Origin of Project-based learning
. The roots of PBL can be found in experiential
education of the American educational reformer John Dewey at the turn of 19th and
20th century in the USA. He is considered being an ideological father of PBL and
the main figure of progressive education at that time. Dewey perceived a child as a
complex human being and pursued students felt the inner urge for learning along
with their realization of reasons for studying. He enforced the motto “learning by
doing” and laid the theoretical foundations of PBL, nonetheless, the founder of PBL
method is considered his fellowworker American pedagogue William Heard
Kilpatrick who was emphasizing the significance of student interest and suggested
concentrating the educational content into work of projects. His main interest was to
develop children´s personality as such and laid stress on student responsibility
towards their own learning.
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Advantages of PBL. According to the conviction that this approach brings
considerable benefits to the language classroom, an overall summary is presented
here.
Contemporary educational frameworks mention the key competences that
should all pupils and students acquire. These are communication and
collaboration, activity, initiative and independence, creativity, responsibility and
self-discipline, imagination, critical thinking and problem solving. There is a
question how to achieve these abstract concepts in ELT. As it is claimed by
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Thomas, J. W. A review of research on project based learning. 2000. 17 p
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Hutchinson, "project work is a way of turning such general aims into practical
classroom activity.".
PBL includes features such as variety, authenticity, relevance,ego factor enjoyment
and motivation. Motivation will be dealt with later; the following paragraphs are
concerned with the five preceding factors.
There is a space for a variety of topics, tasks, activities and interaction
patterns. Within a project can also be included all the language skills that are not
taught in isolation, but integrated and combined.
Fried-Booth differentiates four types of authenticity that are present in PBL:
"authenticity of language input, authenticity of task, authenticity of event and
authenticity of learner experience".
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PBL removes the relevance gap between knowledge and thinking, school and
reality, theory and practice, between "the language students are taught and the
language they in fact require". Learners are encouraged to choose topics that are
relevant and interesting for them. They want to achieve a real, specific goal
and are personally involved in the activity. This fact is closely connected to
the ego factor and personalization, when learners’ own lives and personalities are
taken into consideration. As it is claimed by Phillips, project work educates the
whole child, encourages emotional and personal development and enhances not
only intellectual, but also physical and social skills.
Students always appreciate novelty and refreshment. Strict syllabuses often allow a
limited time for doing something different with an essence of general enjoyment.
Once carrying out a project is acknowledged and school routine is broken,
students welcome this informal way of teaching as "an antidote to the system".
Hutchinson is convinced that students learn a lot when they are enjoying themselves.
"Fun is not just an added extra, it is the lifeblood of effective learning."
Next worth mentioning benefit is a sense of achievement for all the
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Lamer, J., Mergendoller, J. R. Seven essentials for Project-Based Learning. EL educational leadership, 2010. 68 p
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