Student Growth: Impactful & Limitless
Innovation is at the heart of Project Based Learning (PBL) at LaRue County Schools. The goal in many ways is to see information already being taught to students, presented in a form that engages students through creative means. For Darian Barlow, a teacher at Hodgenville Elementary School, this change is the right next step at the right time.
Barlow’s students have participated in project-based learning tasks throughout the school year including group research projects, presentations, a mock election, and many more. “Currently, my students are working on researching important African American individuals from the past that have played an important role in our history that still impacts us today” Barlow explains. “Students are working in small groups to research their different individuals and then will use the information they have found in a presentation of their choice whether that be digital on Google Slides or hands-on with a poster. Each group will then teach the rest of the class about their individual and the importance of their lives once projects are completed at the beginning of February for Black History Month. We will conclude this project with students reflecting on their groups’ strengths and ways they can improve in future projects.”
Education can often be thought of as a specific type of instruction in light of what is portrayed in popular media and the cultural imagination, namely a lecture format. Yet Barlow has witnessed the unique advantages of employing PBL in her classroom this year, “PBL allows students to be creative and use their strengths, while also challenging them to expand on what they know, share their learning with others, all while gaining essential life skills in the process that go beyond the classroom and the current state standards. From a teacher’s perspective, PBL has helped me realize how much MORE our students are capable of, already as third graders.”
Students in Barlow’s elementary classroom are still about a decade away from graduating from LaRue County High School. This, however, doesn’t prevent Barlow from seeing into the future with the impact this will have on their ability to successfully enter the workforce with the skills learned from PBL, “When my students take part in group projects they are engaged in the learning, they are practicing collaborating to get the job done in the time frame they are given, they have to practice effectively communicating with their peers, learning how to overcome disagreements at times, and how to work together to make a presentation they are proud to share that utilizes their technology, organization, and speaking skills. These are all important life skills and job skills they will use after graduating that they wouldn’t get by lecturing or reading a textbook alone.”
In reflecting on the potential positive impact of Project-Based Learning on students in the classroom, Barlow is inspired for the future, “With PBL our students are benefiting in numerous ways and the options to continue to expand upon their learning and individual growth are both impactful and limitless.”
