Things are becoming more serious and more challenging this week! I have read about Assessment, Rubrics, and Project-Based Learning, and the article by Alan and Stoller (MAXIMIZING THE BENEFITS OF PROJECT WORK IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS) struck me when it explained that Project-Based Learning can enable students to experience increased motivation, autonomy, engagement, and a more positive attitude towards English. As a matter of fact, I have been struggling for years to reach these attitudes with my students.
Moreover, rubrics which are an assessment tool can also serve as a checklist and help students become actively engaged in information gathering, processing and reporting.
The explanation has brought to my mind the images of a labyrinth and a compass. When students are given a task or a test without rubrics, they are like people lost in a hazy labyrinth. In such conditions, the rubrics would appear as a compass that could help students make their way out.
From this point I ask myself if PBL has not a link with BEHAVIORISM.
From this point I ask myself if PBL has not a link with BEHAVIORISM.My answer to the first question is that PBL can help motivate students by creating or setting a thought-provoking context for a deep brainstorming.
To the second question, I can answer that the role of rubrics within PBL is to serve as a guide, a checklist that can be used for self-assessment.
Dear Vital ,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right when you said that using rubric like compass for our students . This will save the time of students and the teacher . Both sides will know the task and can do it easily . for me I will use this tool with my students this semester because we do a lot of projects at my school .
With my regards ,
Hanan Sallam