Home-School Connection, Digital Learning
Education is full of acronyms and as a parents it is always good to know when a new one comes along, especially one that involves technology. You may be familiar with the term “project-based learning (PBL),” an approach to teaching that tries to get students actively involved in their education by asking them, for example, to decide where the Spanish should put their 22nd mission in California in 1820, and thereby helping them learn about the Spanish and Native Americans through their research, rather than having them read a text book on the subject. Challenge based learning (CBL) raises the stake one more step when students are asked to find a problem that needs solving and then use tech tools to help them work the challenge. It is another way to get kids started exploring the world where students do the work, often without teachers supervising their every step, by looking up the information online, finding experts and vetting their expertise or maybe watching YouTube videos describing how others have solved similar issues or on how to build working models.