Enquiry and Project Based Learning

Many teachers, schools, parents and community organisations feel that‘standards’ education is not serving us well. It has proved ineffective atpreparing many students for work, higher education and general wellbeing,nor does it keep students engaged and intrinsically motivated, capable ofsustaining interest in education and learning. There is a suppressed desire totransform educational outcomes, and enquiry based learning (EBL) andproject based learning (PBL) are the prime candidates for achieving such agoal.

EBL is education that is driven by curiosity, questions and problem solving,with the capacity to produce results that are equal to or better than standardoutcomes. This new text provides a critical examination of EBL and PBL byexploring a wide range of international exemplars and considering thebenefits, barriers and contradictions generated by the efforts of teachers andschools. Focusing on analytical frameworks and socio-cultural theory, areascovered include:

enquiry and societywhat EPBL islearning through enquirychallenges for schools and teachersstudent outcomes and assessmentteacher learningcurriculum development.

Enquiry and Project Based Learning offers analytical frameworks andpractical guidance for students, teachers and all those interested in enquiry

BUTUH LENGKAP HUB rehanjanda@gmail.com

based learning, as well as presenting a balanced, purposeful and motivatingalternative to mainstream educational practice.

David Leat is Professor of Curriculum Innovation at Newcastle University,UK, Director of the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching, and AssistantDirector of SOLE Central (researching Sugata Mitra’s Self Organised LearningEnvironments concept). He is also coordinator of the North East EPBLNetwork.

Enquiry and Project Based Learning

Students, School and Society

Edited by David Leat

First published 2017

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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© 2017 selection and editorial matter, David Leat; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of David Leat to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the

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and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Leat, David, author.

Title: Enquiry and project based learning : students, school and society / David Leat.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016043173 | ISBN 9781138790155 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138790179 (pbk.) |

ISBN 9781315763309 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Project method in teaching. | Inquiry-based learning.

Classification: LCC LB1027.43 .L42 2017 | DDC 371.3/6--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043173

ISBN: 978-1-138-79015-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-79017-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-76330-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby

Contents

List of illustrationsList of contributors

1 Why we need enquiry and project based learningDavid Leat

2 Understanding enquiryDavid Leat

3 Assessment of learning outcomes in EPBLDavid Leat

4 Enquiry and project based learning: students, school and society through asocio-cultural lensDavid Leat

5 Adapting Self Organised Learning Environments to primary schools inAustraliaPaul Kenna and Brett Millott

6 Balancing structure and flexibility: teacher’s orchestration in collaborativelong-term inquiryMarjut Viilo, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen and Kai Hakkarainen

7 Developing a community orientation through a focus on local heritage andenvironmentViki Angel, Lucy Eckford and Lisa Lowery

8 The importance of audience in project based learningCara Littlefield

9 The Broomley Bee Meadow ProjectJulie McGrane, Jilly Halliday and Stuart Moore

10 Community curriculum making and EPBLDavid Leat and Ulrike Thomas

Index

List of Illustrations

Figures

6.1 Three-picture series illustrating Example 1 and its continuity: a) thestudents’ initial working theories in a messy view; b) Anna has asuggestion; c) the note to be organised

6.2 Three-picture series illustrating Example 2 and its continuity: a) Theo’sopen note in the shared view; b) the group of students trying to makefilament glow; c) the lamp and electricity experiments view at the end ofthe thematic phase

7.1 Map showing locations in Northeast England used by Percy Main PrimarySchool

8.1 A screenshot of the title of a students’ documentary to accompany theirgame

8.2 A class visiting a local war memorial in Yorkshire8.3 A K’NEX® structure8.4 Some of the K’NEX® earthquake-proof structures at the presentation event9.1 Initial curriculum map for the Bee Project9.2 Gantt chart for planning the Bee Project9.3 Some research tasks for the Bee Project

Tables

2.1 Enquiry dimensions3.1 Convergent and divergent assessment (adapted from Torrance and Pryor,

1998)3.2 A conceptual framework for considering assessment in EPBL3.3 Outcome by levels model for documentation and assessment4.1 McKnight’s (2003) comparison of present and future policy4.2 Assumptions underpinning performative and asset-based approaches to

education5.1 An example of the typical hierarchy of questions, which acts as a planning

protocol or tool5.2 Some of Hattie’s ‘Visible Learning’ effect sizes that relate to SOLEs

practice6.1 The content of the teacher’s project diary template7.1 Heritage Schools teachers’ training course components7.2 The pattern of use of the locality, environment and people by Percy Main

Primary School

Contributors

Viki Angel is the Local Heritage Education Manager for North East Englandand manages the Heritage Schools Project for Historic England. Viki startedher career as a teacher of English and Drama at a secondary school inGateshead, Tyne and Wear, before working with Newcastle City Council as atraining officer challenging hate crime and managing community conflict.

Kai Hakkarainen is Professor of Educational Research at the Department ofBehavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. He has carried outlearning research based on psychology and cognitive science at all levels, fromelementary to higher education.

