This is going to be the first of a series of commentary posts on the types of problems that I help teachers learn to use to teach math with problem-based learning. The type of PBL that I am a supporter of is what I call Relational Problem-Based Learning in which the construction of knowledge comes […]
One issue that seems to arise after teachers have been teaching with PBL for some time is the question of how students can remain active learners while listening, taking notes, comparing solutions, being engaged in discussion, etc. All student-centered mathematics classrooms now have this issue don’t they? Can a student learn well when they are […]
I’ve heard from a few people who are interested in my online journal course – so sorry that I took it down. What was happening is I wasn’t getting enough income to support the course on the platform that I had created it on. So right now I am working on an alternative approach. Hang […]
I have been doing a lot more work with teachers this year as I am not in the classroom. I love watching people teach and talking to them about their teaching. It is clearly a passion for so many people and the modeling of lifelong learning has been so inspirational for me and their students. […]
One of the things that I have been thinking about for a very long time is the idea of those who oppose PBL. Namely those who prescribe to behaviorist and cognitive scientist theories of learning, which I know a great deal about because of my doctoral work. So many teachers, parents and others have asked […]
So I’m here down in Florida – loving it (all sing-songy like Oprah would say). I’ve been to so many talks that have been great learning experiences so far. The weather is beautiful – I went for a very long walk and tried to think about what my talk was missing. I did a bunch […]
I just wanted to respond to a really great question that someone asked on Twitter the other day. This is a common concern of teachers starting out with the idea of PBL. What does “Class Discussion” mean, first of all? I would agree that discussion does “eat up valuable” time in class on a daily […]
Teaching the “Distance Formula” with PBL
As I write curriculum, I am constantly scouring the Internet for ideas and ways to improve my own work, as we all do. I was just on the NCTM resources page the other day at their “Reasoning and Sense Making Task Library” and found this description of a task called “As the Crow Flies”: “The […]