Meadville's Problem Based Learning

Meadville Area Middle School (MAMS) has begun implementing PBL (Problem Based Learning) activities in both their seventh and eighth grades during the 2012/2013 school year.  MAMS is no stranger to team teaching, thematic units, and major project based activities, such as our MAMSEUM.  However, PBLs were something new that were introduced to our school and our students last year by a very courageous eighth grade English teacher who ventured out on her own and created and implemented a PBL on Marcellus Shale.  With the great success and positive feedback from students, parents, and the community, many of the teachers at MAMS became energized to try implementing PBLs in their own classrooms.  Through mentoring from the original PBL teacher and the gifted and talented teacher, ingenuity, and tons of rewrites each of the four pods in our building implemented one cross curricular PBL this year.

Eight grade social studies and English were the first to implement their PBL.  The students started their eighth grade year immersed in learning about 9/11.  The students were asked to read the 9/11 Commissioners Report to practice reading strategies, and then they had to offer 5 written recommendations to the president to strengthen national security and/or deal with terrorism.  After seeing the success and enthusiasm generated by the 9/11 PBL, one of the seventh grade pods created their own PBL.  Social studies and English classes combined with the goal of “Saving Catalhoyuk”.  This PBL asked students to research the first known civilization of Catalhoyuk in order to create an advertisement campaign to convince the people of Turkey to continue funding the dig site, since its current funding will come to an end in 2018.  Besides practicing research techniques, note taking skills, and looking at bias and propaganda techniques, the students were also investigating Catalhoyuk for art and architecture, economic patterns, social and political organizations, religion and values, and geographical influences.  Each group then determined the best format for creating their advertising campaign to reach the largest audience in Turkey and then designed and ultimately created the campaign.  Lastly, the second seventh grade pod energized by the success of the Saving Catalhoyuk PBL decided to create one for themselves.  Their PBL, Crawford County Ad Project, built upon the foundation of the other seventh grade’s PBL.  It too was a collaboration of social studies and English with a focus on research techniques, note taking skills, and bias and propaganda techniques.  However, in their PBL the students were studying the 5 themes of geography and applied them to their home town of Meadville.  Students then created advertising campaigns that focused on attracting people to Meadville and the surrounding area.  This pod went one step further by having the students present their ad campaigns to the county commissioners and the city’s mayor.

The feedback from students, parents, the general public, and the teachers who participated in teaching the PBLs has all been positive and encouraging.  The plan is to continue implementing the current PBLs next year and then expand the concept so that students will be eventually working on one PBL each quarter in a variety of classes.  The real world connections created through these types of learning experiences is just invaluable to our students and our staff.