PBL and IBL: Advantages and Uses in the classroom

Project based learning (PBL) is "a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge." This means students are taking real life situations and analyzing them to understand more. Students are active in their learning instead of passive like modern day classrooms. They're not waiting for the teacher to tell them what to know, they're finding what they need by asking their own questions and gaining their own understanding. By constructing and completing projects, students facilitate their own learning by doing their own research. This also allows students the use of technology for research and project development.

In my own (future) classroom, I could use PBL to have students research Shakespeare's time period and have them construct how the theatre he was part owner in looked like both inside and out. They would learn about the costumes, props, and social hierarchy of the time and history since there was a lot of unrest during the period.

Inquiry based learning (IBL) is something we've all been doing since the time of our birth. It's the natural way we make sense of the world around us. "The process of inquiring begins with gathering information and data through applying the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling." The current education system has gotten away from the natural process and gone towards lecturing. The teacher gives the students the information they are expected know. IBL, on the other hand, is based on a need to know or a want to know, students learn more because they are engaged. More importantly, they are using critical problem solving skills.

While students are the leaders in IBL, teachers direct where the thinking needs to go while involving them in the thinking process. In my own classroom, my students could study Henry David Thoreau. I could take my students to Walden Pond and help walk them through the kind of life Thoreau lived while writing Walden. It would give them an opportunity to ask questions. They may not find all the answers there but it ignites a spark to find out more, to ask more questions.




Resources:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html
http://bie.org/about/what_pbl