Leveraging Project Based Learning with Shark Tank
Think about your average day and the number of decisions or problems you solve every day—what to eat, how to get to work, how to charge my phone, how to answer that email—the list goes on and on. The fact is we solve simple to complex problems every day. Educators and parents can give their students a powerful gift by guiding and encouraging the development of critical thinking that steers them toward creative solutions for everyday dilemmas.
Project-based learning (PBL) does just that. It encourages students to develop life skills related to working with teams, managing projects, holding leadership roles, using oral and written communication, understanding self-awareness and evaluation of group processes, working independently, expending critical thinking and analysis, explaining concepts, applying course content to real-life examples, researching across disciplines to create and present solutions (Nilson, 2016). These are skills students can use currently and later in life to be successful critical thinkers and to find creative solutions toward life’s choices and situations.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.”
In a PBL instructional environment, teachers will structure learning that motivates students to apply their knowledge to solve problems. Class assignments will examine a problem, explore what students already know about the issues, determine what they need to learn, evaluate possible ways to solve the problem, and then report on their findings. A Minnesota-based PBL educator uses a “Shark Tank” project as a PBL classroom learning experience. The goal is for students to demonstrate how their innovative idea is financially viable. The students initiate the project using a proposal form that eventually leads to a Persuasive Writing Unit where they convince the "shark-tank" investors (a panel that includes the school superintendent, administrators, and teachers) that they should invest in his or her project. Participants and parents report the success of this assignment.
We were created to learn and to share what we learn. Benjamin Franklin reminded us “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
Nilson, L. B. (2016). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.