Students began the investigation by watching a launch video that revealed the driving question: How can we as individuals in our community effectively contribute to tiger conservation? The video, a collaboration between DSODE teachers, the Education Officer and the Big Cat Keepers from TWPZ, set the scene and importantly, created a challenge that had meaning and purpose.
Project Based Learning offers students active ownership in their learning outcomes and this project was no exception. While rigorous investigation takes place under the guidance of teacher mentors, the design of the final product and presentation is left to the student teams. The solutions produced by each team were both unique and effective. One team chose to produce a series of Instagram posts under the name operation_save_the _tiger. TWPZ praised the response stating that the team ‘understood the bigger picture and particularly the power of consumers to make change through brands and social media.’ The work was acknowledged in TWPZ’s own Facebook communication, encouraging TWPZ staff to view the page and follow it.
Collaboration is a challenging concept for any student but it takes on another level of difficulty when team members are geographically isolated from one another. Teachers must create the right conditions to allow team members to share ideas, peer review each other’s work and problem solve. DSODE utilised Google applications such as Classroom and Docs to facilitate this process which simultaneously incorporated and builds upon student IT skills that were initially foreign to many of the students.
Success in this project has been achieved on a number of levels, including increased student engagement and enhancing the students abilities to work together to achieve collective outcomes. There are always aspects of the unit that can be improved and the teacher team is already looking towards SOS, 2019. After reflecting on the project’s outcomes, the plan is to give students more time for collaboration and more access to TWPZ. It is envisioned that the visibility of the TWPZ Education staff be increased with additional question and answer sessions during the unit. This would allow students to discuss their proposed solution to the driving question; receiving ongoing feedback that will drive a deeper level of learning and excellence in results. The partnership with TWPZ is integral to the ongoing success of the project, it has been extremely rewarding for students and staff to have the SOS unit include this important link to community.
To continue to build a culture of student and teacher collaboration, teachers are also planning to create virtual classrooms well before the 2019 project begins. This will allow students to not only master the IT platform but also learn the etiquette of working with others. Collaboration needs to be taught and the virtual classroom gives the students the opportunity to ask questions, make comment, create solutions and publish work for peer review and feedback in a safe place.
The future is looking bright for PBL at DSODE and the word on the street is that the teachers and students want more!
If you are interested in reviewing the student’s final products, presentations and TWPZ feedback, these can be found on https://sway.office.com/zRce8pVdXYYDswjE?ref=Link .
Any further questions about the SOS project or Project Based learning in DSODE, please contact Michelle Sullivan, Futures Learning Team Coordinator, Michelle.sullivan14@det.nsw.edu.au or Kelly Pfeiffer, Head Teacher Futures Learning, Kelly.pfeiffer3@det.nsw.edu.au.