How can we shift students from presentations to presentations of learning?
Launch PBL Series
EP1: How can we create an impactful PBL experience?
EP2:What is project-based learning?
EP3: What are the benefits of project-based learning?
EP4: How can we write a quality driving question for a PBL unit?
EP5: How can we foster academic risk-taking during PBL?
EP6: How can we assess students during project-based learning?
EP7: How can we use milestones to track students’ progress during PBL?
EP8: How can we choose an engaging project-based learning topic?
EP9: What is the teachers’ role during project-based learning?
EP10: How can we plan a project showcase without feeling overwhelmed?
EP11: How can we use effective feedback strategies to enhance students’ public products?
EP 12: How can teachers improve their PBL experience through reflection?
EP 13: How can we shift students from presentations to presentations of learning?
One of the final steps of a high-quality PBL unit is for students to showcase their work to share what they learned during the learning experience with an authentic audience, such as their peers, parents, or community members. A showcase or exhibition can be done in various ways depending on the students’ public products and the setting (virtual or in-person).
What are the benefits of students sharing their knowledge publicly?
One difference between project-based assessments and project-based learning is that in PBL, students share their knowledge with an authentic audience. Through PBL, students build oral presentation, public speaking, and communication skills. They also practice 21st-century skills, which will prepare them for life beyond school. Furthermore, public showcases allow students to celebrate their work and give them the sense that their work is valuable and has meaning beyond receiving a grade.
Each year, the National Association of Colleges and Employers releases a short report titled “Attributes Employers Seek on a Candidate’s Resume.” Here are some of the top skills employers seek in new employees, according to the 2021 report:
the ability to work in a team environment
written and verbal communication skills
leadership skills
adaptability skills
interpersonal skills
strong work ethics
initiative flexibility/adaptability
Notice that these skills are necessary for students to present in front of an audience. Students need to be able to communicate, show leadership, and adapt with short notice because they don't know what will happen during their presentation or what kind of questions they will need to answer. During the PBL process, students work with a group and often present as a group as well, so they learn how to work in a team environment. Thus, PBL extends beyond the classroom, allowing students to learn skills that prepare them for their future outside of school.
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Sometimes teachers will plan an interesting way for students to showcase their knowledge to share solutions to their driving question, but they forget to set aside time for students to practice what they will share. This action can lead to students feeling anxious about presenting in front of an audience or seeming unprepared during the presentations. When preparing for a student showcase, make sure to support students through this process. You don't want to put in the effort to plan an event and invite parents and community members, only to have students come across as unprepared to share their knowledge.
To support students, put yourself in their shoes. Feeling anxiety before presentations is common even among teachers. I know teachers who can teach in front of kids every day, but they often decline if asked to present in front of other teachers. To ease student anxiety, have them practice what they will say in advance and prepare answers to possible audience questions. This way, students will feel confident when it is their turn to present at the showcase.
How do we help students shift from presentations to presentations of learning?
You’ve given a presentation or seen someone else give a presentation, so you probably know from firsthand experience that sometimes presentations can be engaging. At other times, they can be dreadful. One way to improve the quality of project-based learning presentations is to transform them from traditional presentations to presentations of learning.
The difference between the two types of presentations comes down to the type of information students share during their showcase. According to the dictionary, the technical definition of the word presentation is “a speech or talk in which a new product idea or a piece of work is shown and explained to an audience."
Typically, during presentations, students share what they produce or their public product, and it's often structured as a one-way lecture. For example, a student’s driving question might be, “How can I share weekly news with kids my age to keep them informed about school events?” In their presentation, students would share the public product they created in response to this question, which could be a school newsletter with updates, a social media campaign if age-appropriate, a new announcement system, or whatever else students developed.
Students will share what they created during a traditional presentation and maybe how they made it, but they will focus mainly on the academic content. However, during presentations of learning, students share both academic, social, and personal growth. Remember that during project-based learning experiences, students ideally receive feedback from various sources throughout the unit. The goal for presentations of learning is for students to share the outcome of their public product and their learning journey.
If you find that students are struggling with presentations of learning, you should also consider how you are structuring student showcases instead of just focusing on improving students' presentation skills. There should be an interaction between the students presenting and audience members to promote student success and make student presentations more meaningful.
The audience's role
One way to increase engagement with the audience is to allow audience members to rotate through different stations. For example, the teachers I worked with on a student showcase at a STEM elementary school decided to split student presentations among three timeframes based on the grade level. Guests of kindergarten through first-grade students visited their stations from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., while second and third-grade guests visited from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and fourth and fifth-grade guests visited from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. As a result, guests could explore the work of more students and see how students at different grade levels approached their projects.
Ensure participants at the showcase, including students, teachers, and facilitators, have an active role so that the presentations are not one-way lectures. Adding roles for all attendees will increase engagement and encourage students to reflect on their learning. The audience member’s role could be to spur discussion by asking students questions about their learning journey.
At the elementary school mentioned previously, teachers had expressed concerns about parents and guests not engaging at the previous showcase. While parents were excited about the students presenting, their responses were mostly vague praises such as "good job." Some general praise from parents is fine but precise praise allows students to reflect on their learning and make adjustments based on feedback.
To prevent this from happening again, the teachers designed question slips to spark engagement if no guest asked a question. Then teachers assigned a student to stand at the door with a bucket that held slips of paper with questions written on them. As guests came into the room, they were encouraged to select a piece of paper, which said, “ask me about…”
Here are some examples of questions audience members can ask students:
What would you have done differently if you did this project again?
What ideas or strategies would you use during the next project?
If given more time or resources, what would you have changed about your product?
Did you consider other solutions to solve the problem?
How did your group work together to complete the project?
You might be wondering how this will work if a showcase has a large audience. If you have 100 guests, there is not enough time for each audience member to ask one question. However, not every audience member needs to ask a question for this strategy to work. You don't need to give a question slip to everyone in the audience. In the example given above, 10-15 questions were distributed. Students answered some of the questions during their presentation before the audience had a chance to ask them. Teachers monitored the timing of the Q&A to close out the event on time. Guests were not limited to the questions on the slips. If they had a question that was not on the slip, they could ask it.
The teacher's role
Teachers reviewed the question slips with each group, and students practiced answering them so that they wouldn't be surprised. As a result, students felt confident on showcase night because they had practiced their presentation of learning and answered the question slips in advance. During student presentations, the teacher's role could be to share insights on student reflections, highlight challenges that students experienced and overcame, or ask the audience to share opinions about the product or ideas for further learning.
At the STEM school’s showcase, the teachers opened the event by providing background information about the project, such as the driving question and the project's purpose. If you have students in higher grade levels, they can provide this information, but sometimes teachers like to welcome guests and set the tone for the event by sharing insights and student reflections. You can also record guests’ comments on students’ public products to reflect on ways to improve support during future project-based learning experiences.
The student's role
Students should present their learning journey to the public. To shift students from traditional presentations to presentations of learning, it’s essential to ask students the right questions that focus on the learning process, not just on the product. Here are some questions to guide students’ presentations of learning:
What problem were you trying to solve?
What solution did you choose to solve the problem?
What did you learn during the project-based learning unit?
What did you do to research or learn more about the problem?
Why does this problem matter, and why is it worth solving?
A consideration to keep in mind is that presentations of learning should go beyond students lecturing the audience by simply explaining their solution or their public product. Students should also share their reflections and how they utilized those reflections to create their solutions. They should explain why they made particular decisions in their work while still building typical presentation skills and hosting an interactive showcase for guests.
Take Action:
What's one component of your project-based learning showcase that you can modify to transition students from delivering traditional presentations to presentations of learning?