“New Gallup Survey Shows Support for Project Based Learning,” by John Larmer on the PBL Works blog

“Teachers who often assign creative, project-based activities are more likely than other teachers to say their students display a range of learning and development goals, including building self-confidence, utilizing their unique strengths, and developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. […]

“When asked to choose what they believe are three most important learning outcomes:

• 64% (the top choice) of parents and teachers chose ‘learning to think critically’

• 51% of teachers chose ‘problem-solving skills’ (this was not asked of parents)

• 36% of parents and 41% of teachers chose ‘developing students' curiosity to learn beyond the classroom.’”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

No surprise that pretty much everyone agrees that project-based learning is better learning.

Other important PBL outcomes noted by respondents: “how to collaborate with others,” “self-discipline,” “having learning experiences that are personally meaningful,” and “building self-confidence.”

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“A Certificate, Then a Degree: Certificate-first programs can help tackle America’s college-completion crisis,” by Clark G. Gilbert and Michael B. Horn in Education Next

“A certificate-first approach flips this on its head. In other words, first means first. Rather than start with general-education courses, a college must intentionally move certain courses that have clear relevance and benefit in the labor market to the beginning of a student’s experience. This means that the certificate must be more than simple prerequisites but should have immediate freestanding value in the marketplace.

“It does not mean that certificate-first is anti‒general education or anti‒bachelor’s degree: it is simply a re-sequencing of value into the first year of college. This embeds the certificate in a clear path toward a bachelor’s education, but also means that students who choose to pause or end their studies before obtaining a degree will have at least one valuable credential.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Whether you think this is a good idea or a bad idea, it is worth considering how a move to a credential-first design for undergraduate studies could alter the look and feel of the K12 - college continuum.

Industry certificates tend to be about transfer of knowledge and skills to new situations and scenarios. If that becomes the target for the first two years of college, what happens to AP courses? And if AP is no longer a useful sign of rigor (or “rigor mortis,” as our friends Stephanie Pace Marshall likes to say), will project-based learning and other approaches that emphasize transfer of knowledge and skills rise in importance? And if that happens, how will middle schools and lower schools evolve to prepare students for that new reality?

…in a related vein…

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“What the Learning Sciences Tell Us About Competency Education,” by Bror Saxburg on Competency Works

“The critical competencies we need students to get right are the ability to decide and do things within a domain: solve problems, write papers, investigate what’s going on, design experiments, compare sources, diagnose problems, etc. So instruction, practice, and assessment should give plenty of time to these.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

This short piece points to a crucial learning principle: learning has not actually happened until the student can transfer knowledge and skills to a new context.

If transfer is table stakes for learning, how often should students be engaged in transfer? In a sport, it would be at least half of a practice, if not longer. And when you add in all the games in a season, the amount of time devoted to transfer is more like 75%.

Read the rest of the short essay for additional insights about the science of learning.

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Question of the week:

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