Module+4+Pedagogical+Practices

Helping Students Adapt to a Project-Based, Student-Centered Classroom Determining the right level and type of challenge to help students grow to meet their potentials is critical when differentiating instruction. In this Pedagogical Practices discussion, you think about the kinds of support that will challenge students to stretch their learning as they master new ideas and concepts. Many students have difficulty transitioning from their role in a "traditional" classroom—one that focuses primarily on taking tests, answering closed questions, completing worksheets, and taking a more passive role in learning—to a classroom that promotes open-ended questions and authentic tasks. "Students who have grown used to being tacit observers or 'sleepy onlookers' may well resent having to work harder, especially when such passive learning roles are the norm in other subjects" (Black & Wiliam, 1998). Research in learning shows that students learn best when teachers provide instruction in skills, content, and strategies students need to perform tasks that they can not complete without the help of a more knowledgeable peer or adult. Lev Vygotsky (1978), the progressive Russian educator and thinker, defined an area in which a student has trouble solving a problem alone, but can succeed with guidance, as the “zone of proximal development. This zone is just beyond a student’s current capacity. “Scaffolding” is a term first coined by Jerome Bruner (1976) based on Vygotsky’s concept of the “zone of proximal development.” Scaffolding is used frequently by educators to describe the tools that teachers provide to students to help them be successful in tasks that challenge them. This metaphor is especially apt for learning because, as in the construction of buildings, the scaffolding that supports student learning is removed gradually, until the student can complete challenging tasks independently. In project-based classrooms, teachers provide instruction in the strategies students need for success rather than oversimplifying tasks. The idea is to assist without denying students’ needs to build their own foundation. Finding that zone in which students can make the most progress is challenging. Students’ language skills, their ability to read, write, and express themselves, can sometimes lag behind their knowledge in academic areas, leaving teachers with an impression that they are less able than they truly are. Other factors, such as a lack of social skills, can also distort the kind of information teachers collect about their students’ learning. A group of educational researchers (Bereiter and Scardamalia, 1987; Langer & Applebee, 1986) suggest the following strategies for scaffolding students’ thinking as they work on meaningful tasks With a small group, share tools and strategies you can use to support student learning in your unit.
 * Module 4 Pedagogical Practices **
 * Offer different examples for students to imitate.
 * Set up structures to help students monitor their own progress.
 * Limit the choices that students have when completing projects.
 * Provide students with strategies, such as graphic organizers, to help them make their learning processes visible, so they can be discussed and analyzed.
 * Provide labels to help students categorize and organize knowledge.