Jilly Halliday is a beekeeper and networker with a desire to get childrenbeekeeping. Jilly and her colleagues work to establish extra-curricularbeekeeping clubs and projects with local schools that are sustained over timeand have maximum impact. These projects have won a number of local andnational prizes and helped develop beekeeping–education networks.

Lucy Hull (formerly Eckford) has wide experience of teaching throughout theprimary age range. Lucy aims to enrich her pupils' learning through directexperience and recognition of the important contribution children's heritagecan make to their education. She is currently deputy headteacher of a busyand successful First School in North Tyneside, UK.

Paul Kenna and Brett Millott are primary school principals in Melbourne,Australia. They have collaborated in SOLE action research in their schoolssince 2010 and have worked closely with Professor Sugata Mitra and

associates from the University of Newcastle, UK. They have received anumber of awards, including a High Performing Principal award and theVictorian Primary Principals Association Curriculum Innovation award.

David Leat is Professor of Curriculum Innovation at Newcastle University,UK. He is also a former teacher trainer and geography teacher in state schools.His current commitments are with schools working with local people andorganisations to develop meaningful projects – community curriculummaking.

Cara Littlefield started teaching Maths and Science in 1999. She became herschool's maths coach while earning her master's degree in Math, Science andTechnology in Education in Escondido, California. In 2013, she came to theUK as part of an Innovation Unit project to promote project based learning.

Lisa Lowery is senior leader at Percy Main Primary School in NorthTyneside, UK. She aims to take every opportunity to introduce pupils tointeresting experiences, places and people, and to use the maximum learningpotential of the school grounds and local heritage.

Julie McGrane is an Ofsted inspector, visiting fellow at Newcastle Universityand a director of Leading Learning (Education) in the UK. She is also a formersecondary school geography teacher with an interest in thinking skills andproject based learning.

Stuart Moore is a teacher at Broomley First School in Northumberland, UK.He has been exploring the contribution that project based learning could maketo help achieve these aims, especially using science, the natural world and thelocal environment.

Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen is Professor of Craft Studies at the Universityof Helsinki, Finland. She has carried out learning and design studies built onthe development and application of cognitive theories.

Ulrike Thomas is research associate at the Research Centre for Learning andTeaching, Newcastle University, UK. Her particular area of interest iscommunity curriculum making and she is currently working with interestedschools and partner organisations who are keen to develop more meaningfuland authentic learning experiences for school students.

Marjut Viilo is currently finalising her dissertation at the University ofHelsinki, Finland. She also has work experience as an elementary schoolteacher, teacher educator and project researcher or doctoral student in severalresearch projects that focus on progressive enquiry, collaborative designingand social creativity.

1Why We Need Enquiry and ProjectBased Learning

David Leat

1

relationships 61; teacher-student 13, 67, 120; see also social interactions

remembrance project 165, 166

research and development: Broomley bee project 172; educational 203

research tasks, Broomley bee project 182

resilience, student 20, 102, 175, 201

Resnick, M. 77–8

resources; see community resources

respect for others 48, 188, 194

responsibility for learning 23, 31, 40, 52, 54, 201; assessment 60, 64, 79; Broomley bee project

184, 185; EL schools 47; real-world problems 163; SOLEs 109, 113, 118, 120, 123, 124, 126;

teacher orchestration 128, 129

review, EPQ assessment objectives 72

rhizome metaphor 38–9

right brain, labour market revolution 15

risk assessment, heritage schools project 150

role cards, Broomley bee project 184

role models 8, 36, 48, 100

rote learning, work of John Locke 30

Rowntree Foundation 16

RSA (Royal Society of Arts) 16, 203

Ruddock, Jean 86

San Francisco Exploratium, USA 10–11

scaffolding 37, 52, 54, 64, 79, 80, 201; balance between structure and flexibility 130

scalability, e-portfolios/digital portfolios 74

school-based clubs; see after-school programmes

school-community relations; see community-school relations

school connectedness concept 13

School-in-the-Cloud 46

scientific inquiry 39–41; definitions 40; Singapore school 92; work of Locke 30

Scratch programming language 11–12, 77–8

scripted teaching 93, 129

search movements 35

358

self-confidence 67

self creation; see identity/self creation

self-discovery, EL schools 47

self-efficacy 8, 53–4, 201; Broomley bee project 189, 190; EPQ 71–2; philosophy for children

67

self-employment, precarity 19

self-esteem 8, 67; see also self-worth

self organised learning environments (SOLEs) project 23, 90, 94, 108–9, 199, 200, 201;

application of knowledge 111, 113–14, 118, 123; development of the programme 110–13;

educational principles 112–13; evidence-base 120, 120–1; focus and effort 121–2; future

of 125–6; impact of the programme 119–20; initial trial 109–10; learning outcomes 121;

nature of enquiry 46–7; peer and teacher feedback 115–17; student feedback 126–7;

teacher impact 122–3; teacher planning 117–19, 119; teaching changes 123–4; Vocab

