Learning Tasks for Tuesday, April 1

Essential Question:  How does Project-Based Learning teach 21st Century skills?

Objectives:  I can...
-research current issues affecting society.
-define Project-Based Learning.

1.  Writing into the Day

2. Introduction to Project-Based Learning

PBL:  Real-world projects for applied, collaborative learning... not for an individual product!

• Create a Google Doc and title it "Unit 3 PBL - [Your Name]"
• Using credible web sources, write a definition of project-based learning.
• List at least five characteristics of PBL.
• Have you ever participated in PBL in any of your classes (past or present)?  Explain.  If not, does PBL sound like an effective way for you to learn?  Why or why not?

3.  Brainstorming Current Issues

1. Spend five minutes researching and listing current issues affecting society.  List as many as you can in your Google Doc... think both big and small!!! 
2. Using classroom charts, categorize each issue from your list under the level(s) of society that it affects: local, national, and/or global.  Some issues might be listed under more than one level.  For instance, global warming obviously occurs at a global level, but doesn't it also have local consequences?  Hmmm... Think about it!
3. Look around- what patterns do you notice? Which issues appear on all three charts? On only one chart?
4. Using the LucidChart app in Google Docs, create a cluster chart demonstrating how these issues are connected.  Consider the people they affect, the locations in which they occur, the nature of the issue (e.g. environmental, social, political,...) etc.

3.  Career-Focus
Select three of the issues on the walls that a person in your intended career field might be interested in.  Select one of these issues and write a TPEQEA paragraph explaining how someone in your career field would address that problem.

4. Vote!

On a notecard, indicate your first and second choice of an issue to address with our PBL projects.  You will be working on this project for about two weeks, so be sure to put thought into it!  Based on your responses, I will organize you into peer groups.  Groups will be announced during class Thursday.

5.  Exit Ticket

Look back at the Career-Focus issues you selected.  How interested would you be in working with those issues? Rate your interest from 1 (Not at All Interested) to 10 (Super Interested!).