Challenged-Based Learning is a relatively new term to me, and really to education. In careers today, employers are asking more and more of their employees. They expect them to be creative, be technologically savvy, and take the initiative. Employers want their employees to figure out a problem on their own. To meet this ever-increasing demand for creative and self-driven citizens, schools are changing the way they educate children. As future teachers, one of the ways we need to be preparing our students is by using Challenged-Based Learning.
Challenged-Based Learning (CBL) is when teachers present a challenge and ask their students to come up with a solution. Teachers may give kids a broad topic or situation but let them do the rest. The students do their own research, choose how they will present their information, and cooperatively work together to reach their goal. CBL encourages leadership, initiative, creativity, and stepping outside of your comfort zone. In CBL, the teacher’s responsibility is to facilitate. She is there to provide students with resources and encouragement, but that is all.
Recently my technology teacher presented our class with a CBL project. Our teacher said that we could choose any topic that we wanted. Our challenge was that we had to present our information in a Prezi presentation. As a group, we had to choose our topic, find information, find pictures and/or video, and figure out how to use Prezi. Figuring out how to use Prezi was the biggest challenge. Our teacher gave us hints on where to find tutorials and instructions, but she would not answer specific questions.
I think CBL projects can encourage creativity and put the power of learning back in student’s hands. It not only forces students to really learn the material, but also prepares them for their future careers. Everyone has to learn to cooperate affectively.
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