Reaction to "Knowledge in Action Research Helping to Make the Case for Rigorous Project-based Learning" by Edutopia Staff

"Knowledge in Action Research Helping to Make the Case for Rigorous Project-based Learning" by Edutopia Staff

The title of this article sparked my interest as I was browsing new posts on my computer this morning.

Being a teacher in a community college dental hygiene program, my focus is as much on teaching theory as it is on teaching technical skills. The words "knowledge in action" ran true to my overall goal of educating dental hygiene students, so I decided to read on.

What I learned in this article is that, currently, research is being conducted to determine the efficacy of programs that involve what is referred to as "project-based learning" or PBL. According to the Edutopia Staff, programs that are based on PBL focus on giving students a chance to not only show what they know on paper, in the form of tests and essays, but also demonstrate their knowledge through doing something innovative with their gained knowledge. In other words, PBL is experiential and gives the students a taste of the real-world.

Although this article focused on research conducted on Advanced Placement students in the high school setting. I found this information to be applicable to my career setting in higher education as well. To me, the importance of implementing problem-based leaning in dental hygiene is paramount. My students will not be successful in the work place if they only know about dental deposits and not how to remove them. Similarly, they will not be effective patient educators if they only know how to remove the deposits and not how to avoid their accumulation.

It is my feeling that in virtually any educational setting the teacher should strive to create authentic tasks for students to demonstrate their knowledge. This ensures that the students have to move past the rote learning stages and understand how their knowledge can be applied. Application also allows students to see why learning something is necessary or important in the larger scheme of things.

It will be interesting to see what the results of this research initiative actually unveil. I will be following up on this topic in the future.




Article Citation:
Edutopia Staff. (2013, October 17). Knowledge in Action Research Helping to Make the Case for Rigorous Project-based Learning. www.edutopia.org. Retrieved October 21, 2013 from http://www.edutopia.org/knowledge-in-action-PBL-research