WEST MICHIGAN PBL NETWORK
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  A Fresh Look for the City of Holland
​
By:  Brent Rowe

Project at a Glance :

This project allows students to meet 6th grade civic standards and creates a chance to help design a project in the Holland community.


Driving Question:
​

How can the City of Holland change a public area to better serve its residents? 
             

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Standards:
  • Civics stds:  6 - P4.21 & P4.2.3
Team / Culture Building:
  • ​Allow students to choose between four different areas of Holland.  Students will rank their choices 1 - 4 and then the teacher will form the groups allowing student voice and choice.​
  • Developing community norms, build empathy through studying past community projects, and developing a growth mindset through realizing mistakes are made.​
Entry Event:
  • Visit Matt Urban Park, observe Downtown Holland signage, and the City of Holland Firehouse. Invite a City of Holland employee will join our tour and introduce the driving question for each location.
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Stakeholders:
  • City of Holland
  • Holland Employees 
  • Citizens of Holland 
  • Visitors to Holland  
Empathy Building:
  • Using Stormboard students will create an Empathy Map focused on how parks make us feel? Who uses parks? Do some people feel uncomfortable using parks?​
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Inquiry / Need to Knows:
  •  Investigate how the City of Holland decides to change a public space. 
  • Show a slideshow of how a City of Holland space was changed.
  • Write questions/ interview City of Holland representatives on what they want to change in the city and why.
  • Read articles about parks that have been redone. What was done well? 
  • Explore budgets. How does the city decide how much to spend?
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Incubation:
  • ​Brainstorm 100 ideas/ways to improve a city site - post ideas on  Jamboard​.
  • Students create Mood Board illustrating what they learned during their investigations.
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  • Think, Pair, Share activity to flush out ideas on sticky notes.​​​​.
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Solution Building:
  • NUF Test
  • Post results on Jamboard and begin narrowing solution ideas
  • 100 Dollar Test ​

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Critique and Revision: 
  • Present ideas to high school students for feedback via a survey
  • Teacher checkpoints along the way
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Authentic Audience:
  • City of Holland planner
  • City of Holland representatives
  • Black River Public School administrator
  • BRPS high school student representatives
Final Presentation:
  • Groups of students will give 5 minute presentations (2.5 minutes in the form of either a creative story, pitch, skit, etc., followed by a 2.5 minute informational talk, followed by a 3 minute question and answer session. ​
Reflection and Feedback:
  • Reflection will include surveys from other students and authentic audience members. 
  • Students will a reflection paper and respond on Flipgrid.
  • Write thank you notes to authentic audience members.​
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Click here to follow the teachers Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

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Meet the Educator:
Brent Rowe teaches Middle School history at Black River Public School in Holland, MI.  

     "Giving students the chance to think, plan, and implement an idea brings the classroom alive . . ."
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  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • PBL Experiences
    • ELE PBL Experiences
    • MS PBL Experiences
    • HS PBL Experiences
  • Resources
  • Protocol Examples
  • Community / Industry Partners
    • WM Design Prize Company Template