This document discusses challenge-based learning, which involves students solving open-ended problems and challenges. It defines challenge-based learning and compares it to other forms of project-based learning. The document outlines key aspects of designing challenge-based learning projects, including establishing essential questions, developing performance assessments, and scaffolding learning through various stages of student autonomy. Resources for challenge-based learning are also provided.
1. Challenge-Based Learning
for Responsible
and Engaged Learners
Bill Dolton
Adjunct Faculty, Wilkes University
Educational Technology Consultant, William Dolton LLC
Retired Supervisor of Educational Technology, LMSD
bill@doltonroad.com
2. Agenda
• What is Challenge-Based Learning?
• Project Rubric & Larger Context
Big Idea &
Essential Questions
Scaffold Performance
Design Assessment
• Sharing & Next Steps
14. Matrix of Essential Questions
Overarching Topical
• broad and deep • stimulate inquiry
• open & alive; lasting & • deepen understanding
Open
recurring • not answerable by unit
• cut across unit, course, & end
often subject boundaries
• cut across unit, course, • unit-specific
Guiding
and often subject • yield one or several
boundaries definitive or settled core
• yield one or more understandings
desired understandings
-- from Wiggins and McTighe, UbD 2nd ed., p. 116
15. Scope/Intent Insights
• Topical questions are necessary to focus on unit understanding
but not sufficient for transfer or connections beyond the unit
• Overarching/Open questions alone cannot link to core
curriculum and can result in aimless discussion or frustrate
students
• Guiding questions alone can stifle intellectual freedom, inhibit
student questions, and limit deep understanding
• Topical questions must be explicitly matched with Overarching
questions to be essential and lead students to on-going inquiry
16. Misconception Alert
• A Leading Question is answerable by just
remembering what was said or read, or
knowing where to find the answer
• A Topical Question demands analysis,
interpretation, and construction of
arguments — in other words, real thought,
not just recall
• The CONTEXT of use in the
classroom is the key difference
17. The best units offer
“a delicate mix of open and
guiding as well as topical and
overarching inquiries ...
show[ing] that intellectual
freedom and creativity are
valued alongside the most
powerful insights of experts.”
–Wiggins and McTighe, UbD 2nd ed., p. 118
18.
19. Essential Questions Questions
Matrix of Essential Worksheet
Overarching Topical
• broad and deep • stimulate inquiry
• open & alive; lasting & • deepen understanding
Open
recurring • not answerable by unit
• cut across unit, course, & end
often subject boundaries
• cut across unit, course, • unit-specific
Guiding
and often subject • yield one or several
boundaries definitive or settled core
• yield one or more understandings
desired understandings
-- from Wiggins and McTighe, UbD 2nd ed., p. 116
20. Sample Questions
• What are numerators and denominators?
• How can I be healthy?
• What are the parts of a cell?
• How did early explorers change the world?
• How can we make a difference?
• In what ways does our constitution protect our
rights?
24. Principles of Effective
Assessment
Photo Album vs. Snapshot
Match Measures with Goals
Knowing is binary;
25. Principles of Effective
Assessment
Photo Album vs. Snapshot
Match Measures with Goals
Knowing is binary;
Understanding is a matter of degree.
26. Like the judicial system,
we need a
“preponderance of evidence”
to convict students of
learning!
–Jay McTighe
27. Inauthentic Work Authentic Work
Fill in the blank Conduct research using primary sources
Select an answer from given choices Debate a controversial issue
Answer recall questions at end of chapter Conduct a scientific investigation
Solve contrived problems Solve “real-world” problems
Practice decontextualized skills Interpret literature
Diagram sentences Do purposeful writing for an audience
–from Tomlinson & McTighe, Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design, p. 68
28. Characteristics of
Performance Tasks
• Realistically contextualized
• Requires judgment and innovation
• Student must “do” the subject
• Replicates situations that “test” adults
• Negotiating a complex, multi-stage task
• Opportunities to rehearse & get feedback
–from UbD, 2nd ed., pp. 153-155
29. Using GRASPS
• Goal
• Role
• Audience
• Situation
• Product, Performance, and Purpose
• Standards & Criteria for Success
32. Significance of Results
• Criterion-referenced against standards and
benchmarks
• Comparison with Diagnostic Assessment to
demonstrate growth
• Both contribute to significance
33. Assessment Checklist
• Aligned with Standards, Understandings, &
Essential Questions
• Performance-based context
• Authentic situation (student perspective)
• Variety of formats or modes of response
involving some student choices
• Established criteria
• Tasks demonstrate understanding
36. Scope
Small Project Ambitious Project
Duration 5 to 10 days Semester
Multiple Disciplines
Breadth 1 Topic, 1 Standard
& Standards
Technology Limited Extensive
Outreach Classroom-based Community-based
Multiple Teachers &
Partnership One Teacher
Community
Audience Classroom, School Expert Panel
37. Student Role
Limited Maximum
Student Input Student Input
Teacher selects Teacher solicits Students select
topic student input topic
Teacher crafts Students
Students develop
essential personalize
questions
questions questions
Teacher defines Teacher & Students define
learning students learning
outcomes negotiate outcomes
38. Student Autonomy
Limited Maximum
Student Autonomy Student Autonomy
Teacher defines Students define
Teacher solicits
products and products and
student input
activities activities
Teacher controls Students are Students
timeline and pace given some determine
of the project choices timeline and pace
40. Resources
• Challenge-Based Learning
http://ali.apple.com/cbl
• Intelhttp://www.intel.com/education/elements
Teach Elements
• Buckhttp://www.pbl-online.org
Institute for Education
• Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning
• Project-Based Learning wiki
https://lmsd-pbl.wikispaces.com
41. Challenge-Based Learning
for Responsible
and Engaged Learners
Bill Dolton
Adjunct Faculty, Wilkes University
Educational Technology Consultant, William Dolton LLC
Retired Supervisor of Educational Technology, LMSD
bill@doltonroad.com
Notas do Editor
In effective assessments, we see a match between the type or format of the assessment and the needed evidence of achieving the desired results. If the goal is for students to learn basic facts and skills, then paper-and-pencil tests and quizzes generally provide adequate and efficient measures. However, when the goal is deep understanding, we rely on more complex performances to determine whether our goal has been reached. The graphic below reveals the general relationship between assessment types and the evidence they provide for different curriculum targets.
Click for “Knowing is binary”
Click again for “Understanding is a matter of degree”
Click for “Knowing is binary”
Click again for “Understanding is a matter of degree”
See handout (no page number) on rear of next sheet following p. 190
Assessment checklist immediately following Slide p. 52.
Often projects involve field research, interviews, library visits, and community inquiry.
Scope should be determined before projects start.
Consider student experience/readiness, schedule, subject/content, teacher comfort/expertise
from Buck Institute
Developmental and readiness considerations
from Buck Institute