How to lecture in a PBL classroom

by Mike Kaechele

Disclaimer: I teach in a PBL school where every core class follows the PBL process. I am a firm believer in PBL as an excellent application of student-centered, constructivist learning. I believe that PBL is ONE effective way to teach and provides a clear structure for teachers to transition from a teacher-centered to student-centered classroom. I do NOT believe that it is the only way to effectively teach.

In reading comments to John Spencer's post about The Problem with PBL I felt like people have a bit of a narrow view of PBL. It felt like many define it as students engaged in a project, usually inquiry based. PBL at its heart and soul is a process that can include any teaching style in it including simulations, research, individual and group work, and yes even lecturing. So here is how lectures fit into the PBL model.

On a recent project on WWII students were considering the driving question "When is War Just?" They were required to present their findings to the class using the methods of their choice. I team teach with an ELA instructor and part of her requirements was that students submit a bibliography according to the MLA format. Students had done a very poor job of this on a previous project so we asked what we could do to make it better. She had already done whole class and small group, voluntary workshops (PBL lingo for lectures; I know the lingo is overkill, but don't shoot the messenger). Most students had not followed the instructions.

For this project we waited until the day before the project was due and required each group to send one member to the workshop on MLA format. This was very effective because students had their bibliographies "completed" but were able to see in the workshop any mistakes and fix them. This is how lectures are used in PBL-"just in time."

Instead of forcing a lecture on students who are uninterested, PBL encourages students to struggle and get stuck first. Then they can request a workshop on a topic that they need help on. Now they are ready to listen and get the help that they need. Frustration and struggle with a topic creates a need for the teacher lecture. Oftentimes attendance to a workshop is voluntary. Other times a teacher may require certain students to attend based on a formative assessment that shows weakness in a certain area. This allows the lecture to be focused on those students who need it when they need it.

So for those readers who say that PBL is part of a holistic education and not the whole. I am curious what other techniques do you use in the classroom that you do not feel fall under the umbrella of the PBL process?

I Love Lectures (that's why I rarely give them)

by Shelly Blake-Plock

Confession: I love lectures.

Well, good lectures. Delivered by great lecturers.

Back in college, my life literally was changed by a series of lectures on Greek Archaeology. And I've had the fortune to sit before some of the greatest lecturers on the planet. Lecturers who are warm, funny, engaging, and fiercely intelligent. Lecturers who inspire you to push your own intellect beyond its presumed capacity.

But I'm an auditory learner. I know this. I know this is why I listen to NPR several hours a day. I know this is why I love jazz. I know this is why I did so well and learned so much in lecture classes despite the fact that I never took notes.

I also know that in many ways I'm an exception. And so, in my own teaching I use lecture relatively rarely. Instead, I tend to put students on tasks where they're the ones "doing stuff". Or, if I do have to lecture, I try to make the experience as conversational and inclusive as possible. Because I recognize that the way I learn best is not necessarily the same as the way I teach best.

Last night I started following a series of astronomy lectures from the Yale Open Courses. I've long had an interest in astronomy, but had never dedicated any formal coursework to it. Figured I couldn't go wrong beings that the courses are free and all. And so I've gotten through the first two sessions and I have to say I'm enjoying them thoroughly. There's a lot of smart stuff happening there -- both in terms of content and teaching.

First of all, the students are encouraged to learn in groups and then apply what they learned in those groups individually to problems. That makes sense to me and is a basic rule of how I approach teaching a foreign language. Secondly, the professor clearly states that there is no textbook -- because no textbook could keep up with what's actually happening right now in astronomy. Again, this is the same discussion I have with my graduate students when we talk about the state of educational technology. Finally -- and this really hit home for me -- much of the second lecture focuses on how and why mistakes are made in astronomy and what that means. And it was literally exhilarating following the prof as he set up the assumptions later to be knocked down. Throughout it all, the professor relied on nothing more than a notebook, an overhead projector and blank sheets of transparency, a marker, and his voice. And it was brilliant.

And I'm sure it would have bored the hell out of many a student and driven even more to check to see if it was too late to switch classes.

Because not once, despite what we all know is available in glorious color photographs, did the professor even so much as offer an image except for a single overly-Xeroxed black-and-white pic of a fuzzy star. Because not once did the professor attempt to engage even a single student in the hall except perhaps for a brief aside. Not once did the professor suggest the students could follow along with his descriptions via Wikimedia Commons or any of several telescope projects worldwide.

Nonetheless, I was enthralled. Because my type of learning is attuned to his type of teaching. And because I know where to go and how to supplement a lecture as I'm watching it. But if I were a different type of learner, would this presentation of astronomy be beyond my reach? How many kids with a deep love of the stars have felt that those stars were out of reach precisely because their introduction to astronomy looked like this series of lectures?

As teachers, we have to remind ourselves sometimes that our way of thinking is not the way of thinking. We have to remind ourselves that the point of education is not to go through the motions of teaching, but to go through the hard scrabble process of helping someone else learn. It's humbling, really. And speaking for myself, I know that I've got a lot of work to do to improve. Because there's a lot more than equations of speed and distance between our students and those stars.