I was formally introduced to project-based learning (PBL) when I was 21 and working on my Master’s in Education. I was blown away by the power of authentic projects for learning versus the traditional model of curriculum in secondary schools. Nine years later, I am still fighting the good fight to bring PBL to realization. However, the biggest obstacle to PBL is surprisingly found in an integral element of our school structure: the Carnegie Unit (CU).
The CU is the system in which, to graduate from secondary education, you must successfully pass a certain list of courses (4 math courses, 3 science courses, 4 english courses, etc.). The CU is a relatively recent development (circa early 1900’s), so our addiction is recent. What I find curious about the CU is how it standardizes content to a dangerous degree, limits individual inquiry, and discourages connections between disciplines.
Instead of focusing on the over-standardization of content, it is more important to acknowledge that content expertise is far less important than the ability to find and use content effectively. In 2019, the power of my hand-held device captures more content than any human could retain. Standardized or not, knowledge in specific core-content fields is not the key to post-secondary success. Instead, students should be digging into their own passions and leaning into their own inquiries.
How do you shape curricula when students are following their own passions? You let their interests shape their individualized curriculum that is centered on project creation and project completion instead of our traditional courses. Eliminate the antiquated course structure altogether and students can focus on things that will benefit them in the long run (if well facilitated correctly, of course). Fortunately, technological tools are always improving and let us manage the landscape of PBL-driven learning at a school-wide level. The CU system must be disrupted to embrace a PBL environment where students are creating, building, working together, and developing robust portfolios of their work.
When students find their passions, and are adequately aided by professionals, they discover the rich connections between disciplines. My love of music and mathematics led to my undergraduate thesis on how mathematicians developed the western musical scale. These connections are what lead to long-lasting and conceptual understandings. You cannot realize crucial historical events without understanding statistics. You cannot experience science without understanding the importance of public policy. Truly authentic projects exist in tandem with STEM, humanities, and creativity. In order to move toward the true realization of PBL, learning institutions must examine how to structure graduation requirements that leave behind the CU model of course accumulation.
Learning V. School 