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Accessing Project Based Learning

Page history last edited by seanh7802@... 5 years, 10 months ago

 

Assessing Project-Based Learning

 

Project Objectives:
-Students will know the relationship between consumers (in the product market) and producers (in the factor market), and the circular flow of resources. 
-Students will also learn basic economic concepts such as scarcity, market systems, market economies, economic institutions, and free trade and voluntary exchange. 
-Students will create visuals and make an oral presentation of their recommendations.

Project Description:
This activity poses the scenario of a television reality show producer who wants to change careers and manufacture athletic shoes. Completely green to economics, he enlists the help of his economics-major daughter and her friends to explain preliminary concepts of the relationship between manufacturers and consumers. Through this project-based learning task, students will become familiar with the role of resources and the relationship between consumers and manufacturers.

Grade 9 Economics

 Exceeds Standards 5Meets Standards 3Does Not Meet Standards 1
Definition of the Problem 
Key Aspects:
The relationship between the production and consumption of products in the marketplace
Describes the problem clearly, accurately and completely in all key aspects. Solution to the problem is completely consistent with the scenario as presented.
Describes the problem clearly and accurately in all key aspects.
Solution to the problem is generally consistent with the scenario as presented.
Does not describe the problem clearly, accurately and/or completely in one or more key aspects. Solution to the problem is not consistent with the scenario as presented
Knowledge of Economics 
Key Terms and Concepts:
Market economies, through price and profits, will determine
-What type of shoe will get produced
-How shoes will be produced
-Who will get the shoes (how many shoes will be produced)
What gets produced in a market economy is largely determined by consumer preferences and cost of production.
Producers consider costs of resources when deciding what to produce.
All key economic terms and concepts are explained accurately and in detail
All key economic terms and concepts are explained accurately
Some or all key economic terms and concepts are explained inaccurately, or omitted
Oral Presentation Skills
Presentation is appropriate in length; it is not redundant, wordy, nor too brief in any aspect. 
Presentation is clearly organized and flows well with effective transitions; it is not rushed or drawn-out. 
Presentation is professional in style; it features appropriate dress, posture, and gestures; a clear, strong, expressive voice; frequent eye contact; responds to cues from the audience.
Presentation may be a bit too brief or too lengthy in some aspects; maybe somewhat wordy or repetitive.
Presentation is organized; some parts may be somewhat unclear, too brief or too lengthy.
Presentation is mature in style and features appropriate dress, posture, and gestures; a clear voice, some eye contact, shows some awareness of the audience.
Presentation is not long enough to cover the material.
Presentation lacks organization.
Presentation style is unprofessional and/or immature; does not feature appropriate dress, posture, and gestures; a clear, strong, expressive voice; frequent eye contact; awareness of the audience.
Group Participation
All team members participate for about the same length of time.
All team member participate, but not equally.
Not all team member participate; only one or two speak.
Visual Aids
Visual aids use accurate information and enhance the presentation by addressing key economic concepts.
Visual aids' layout, color, design elements, headings, and text are carefully done and professional-looking; all information is clearly readable and understandable.
Visual aids use accurate information and support the presentation by addressing key economic concepts.
Visual aids' layout, color, graphic elements, headings, and text show some care was taken; significant information is clearly readable and understandable.
Visual aids have correct information and/or distract from the presentation, and/ or do not address key economic concepts.
Visual aids' layout, color, graphic elements, headings, and text show little evidence that care was taken; significant information is unclear or not understandable.

*Rubric was created with Quick Rubric- https://www.quickrubric.com/r#/qr/seanh/my-shoe-company2  

*( Bellisimo, Larmer, Maxwell,  & Mergendollar, 2010, p. 53)

 

 

Project Monitoring and Feedback Plan

 

1. The project is introduced to the class, and students read through the project rubric. The rubric will be discussed in detail in the final stages of the project.

 

2. The project is launched with a realistic problem-solving scenario that is presented through a letter.  As a whole class, students will discuss to come up with the Driving Question which focuses on the exact problem they need to resolve. The Driving Question is revisited as the problem evolves and rewritten as necessary. The Knowledge Inventory is conducted at the beginning of the project and revised throughout. This is used to keep track of what is known about the problem to be resolved and what needs to be known in order to resolve it. This can be done as a whole class and teachers can use chart paper or computer to record items for each class' unique "know" and "need to know" list. Once items from the "need to know" list are "known" they are moved to the "know" list, so students can see that they are learning key information and skills to help them resolve the problem. 

 

2. The teacher will provide mini-lessons throughout the project. Students will use the lessons to revisit their Knowledge Inventory to either cross out information learned or add new items to the "need to know" list. 

