Disadvantages For Project Based Learning

The Case for Project-Based Learning

“From the very beginning, children are all about moving and doing, and not so much sitting and listening”. Christine Kuglen, founder of Innovations Academy in Scripps Ranch, CA, uses this phrase every year as she meets the parents of potential new students. Her goal is to introduce the parents to the school’s approach to education; project-based learning, or PBL. Project-based learning gets kids into the moving and doing that comes naturally to them. Here, we will explore the up sides - and yes, the possible downsides - to PBL. We will see how PBL can affect a child’s social, emotional, and academic development. In the next few pages, we will make the case for project-based learning.

In traditional learning

Reference.com says that “Traditional education strives to give each student thorough knowledge in basic math, science, reading and social studies….Standardization keeps the majority of students at the same learning level throughout their formative years.” (Reference.com). Many parents may also be of the belief that only traditional schooling is free, and that specialized learning like PBL is cost prohibitive. Reference.com has an article that notes “Parents who send children to traditional public schools are not required to pay an annual tuition for their education. Free access to schooling allows a majority of children to benefit from a basic education”.

Through PBL, they learn to collaborate and resolve conflicts. Because of the necessity for group work on projects, students also experience diversity in gender, ethnicity and skills. They gain a higher self-esteem and better retention. According to ISTE, “Modern research, conducted since the 1990s, further backs the value of the PBL approach to learning and shows that it gives students a range of additional gains, including increased student achievement, stronger motivation to learn and mastery of critical-thinking skills.” (ISTE)

Project based learning is easily incorporated into the ever-broadening world of technology supported learning. A teacher can conveniently use such technology tools such as Chromebooks, tablets, digital cameras, interactive whiteboards and the internet into both their teaching and the research and presentation of the students’ projects. (Edutopia) In making the case for Project Based Learning, we show that this learning style helps students benefit in a multitude of ways. It helps with engagement, retention, and cooperation. Project based learning gets kids moving and doing, instead of sitting and listening. It exposes the student to different activities, topics and demographics that they might otherwise have little to no experience with. Project based learning brings education to kids in a way that is natural to them, and allows them to not only learn, but love