Report on Challenge Based Learning
The New Media Consortium just released their report on Challenge-Based Learning. Though the report specifically deals with K-12 education, the issues presented (experiential learning; engaging students through through creative and applied problem solving) are applicable to any context. My own children were engaged in a similar type of learning environment for over a year and the benefits and experiences gained were pretty amazing.
Here is a brief description of the report from the NMC release:
"Challenge-based learning is not a curriculum. It is a strategy to engage kids in any class by giving them significant that have real-world implications. More than 320 students and nearly 30 teachers in the schools, all of which had implemented a policy of providing full-featured notebook computers to every student, worked together to research, formulate strategies, and ultimately implement local solutions to problems of global significance. Students used their laptops for just-in-time research, to document their rationales, and to present the outcomes of their strategies. The outcomes of the three-week experiment, conducted last fall, were overwhelmingly positive.
The study revealed that both teachers and students found challenge-based learning significantly effective and engaging, even with the students most at risk of dropping out. Teachers noted that students learned more, and produced more than expected. Students reported learning skills that overlapped almost completely with the critical competencies identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills."