Catching 114–15, 118

self-worth, learning outcomes 60, 61, 62service, EL schools 48

service industries, 21st century challenges 15

service learning principles 10–11

Sfard, Anna 3, 23, 64

Shasha, Cloe 2

Sheffield, UK 169

Skype projects 37–8, 46, 199

social capital: CCM 195; disadvantaged students 16–17; engagement of students 8; EPBL

implementation 97; life experiences 146

social class structure, global 18

social competencies 100

social ecological theory 8

social engagement 8; see also engagement of students

social interactions 96, 152; inter-generational 194–5; scientific inquiry 40; Skype projects

37–8, 46, 199; SOLEs 46

social persuasion 53–4

social skills, childhood 187–8

social support, authentic learning 99

359

social-emotional identity development 76society and problem-centred model 100

socio-cultural perspectives 23, 85, 96, 103–4, 202, 203; asset-based approach 96–9; authentic

and connected education 99–101; comparison of present and future policy 98;

engagement of students 8, 9; EPBL implementation 92–6; evidence-base for EPBL 86–92;

intransigence 85, 95; learning ecologies 102–3

SOLEs; see self organised learning environments

solitude, EL schools 48

SOLO (structure of learning outcomes) 80–1

Some Thoughts Concerning Education (Locke) 30

Some Thoughts on the Conduct of Understanding: (Locke) 31

Spain, EPBL implementation 91

The Spirit Level (Wilkinson and Pickett) 18

Spours, K. 103, 104

standardised, summative testing tradition 62, 62; see also assessment

standards, educational 95

Stiglitz, Joseph 17

A Stitch in Time (Sodha & Guglielmi) 9

stress, performativity 6, 7

strong framing 3, 65, 88, 96, 129, 200

structure, balance with flexibility 129–30

structured diaries, Artefact Project 131student responses: Broomley bee project 187–8; heritage schools project 156–7

student work, exhibition of 160–1

student-teacher relationships 13, 67, 120successes and failures, EL schools 47

suicide rates 21

summative assessment, competence model 62

symbolic action, work of John Dewey 31–2

tabula rasa (blank slate), work of John Locke 30

taxation, and inequality 18

Taylorism 33

360

Teacher Bridge 103

teacher control/power: balance between structure and flexibility 129; EPBL implementation

87–90, 94; SOLEs 116

teacher feedback, SOLEs 115–17

teacher impact, SOLEs 122–3

teacher learning; see professional development

teacher orchestration, collaborative inquiry learning 23, 128–9, 141–2; Artefact Project

130–2; balance between structure and flexibility 129–30; examples 132–41, 134, 139;

longitudinal processes 128, 130, 131, 132, 141, 142; teacher's project diary template 131teacher training; see training teachers

Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) 59–61

teaching resources; see community resources

technical problems 110

technological change, challenges of 14, 16

technology-rich environments: assessment 78–80; community informatics networks 103;

SOLEs 125; see also digital technology

TED Talk 46

testing traditions 62, 62; exam results 6–7, 32–3; see also assessment

time pressure, Broomley bee project 178, 183

Tomlinson, Sally 17

Torrance, H. 60

traditional educational practice: EPBL implementation 88, 89, 90, 91–2; work of Dewey 32

traffic lights metaphor, complexity theory 178

training teachers, heritage schools project 147, 147, 148; see also professional development

transactional theory of knowledge 31

transformative assessment 79

transformative learning 1–2, 22–3, 29, 53; Broomley bee project 171, 187; and identity 33–4;

learning to be 68; philosophy for children 42

transmission model of teaching 87, 88

transversal competences 91

truancy 9

trust, Broomley bee project 174–5, 176, 182

Tudor period in English history project 43

361

turning points; see transformative learning

21st century education 5–6; see also educational challenges

Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM) 151

Tynemouth Volunteer Lifeboat Brigade 151

Tynemouth World War One Commission 151

Tyneside heritage; see heritage schools project

understanding, student: learning outcomes 59, 62; underestimating 112, 173, 186

unemployment; see employment prospects

UNESCO four pillars of learning 68–9

United Kingdom: EPBL implementation 86–9; EPQ 50–1; Equality and Human Rights

Commission 18; mental health and well-being 21

United States: EPBL implementation 89–90; mental health and well-being 21; National

Science Educational Standards 40

using: learning outcomes 60, 61; philosophy for children 66

values, participation metaphor for learning 4

video data, Artefact Project 132

Visible Learning for Teachers (Hattie) 121

Vocab Catching/vocabulary development 112, 114–15, 118

vocational education 16, 22

voluntary associations, local resources 97

volunteers, Broomley bee project 176, 178

Vygotsky, Lev 41, 92–3

Waters, Mick 195

Waterville Primary School, England 145–6, 150–1, 152, 156; see also heritage schools project

weak framing 3, 65, 113, 184, 201

Wehlage, Gary 163

well-being, adolescents 20–1

What Did You Do In School Today (Canadian Education Association/Canadian Council on

Learning) 8

whole person assessment, competence model 62

362

Wilby, Peter 6

Work That Matters (Patton & Robin) 44, 162

Yorkshire, UK 169

YouTube 50

zero-hour contracts 19

zone of proximal development 122–3

363