This video (or the true TED version) was listed on the
eduinspiration playlist but I wanted to post the version I viewed a few weeks
ago via the Buck Institute for Education (bie.org).
BIE: The Buck Institute for Education helps to promote project based learning and support teachers and staff in the development of project based learning in their classrooms and in their schools. You can visit their website at bie.org for some great materials, ideas and more about project based learning.
PBL Professional Development: So a couple of weeks ago three people from the Buck Institute of Education came to meet and direct a full session (3 days) of Project Based Learning understanding and development with the teaching staff of the school I will be working at next year. The training went into depth about what PBL is really about and what assessments and what is being measured are supposed to entail.
The video in this context: The video was shown at the training on day 2 (or 3) when we were discussing project based learning student products and assessments (formative, summative, group and individual). (A note on group assessments: they are not recommended). The video was enlightening to many of my colleagues including myself. The video essentially describes how businesses' incentives plans fail. People, when given incentives to perform tasks better and quicker generally do not do well (see the drawings of the people falling down at the highest pedestals--those who were given the most incentives fall the furthest). Unless the products we want them to produce are (in some sense 'meaningless') robotic people most likely will not thrive under money motivators etc. Those who are given little to no incentives perform at the same level as those who are given medium (slightly higher than the lowest and lower than the highest) incentives. It seems counter intuitive in many senses because people like money and want money and should want to work for it. But it truly stifles creativity.
BIE: The Buck Institute for Education helps to promote project based learning and support teachers and staff in the development of project based learning in their classrooms and in their schools. You can visit their website at bie.org for some great materials, ideas and more about project based learning.
PBL Professional Development: So a couple of weeks ago three people from the Buck Institute of Education came to meet and direct a full session (3 days) of Project Based Learning understanding and development with the teaching staff of the school I will be working at next year. The training went into depth about what PBL is really about and what assessments and what is being measured are supposed to entail.
The video in this context: The video was shown at the training on day 2 (or 3) when we were discussing project based learning student products and assessments (formative, summative, group and individual). (A note on group assessments: they are not recommended). The video was enlightening to many of my colleagues including myself. The video essentially describes how businesses' incentives plans fail. People, when given incentives to perform tasks better and quicker generally do not do well (see the drawings of the people falling down at the highest pedestals--those who were given the most incentives fall the furthest). Unless the products we want them to produce are (in some sense 'meaningless') robotic people most likely will not thrive under money motivators etc. Those who are given little to no incentives perform at the same level as those who are given medium (slightly higher than the lowest and lower than the highest) incentives. It seems counter intuitive in many senses because people like money and want money and should want to work for it. But it truly stifles creativity.
It made me think of the students who get test anxiety. I
have one student who participates in every class lecture. She typically
describes her process very well and is often on the right track (but I have
heard her explain some solutions that do indicate much misconception). But she also completes most
all of her homework but the second she is given a test she fails. This has been
a consistent trend throughout the year. The grade and test for her is her money
incentive that decreases her performance....or really the anxiety. And that is
the root of the difficulty of incentives.
But this led the presentation to the discussion of
differentiation of instruction in project based learning which was one of our
concerns. For us we are only assessing students individually and our aim is
reflection and revision. We want to emphasize the importance of student work to both the teacher and the
student and validate it with an authentic audience. Along with the personal
interest in the project we aim to motivate students. Instead of the grade as
the carrot the learning is the whole garden!
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