 

3. In order to monitor whether students are learning the concepts, the teacher will implement several formative assessments throughout the course of the project. Each student will have a Project Log or journal which will include notes on the process of learning, comments on how well they or their groups are working, or reflections on content-related topics. The Project Log entries will be checked frequently (2 times a week) to find out what students do and do not know in order to plan further instruction. 

 

4. The teacher will also administer pop quizzes time to time to assess their understanding of an economic concept.

 

5.Once students are in the final stages of their project and preparing for their visual presentation, there will be a final whole-class discussion of the items on the know/need to know list. The purpose of the discussion is to identify and final questions or issues that still need to be addressed. 

 

6. The teacher will share the rubric with students to guide their work. The rubric will be handed out to each group and displayed on the computer projector for everyone to see. The teacher will go over each section making sure that students understand they will be assessed primarily on their knowledge of economics. 

 

7. The teacher will listen to student presentations and use the rubric to help note any areas of weakness that reveal incomplete or incorrect understanding of key economic concepts.

 

8. The teacher will conduct a debrief to clarify and consolidate students' understanding of key economic concepts. This is when students as a whole class, reflect on and receive feedback on both the economic content of the project and the process of solving the problem presented in the scenario.

 

 

 

Remediation Plan

 

Once the evaluation of the project is complete, all the results from the data will be analyzed to see if any learning gaps remain. For students that struggled with the project, there will be a remediation plan. 

 

1. Students that didn’t learn

During the course of the project, students will do self-reports, group self-evaluation, and group leader reports that provide information on how much each student have worked. There will also be frequent formative assessments to make sure each student and groups are understanding the economic concepts. However, there may still be students that simply did not make any effort to learn. But first, I need to understand why they did not learn. Since many of my students are ELL students, it can simply be from their misunderstanding of vocabulary and comprehension.

 

In order to help with these students, I will provide an extra lesson going over the important economic concepts that the project covered. The class will be conducted after school as there would not be any time to do the class during regular school hours. I will provide in the lesson some extra videos with subtitles that covers the materials they need to know. After the lesson, I will give a multiple choice test to check their understanding of the economic concepts.

 

2. Students that didn’t participate

Similar to students that did not learn, these students will also stay after school to attend the extra class. Their lack of participation could simply have been due to their lack of understanding of the economic concepts. It could also have been due to their lack of effort and unwillingness to participate. Therefore, having them join in another class to help them learn the concepts would be beneficial to them. After the class, they would have to do a follow-up with an oral presentation. Their presentation would have to be slightly adjusted as it will be presented individually to me directly.

 

 

3. Students who did well in one area but not another

This would obviously depend on the are they did not do well in. Let’s say that some students didn’t do so well in the oral presentation. I would re-teach these students similar to the students that didn’t learn and participate. They would prepare to do an oral presentation to the whole class. If it was in the area of their project logs, which were vital to the process of completing this project, I would have the students get together as a group and combine their project logs to include any new information they have missed. Then they would individually turn in their project logs.

 

4. Students that weren’t challenged enough

For students that weren't challenged enough, a case study related to the project would be given for extra credit.  They will need to do some research and turn in the assignment in an essay format. I will provide them with extra reading materials along with online resources for their research.

 

Conclusion

 

I was happy to work on this activity as it got me to take the time to research and find a project for my economics class. As far as receiving feedback from Sterling, it wasn't easy, but it got done, which I am happy about. Being from two different countries with a family to take care of, it can be challenging to find the right time to work on an activity together. However, we were able to get through it and prrovide feedback for each other. 

 

Sterling mentioned that I did a good job of specifying when I would re-teach the students as well as what I would do and what the students would do. I would also complete an additional formative assessment which allows me to see if students have made some progress from the first project. He was, however, curious how I would alter my lesson, so that ELL learners would learn, participate, and be challenged more. As far as altering my lesson, I would gather the data that I have from these students, and provide an additional lesson that is specific to their needs. I would also provide additional visual and simpler lessons so that it can be easier for the ELL learners to understand.  He also wondered how I would further target students' interest as they are completing the project. Throughout the project, I would provide real-life case studies of different companies that may be relevant to the particular assignment students might be working on. 

 

Overall, I really enjoyed working on this activity and having received some feedback from Sterling has helped me to consider other possible plans for re-teaching students that struggled with the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

 

Bellisimo, Y., Larmer, J., Maxwell, N., & Mergendollar, J. (2010). Running in Place: Advising a Start-up Shoe Company on Its Place in a Market Economy. California: Interactions Publishers Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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