Student Perspectives: A Comprehensive Reflection on Project-Based Learning

 

“This was probably my favorite project that I've ever done in an English class because it is based on a topic that I am a big fan of -- video games. I've never done something that I've been extremely interested in during English class.” - Hunter

“This project involved video games, art, symbolism, gothic literature, and design -- all things that I love.” - Traci

“I am proud of the different ways I was able to better the project because of the effort I gave. This was an amazing idea to get us to engage and learn about gothic themes and symbolisms.” - Caitlyn 

Statements like these are sure to put a smile on any teacher’s face because, naturally, teachers want their students to enjoy learning. They want students to be engaged and excited about their work. But not all learning experiences result in the kind of enthusiasm these students expressed in their project reflections.

So, what was different about this assignment?

The Project

Students in the STEM Academy at Northwest High School completed a “Gothic Video Games PBL”. They were assigned a small team (3-4 people) and tasked with creating a video game design that honored Edgar Allen Poe’s contributions to Gothic Literature. By the end of their project, they had to answer the driving question, “How does style drive creativity?” Their learning tasks included:

• work as a team to develop an E10+, ‘gothic game’ idea loosely based on an existing Gothic short story 
• create a visual representation of their game to support the pitch
• 'pitch' their idea to a local game developer through a formal presentation

The end-products themselves aren’t that unique, so what made this project so engaging? In PBL students follow a learning path wherein creation acts as the impetus for learning.

Project-based learning reframes traditional teaching, offering real-world, hands-on experience. In PBL students are challenged to create an authentic end-product, but haven’t necessarily learned what they need to know to create that end-product. In this way, student inquiry drives learning in a PBL.

Students know they have to create or do something (and even have a product rubric), but they don’t always know how to accomplish their task or have the knowledge they need to get it done. Students gain those throughout the PBL and apply what they learn as they create. This is different from classrooms where demonstrating mastery primarily happens at the end of a unit.

Paired with consistent feedback, PBL leaves room for students to fail in the moment but still grow and succeed in the end. The need to create becomes a catalyst to learning, and within the parameters of the PBL, a student can personalize their learning experience based on their interests and passions. How and what students learn in a PBL is organically driven by their authentic "need to know" for the purpose of creating.

(A note for teachers: In PBL, student inquiry is strategically planned and guided. The success of projects like these hinge on detailed backward design and the facilitator’s intentional guidance and scaffolding of student thinking throughout the project.)

The Reflection

Through Project-Based Learning, students get more than just academic content. In PBL students practice critical skills like communication, personal responsibility, time management, teamwork, and creativity. Student reflections even showed that through PBL students apply what they learn across content areas and make cross-curricular and industry connections.

"[Through this project] I grew my knowledge of game design and gothic elements, which allowed me to become more creative with those things. In a STEM field, most of the problems you have to solve aren't going to have definitive answers, so you need to be creative and innovative to solve them." - Robert

“A creative skill that I grew during this project has to be brainstorming. I don't brainstorm often… but this project and the brainstorming [needed] allowed me to think of a lot of unique ideas we could add to our game.” - Rylan

“Creativity is extremely important in the STEM field as it requires everyone to be unique when it comes to approaching a problem. If we all share the same idea, the final product will be dull.” - Anthony

"Our group's problem-solving was phenomenal. We found many issues with our original idea, but then made an amazing comeback and [designed] a whole new game and presentation. My group was lacking in the communication department... Thankfully, we pulled ourselves back together to make what I would say is a pretty good project." - Ethan

Of course, no collaborative effort is without its challenges. Students shared that, by working together, they learned to advocate for themselves and each other. They learned to lead, to compromise, to play on each other’s strengths, and to communicate with one another in a professional manner. Ultimately, they learned with and from each other.

“We came across many problems while working on our project. There were many things that we either disagreed with or didn't fully understand. We had to collaborate and try to work things out.” - Ryan

“I've grown as a problem-solver by understanding my weaknesses and getting help from people who are better at a particular thing than I am.” - Amelia

“This project taught me a lot of presentation skills that I will need in the future... After watching many [other teams present], I was able to learn the best ways to talk, communicate, and demonstrate ideas when presenting. That is why I enjoyed this project so much. I was able to learn some really great ways on how I should go about presenting.” - Vincent

“We were able to blend our ideas as a team to make something really cool.” - Anthony 

The Products

After two and a half weeks of hard work, students were proud of themselves and of what they had created. They were eager to celebrate and share their hard work, growth, and successes. They presented their ideas to a panel of judges, which included a gaming expert who was acting as their game developer. Celebrate these hardworking students by exploring are some of their final products:

“The Crypt”

This team of STEM students designed a full website, complete with original artwork, to showcase their video game idea based off of the story “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Highlighting the idea that our surroundings have an impact on our mental health, they challenged players to escape from the Crypt before they "go insane". Replete with gothic imagery and symbolism, in this game, players are “in a fight against insanity, which is caused by the dark”. The player “must cling to torches and light sources to save what sanity remains”.

"Puppet's Mirror"

This group designed a game where you escape by solving puzzles. They cleverly embedded mini-games that innocently represented the darker aspects of their short story, "The Black Cat" in order to adhere to their E10+ kid-friendly rating for their game. For instance, when in the story the cat loses an eye to the owner's violence, in the game, players are instead transported to "a rigged rotating cup" game with images of a one-eyed cat. They even used online tools to create an AI vision board for their game. They also created 3D mockups of their main character, noting minor adjustments in her appearance to symbolize her personality changing and other gothic aspects of their game. 

"Just Around The Corner"

In this "labyrinth escape game", players must get out "before the consequences of their actions catch up with them". In this excellent presentation, students shared original artwork, that included iconic gothic symbolism from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat". Their work helped the project judges visualize each level. They also included a detailed description of how sensory elements of gameplay and user experience would communication the theme, build suspense, and contribute to the overall gothic of the game. Lastly, their pitch used persuasive diction to entice future players. 

Thinking about trying a PBL with your students? Check out these helpful resources from PBLWorks.