Shelter vs. Heat

During my year-long PBL for my IPC classes, we have been working on trying to survive on an uninhabited island.  We started with water, evaluating which type of water would be easier to use.  Then we moved on to food, which all students agreed was the next critical component of survival after potable water.

Using the energy TEKS, I gave the students the problem of providing a safe and nutritious diet for the survivors of the cruise ship disaster.  The IPC TEKS ask students to evaluate different sources of energy including fossil fuels, geothermal, moving water and wind, and solar.  Additionally, when they were doing the water cleaning unit, most of the groups had decided on some form of heating, condensing, and distilling their water, so a ‘heat’ unit seemed to be the logical next step.

I wouldn’t say that the unit was a total failure, but it didn’t fire their imaginations the way the water unit or the nuclear unit had.  They did the work, but they pretty much slogged their way through it with getting a good grade as their only motivation.  They didn’t put in any hours outside the classroom and they didn’t drive their parents crazy with their obsession with the project.

Bummer.  I’m always sad when a PBL unit falls on its face because I’m addicted to seeing student ideas take flight, where they take my conception of what they should do and turn it into something remarkable, something I never imagined.

When this happens, I’ve found that the problem usually lies in the driving question.  For whatever reason, the problem I posed in the heat unit didn’t resonate with them and they didn’t much care about the project other than the grade.

Driving questions are hard, and I’ve written quite a few of them.  But sometimes no matter how carefully I craft them, they just don’t work.

And sometimes, I feel the question is lame and not my best effort, but the students take off with it.  Just shows that I don’t think like a teenager.  Also, it shows me the importance of getting student input into lesson design.

In contrast to the heat unit, the student response to the shelter unit blew me away.  First of all, this was the unit that they had asked for.  The students clearly understand that this entire year is a complete story, and certain elements should appear in certain order.  My plan was to do it at the end of the year, but when they insisted that it had to come next, I revised my lesson plans and worked it in.  Perhaps that student choice had something to do with the success of the unit. 

Second, for this unit, one of the requirements was that the students build a scale model of their shelter design.  Kids love building things.  And even if a particular student wasn’t into construction, they could do other things to support their group, such as research or writing.

Their final presentations reflected their enjoyment of the project.  I saw many different ways of solving the problem and some in-depth thinking about the issue.  The students maintained a high level of interest in their work throughout the unit.

If I could harness that energy and enthusiasm every time I write a unit, I might think I actually know how to do this.  As it is, this shows me how much more I have to learn!