I would take two aspects from this.

     When we say, Project Based Learning, or PBL, the thought that comes is a learning experience as per a real-life problem. The ingenuity of the article, "Make Your Own Project-Based Lesson Plan" (Edwards, 2002) is that all the lessons shared focus on skills instead of content. This is because all the lessons instigated the students to share real life problems that they wished to solve and use technology to do research and make a presentation. The one that interested me a lot is the lesson that used maps to build games. This is because a lot of communication skills were used here, which is an area of interest to me. This is also a part of the ATL skills of IB MYP programs (Approaches to teaching and learning, n.d.). There are a number of other skills involved such as investigations, time management, math and product presentation.  I would love to adapt this to my 8^th graders who are at the cusp of adolescence and adulthood.

 I would take two aspects from this:

An authentic problem to be solved.

    I am keen on a problem that covers the local community. India as a developing nation has enormous community-based issues that can be brought into the classroom through the PBL. Some of these are: (a) health care, 

(b) poverty, 

(c) poor roads and 

(d) unreliable internet. 

An interdisciplinary project that goes beyond STEM allows teaching in a pluralistic context (Evans etc., 2014). Through the problem I will try and explore all the ATL skills (Approaches to teaching and learning, n.d.) such as communication, research etc.

 Differentiation of product.

    When a problem is solved in an innovative manner, one need not restrict oneself to a single solution. I would like the students to choose an area of growth in the community, think of a problem to solve and give them the freedom to design the product that they feel is best. This way I would reign in their creativity by differentiation of the product.

 

References

·        Approaches to teaching and learning, (n.d.). https://xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/DP/Group0/d_0_dpatl_gui_1502_1/st atic/dpatl/guide-apr-to-learn.html

·        Edwards, G. J. (2002). Make Your Own Project-Based Lesson Plan. Educator and Curriculum Development Specialist Unlimited Learning, 12–13. http://www.integratelearning.org/Lesson%20Bank/GloriaILearn/lessontemplate.pdf

·        Evans, M., Montemurro, D., Gambhir, M., & Broad, K. (Eds.). (2014). Inquiry into practice: Learning and teaching global matters in local classrooms. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE). http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/UserFiles/File/TEACHING_GLOBAL_MATTER S_FINAL_ONLINE.pdf