understanding, but that is not the case. Understanding by Design better showcases student’s understanding. Learning moves from a disassociated memorization of facts, to an applicable deepened understanding of the standards. Wiggins says,
Students reveal their understanding most effectively when they are provided with complex, authentic opportunities to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and self-assess. When applied to complex tasks, these “six facets” provide a conceptual lens through which teachers can better assess student understanding (2015).
Curriculum also undergoes a facelift in UbD. The curriculum map is directed by student feedback and formative assessment. Instruction is informed by student results rather than moving on to make it through the textbook. Projects continue until understanding is obtained (What is UbD,2015).
I love what Gee says about teaching students to not only problem solve, but do so collaboratively. He explains that a collaborative group should work so well that, “the group is smarter than the smartest person in the group” (James Paul Gee,2010). This idea connects perfectly back to Constructivism that explains students can achieve more through scaffolded learning. When students used shared knowledge, they are able to achieve more (O’Donnell, 2012). Gee also says that learning becomes not only collaborative, but innovative. Students are able to “innovate with the tools you’ve learned and not just do the standard solution to problems” (James Paul Gee,2010). This idea transforms assessments from a formal test, to the application of knowledge. Gee explains that games “do not separate learning and assessment. They don’t say learn some stuff and then later we’ll take a test. They’re giving you feedback all the time”(2010). This is how our project-based assessments should be. The learning through the project is proof of their understanding. If they are able to create the project, then they exhibited their understanding.
Project-based assessments could utilize rubrics that assess project completion, collaboration, effort, product produced, etc., instead of questions answered right on the test. Assessed knowledge could also be seen through class discussions and presentations. Are the students able to discuss their project and explain what they did to create it? Teaching content requires a deeper understanding of a topic, therefore if students are able to explain their process, then they have learned. Not only will they have learned, but they will have understood. I think the minute difference between learning and understanding is application. When we ask our students to apply their knowledge, that is when true understanding comes. Assessments should transform from percentages on a test to application in a project. We should teach to understand, not teach to ace a test.
References:
Isselhardt, P. E. (2013, February 11). Creating Schoolwide PBL Aligned to Common Core. Retrieved April 27, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/PBL-aligned-to-common-core-eric-isslehardt
(n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/05/28/not-facts/
What is UbD™? (2015). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from http://www.authenticeducation.org/ubd/ubd.lasso
O’Donnell, A. (2012). Constructivism. In APA Educational Psychology Handbook: Vol. 1. Theories, Constructs, and Critical Issues. K. R. Harris, S. Graham, and T. Urdan (Editors-in-Chief). Washgington, DC: American Psychological Association. DOI: 10.1037/13273-003.
James Paul Gee on Grading with Games. (2010, July 20). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from https://youtu.be/JU3pwCD-ey0
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