What role does reflection play in the PBL process?
Improving PBL Series
EP1: What are the steps to becoming an impactful PBL educator?
EP2: How can we use portfolios to enhance our teaching practice?
EP3: How can we elevate our PBL unit with community partners?
EP4: How can we create a memorable experience via project-based learning?
EP5: How can we teach standards and implement project-based learning?
EP6: What role does reflection play in the PBL process?
EP7: How can we create a dynamic group culture during project-based learning?
EP8: How can students support a cause via project-based learning?
EP9: How can we promote STEM education via project-based learning?
EP10: How can we get students excited about the project-based learning topic?
EP11: What type of creative artifacts/public products can students create via project-based learning?
EP12: How can we write a project-based learning unit?
EP13: How can we write a compelling scenario for a PBL unit?
Recently I’ve heard from many of you that listen to the podcast, attend my workshops, or communicate with me on LinkedIn that you're finishing up a project-based learning unit. I've been checking in with past and current members of the Impactful PBL Network to hear updates. I love to listen to what's working, what's not working, and what you're learning.
I know it can be easy to wrap up a project-based learning unit and immediately move on without really having closure. When this happens, it can lead to feeling like PBL was just "a thing we did that one time."
If we want to build a robust PBL culture in classrooms, we must do some practices consistently. Reflection is a critical practice to implement. I often hear from teachers that they skip the reflection process due to timing, but trust me, making time for reflection is essential.
Some educators don't see the importance of reflection. This way of thinking can stem from a few different places.
It’s possible that the teacher rarely intentionally reflects on their lives personally or professionally.
It's possible that because there isn't a grade attached to reflecting, the reflection process can feel insignificant.
Some teachers may be unsure what reflection should look, sound, and feel like in their classroom.
If you're a teacher who doesn't incorporate reflection, ask yourself why. Is it one of the reasons that I shared? Or is it something else?
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I often hear educators express that learning should be more than just earning a good grade. I listen to them complain that test results don't reveal a holistic view of student learning. I hear their frustration with students that only care about the grade that they receive.
But if we step back and think about it - we (meaning educators, parents, and other caring adults) often foster this way of thinking. It may be unintentional, but I can name a dozen ways that we contribute to this grade focused attitude we see in our students.
I want to focus on just one way that's relevant to this article: When teachers end a project abruptly without closure, it often contributes to the idea that "only grades matter." The situation often looks like this:
A class spends weeks exploring a PBL topic. Maybe things went exactly as planned, or perhaps they didn't. (And by the way, it's completely normal to experience challenges and need to make modifications during a PBL unit. It's actually part of the learning process for students and teachers.) After spending weeks on a PBL experience, you are ready to move on, so you skip the reflection process. Students turn in their public product (hopefully, they've had a chance to share it with an authentic audience besides their classmates), they get a grade, and they move on to the next unit.
What did that unit ending just model? This common scenario models that you create something to get a grade. In this situation, the students didn't reflect on their experiences. They didn't reflect on what they discovered about the content, themselves, peers, society, or the problem itself. They simply did the work and received a grade.
Can you see now why students might begin to think that grades are all that matter? And this is just one example of many.
But here’s the thing - project-based learning is more than just creating a cool product to display around the school. It's more than saying, "Look, we do PBL here!" Project-based learning is more than work that's done for a grade.
If you want to understand the foundation of project-based learning, it's essential to look at the learning theory behind it, which is constructivism.
There are two approaches to constructivism:
Cognitive constructivism-The constructivism learning theory states that learners construct new knowledge by building on prior knowledge and experiences. As learners gain more data, they're able to make predictions.
Social constructivism- In addition to constructing new knowledge by building on prior knowledge, learning is also gained through human interaction (ex: collaboration, group work, etc.).
Project-based learning aligns with the social constructivism theory. Students work together to gain new experiences and, in turn, develop new knowledge. When you understand how students learn, you can see why reflecting on their experiences throughout the PBL unit is so important.
We know that part of learning is building upon what you already know. We also know that being able to look at a situation and think about your past experience, your current experience, and what you might change in the future is part of learning as well.
In John Dewey’s book, How We Think? which he wrote in 1910, he states that:
To reflect means to think deeply or carefully about something. A reflection is a thought or an idea about something developed in meditation.
Sometimes your thoughts lead you to think about what you might have done differently or how you could have achieved a different outcome.
In phase nine of the Impactful PBL Roadmap™, we plan how to lead students through the reflection process. As we think about what role reflection plays in project-based learning, let's first consider some benefits of self-reflection.
It allows students to see the importance of their own learning process.
It helps with process recognition, meaning that students can identify what they did well and need to change.
It provides students an opportunity to develop solutions and strategies that would improve their learning.
It plays a role in student motivation.
It motivates students to learn and enjoy the process of learning, and this motivation comes from them reflecting on their thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
It helps students understand why they need to learn the skills, concepts, or theories that we're exploring.
As a middle school math teacher, my students often asked, why do I need to learn this? Mrs. McCain, will I ever use this in real life? Is this a waste of time? When students reflect on their learning, they see connections to real life and begin to understand why what they're learning is relevant and vital.
We can help students build a reflective practice by using a variety of strategies and techniques:
Journaling
Rubrics
Watching teachers model thinking aloud
Video responses
Reflect after receiving feedback
Surveys
Talking with peers about their experience
Exit tickets
Writing prompts
Sentence starters
KWL type charts
Online discussions
As you can see, the list goes on and on! We want them to reflect before learning new concepts while learning new concepts, and after learning them.
Choosing which reflection questions to use depends on your goal for the reflection process.
If you want to help students become more aware of how they learn, you may ask questions such as:
What class activities help you understand the most?
What skills or strategies did you use to help you understand this content?
If you want to help students see the growth in their learning, you may ask questions such as :
How can you show that you met this learning objective?
What did you learn this week?
If you want to help students take responsibility for their learning, you may ask questions like:
The next time you get to do this activity, what would you change to improve your outcome?
Why might learning this skill be important?
If you want to help students focus on social-emotional skills, then you may ask questions like:
What was a challenge you had this week?
How did you try to overcome that challenge?
I want to point out that reflection shouldn't just occur at the end of a project-based learning unit. I would suggest, at minimum, that students should reflect at the end of the PBL experience. However, reflective practices can be embedded throughout the experience and included as formative assessments.
Remember, reflection is a crucial part of the learning process. It allows students to connect past experiences to particular outcomes, which impact future decisions. Reflective students are able to build upon prior knowledge to construct new knowledge.
Reflection also invites students to make deeper connections with the concepts they are exploring. Reflecting on learning experiences can provide meaning and purpose for what may originally feel like- just another school assignment.
Take Action:
With all this in mind, what can you do this week? Whether or not you are in the middle of a PBL unit, build in time for students to reflect on their learning. Reflection could be a weekly five-minute practice in your classroom.
Plan when and how students will engage in a reflective process.
Be prepared to provide structure. Consider providing reflection questions or guiding students through a reflective protocol.
Initially, start small with quick ways for them to reflect. You can elaborate on your reflection methods as students become more familiar with the process.
Read next > How can we create a dynamic group culture during project-based learning?