Project Based Learning, Part II

By Isha Strasser
Director of Enrollment & Communication

One way FSMH approaches teaching global citizenship is through Project Based Learning (PBL). In the previous blog, I highlighted how FSMH students learn to explore issues with a wide inclusive lens before focusing on a specific, solution-based local initiative. 

This critical and constructive pedagogical approach empowers young people to develop a well-informed and compassionate foundation for solving problems, globally and locally. It sounds lofty, and yet when applied at age appropriate levels, this approach transforms classroom learning into experiential knowing. The previous blog detailed the PBL for 5th grade last year, so now we’ll see how this pedagogy unfolds with our youngest learners.

The PBL initiative for Pre-K and Kindergarten this year is “The ABC’s of Transportation.” The concept was developed by our Early Education Team with support from our Global Learning Coordinator, Teacher Flo. 

Once a concept is established, such as The ABC’s of Transportation, each Equipo (class grouping) identifies an Enduring Understanding. This is the intended impact or knowledge that the lessons crafted around the concept will convey.

The Enduring Understanding related to the ABC’s of Transportation is that transportation is important to our everyday lives. The nuanced lessons around this concept encourage Pre-K and Kindergarteners to unravel some of the complexities of what that idea entails. Students are learning about different modes and necessities of transportation. They’ve also explored how children around the world use various modes of transportation to get to school. 

During letter-themed weeks, students practice travel related words and their implications. Some examples include:

• During“A” week, students learned all about airplanes, and engineered paper airplanes to fly through the halls (which plane went furthest and why?!).
• In “B” week, they practiced words like bus, reading and engaging in purposeful play around the book, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus,” by Mo Willems.
• “C” week focused on camels, and places like Morocco where they are also used as transportation.
• “D” week included donkeys and places where they are also used to transport people and goods.

Lessons continue throughout the year along these lines, and culminate in a Trike-a-Thon to contribute to a cause (while also having enormous fun making meaningful school memories!).  

When students engage in immersive learning in this way it kindles curiosity, wonder about the world and the people in it. Perhaps most importantly, it kindles their creative potential as global citizens to impact their communities and the whole beautiful world around them.