Problem/Project Base Learning (PBL): Collaboration

Students will engage in a large number of Project/Problem Base Learning (PBL) in the coming days of school. To complete these projects and solve these problems with strength, students will have to collaborate. Jo Boaler, in her book, Mathematical Mindsets, provides solid evidence with regard to the advantage of teaching students how to collaborate and giving them lots of opportunity to practice that skill as they learn.

With upcoming projects and Boaler's research in mind, students will focus on collaboration today
as they prepare for this week's nature walk. Though the walk is not an exact PBL experience, it is a learning experience led by the question, "What organisms and nonliving items make up the Dudley Brook ecosystem?" Students will choose roles and together we'll think about how those roles match this week's exploration. We'll use the roles later as we complete a number of STEAM and nature explorations too.

To prepare for this work, I revised the roles which are visible on the images on this page as well as on this document. I hope to build explicit ways to teach and promote optimal collaboration at the end of this school year and next year as I know that this is one way to help students learn with strength, confidence, and community.

What do you do to build and develop collaboration in your
classroom? What roles do you use? How can similar roles morph and change to meet multiple collaborative tasks across discipline? These will be questions I'll continue to consider in the days ahead. I look forward to your ideas and experiences in this regard.

Note:
With regard to the design process, I hope to use this document to lead students work and effort.

This Mindshift article relates exactly to this post. It's the first time I've read about the term "complex instruction," and I think it matches well to my thoughts about classroom choreography.