What is Project Based Learning (PBL)? According to PBLWorks, “PBL is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.”
The idea of PBL was new to me at the beginning of this semester, but I have since dived right in! I was initially introduced to PBL through one of the units in my Intro to Educational Technology course at Texas State University. In the unit, my professor, Dr. Holschuh, tasked us with creating a meaningful PBL assignment for our respective content areas, and for me, that meant 6th grade Math. I would be lying if I said the idea of creating a PBL assignment for 6th grade math students wasn’t daunting, but I can happily report that I prevailed! Curious as to what I came up with? Well, let me share!
Before I share, you need to be aware that a PBL assignment has several required components: course, grade level, a main topic, a guiding question, a description, a final project/deliverable, and learning standards aka TEKS! Did I mention that a PBL assignment also needs to be cross-curricular?
So…here’s what I came up with:
Course/Grade Level –> 6th grade Math
Main topic –> Personal Financial Literacy
Guiding question –> What can I do to make sure that I will be successful when earning (making) and managing (being in charge of) money?
PBL description –> Students will devise a plan detailing the necessary steps to open their own restaurant. They will document their plan and its journey through the use of Edublogs. In their plan and blog posts, students will compare the features and costs of a checking account and debit card offered by various local banks or credit unions in order to open a checking account for their new restaurant, identify the information included on their credit report, as well as explain why a credit report is important to a bank when applying for a loan for their new restaurant, balance the new restaurant’s checkbook by including deposits, withdrawals, and transfers that have occurred/will occur during the opening process, as well as compare the salaries of different jobs and the levels of training or education required for those jobs as students begin to hire employees and plan for the cost of their salaries for the new restaurant. Students will use an app called Checkbook – Account Tracker to balance their new restaurant’s checkbook.
Final project/deliverable (assessment) –> 2-3 local restaurant owners and other students will provide critique by adding comments on the students’ blog posts. Additionally, students will complete a self-reflection of both themselves and their group mates, and teachers will complete a rubric in order to give feedback.
TEKS addressed
- Determine what math is needed/used to solve a problem 6.1(A)
- Use a problem-solving model to solve a problem 6.1 (B)
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers fluently 6.3(D)
- Compare the features and costs of a checking account and debit card offered by two or three local banks or credit unions 6.14(A)
- Balance a checkbook by including deposits, withdrawals, and transfers 6.14(B)
- Identify what information would be included on a credit report and how long that information will stay on a credit report 6.14(E)
- Explain why a credit report is important to a bank when applying for a loan 6.14(D), 6.14(F)
- Compare the salaries of different jobs and the levels of training or education required for those jobs 6.14(H)
I am definitely excited to implement this PBL assignment at the end of the year when we cover Personal Financial Literacy! I’ll be sure to provide some pictures and updates via my blog after-the-fact. Wish us luck! Leave your comments, ideas, and suggestions down below!
Teacher's Corner 