Unit Two - Problem Solving

I think overall I like the idea of PBL.  Like I said before, I think its important that we are teaching kids learning skills just as much as content.  Constructing a curriculum and the subsequent lessons in a problem based learning design is definitely ideal.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure if our current educational system is very conducive to this style.  Teaching AP and teaching in Texas, my classes are unavoidably geared toward "The Test."  Whether the test is the AP exam in May or the TAKS standardized state test at the end of each year, I am forced to have my students' performance on these assessments as a primary concern of my teaching objectives.

While the skills and ideas that are learned by students in PBL units are awesome and so important in the big picture, those things are not the test.  And inevitably, it all comes down to an issue of time.  While I try to incorporate as many student-led activities with my classes, it would be impossible to cover all the required content of the school year if every lesson was designed that way.  Honestly, I hate that.  I hate that there are many times, especially in my AP class, that I have to lecture or pretty straightforwardly present the information to them.  

However, I feel with the current system my hands are tied.  I could try doing that, take 2 weeks to have the students do an in-depth, PBL based project on say...the causes of WWI and construct plans and ideas of how things could have been different, but when they get to the AP exam in May, there will be content that we subsequently didn't get to.  And when they go to write the essays, they are left to individually write the desired format of each writing piece with correlating content - not asked to collaboratively construct a piece with several other students in a format that they originate.  So what's the result then?  They fail...or at least they don't do as well.  I might have taught them things that I believe are important for them to know in the real world, but they won't be prepared for the exam, they won't get a good score, they then don't get college credit, they're gpa falls and are now less appealing to colleges, etc, etc.   

I want this style of learning to become more and more the norm - I think to have students that are prepared for the ever-changing world they will eventually be thrust into, its necessary.  Our educational system  needs to start changing too though; from the top down.  Colleges and universities have to start changing how their classrooms are structured, what they require for admission and what qualities they look for in applicants.  These changes then can trickle down to the secondary and elementary level where making changes in this direction is doable and holistically beneficial for the students.