Project title
By:  Brad Prince

Project at a Glance :

This project is for a 9th grade World History Class. It will allow students to become a historian and determine if a conflict that occurred post WWII has made the modern world more or less violent. This project will require students to recall earlier lessons and apply them to the new information that they gather.  The hope is to find people with first hand knowledge of some of these conflicts. It will finally give students the opportunity to present their findings to peers and other teachers and administrators.
       
 
Driving Question:

Has (modern conflict) caused the world to suck less?           

Standards:

• Collaboration
• Communication
• 'Accountability

 Team / Culture Building:

• Use  the Creative Sequence Assessment to group students according to their strengths.​​

Entry Event:

• War type game to play
• Guest speaker
• Video clips
• Informational reading

Stakeholders:

•  The stakeholders will be different based on the conflict that each group works with.

Empathy Building:

• The Stakeholder Map will be used to help students clearly see who all the participants are in the conflict include.
• Invite a guest speaker in who was part of the conflict, this will help students build a better understanding and create empathy toward participants in the conflict.
• Pains/ Gains Map

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• ​Students will answer the following need to know questions:  What do we know?,  What do we need to now?,  What did we learn?, What do we wonder?
• Interview a panel of experts
• Love letter/break up letter protocol​

Incubation:

•  Use brainstorming prompts as start-ups in class before introducing new units. Students will write down what they know or what they think they know abou the conflict being introduced.
• Use the Idea Quota, to generate a lot of unique solution ideas.
• How would _______________ solve this?, this protocol will help students see conflicts from multiple perspectives.
• Rip, Slap, Pass protocol. It is a physical and mental activity that helps connect the group to a possible solution.

Checking in:

• Implement office hours and have groups check-ins.
• The 5 Whys activity - to encourage students to dive deeper into their understanding of the conflict and potential solutions.​

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Solution Building:

• Use the Dot voting strategy to narrow down 100 ideas to top three ideas.
• Students will use the $100 Test to ensure the validity of solution ideas.
•  Story Boarding activity - go through the process and look at what the solution could look like.
• Charrette - Make sure to follow the protocol closely after creating the story board.

Critique and Revision: 

•  Use the Elevator pitch to share solution idea/s and get feedback from peers.
• Critical friends - invite AP students or administrators to come in and provide feedback.​

Authentic Audience:


Final Presentation:

• Students will Pitch do during class, they may create a prototype or choose another way to share their solution idea/s.​

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Have  a Gallery Walk and give people the ability to give feedback, possibly through a rubric.
• Students will receive feedback from authentic audience members and  their classmates.​

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:
Brad Prince teaches Social Studies at Hudsonville High School.
About 4 years ago I was given the opportunity to learn about PBL and it has had a positive impact on my teaching ever since.

 Putting the learning directly into the hands of the students in class has long been a goal of mine. Working with Future Prep has given me the tools to make that happen. It has been so fun to watch the students embrace the process and have fun learning. That is the magic of PBL.