Abstract
The Participatory Learning Approach (PLA, pronounced “play”) engages students as active participants in the full life cycle of homework, projects, and examination. PLA’s core idea is that students design the questions or projects, execute them, and then assess and grade their peers’ solutions. Each stage can be performed by individuals or by teams. Students should be able to observe (read) everything their peers do so they can learn further from others’ efforts. Designing problems challenges students to critically assess understanding of a subject by their peers. This encourages students to analyze course materials in order to determine the most important aspects for this assessment. Evaluating solutions challenges students to assess how fully a set of materials (the solution) fits their understanding of the field as well as the problem posed.
TopIntroduction
The Participatory Learning Approach (PLA, pronounced “play”) engages students as active participants in the full life cycle of homework, projects, and examination. PLA’s core idea is that students design the questions or projects, execute them, and then assess and grade their peers’ solutions. Each stage can be performed by individuals or by teams. Students should be able to observe (read) everything their peers do so they can learn further from others’ efforts.
Designing problems challenges students to critically assess understanding of a subject by their peers. This encourages students to analyze course materials in order to determine the most important aspects for this assessment. Evaluating solutions challenges students to assess how fully a set of materials (the solution) fits their understanding of the field as well as the problem posed.
PLA is designed to work for a wide range of students from junior high though graduate and professional schools, as well as for training and adult learning. PLA has the following major objectives:
- •
to increase learning of course materials (primarily) and assessment skills (secondarily); and
- •
to provide and evaluate a systematic, collaborative approach to homework assignments, projects, and examinations, focusing on active participation and peer evaluation;
TopPla Process
PLA embodies the following systematic process. The following description assumes that students work individually on each stage. Alternatively, collaborative groups could perform the task at any stage, which would further enhance learning.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Self-Evaluation: Where a person evaluates his or her own solution to a problem or other assignment.
Assessment: Determining how much someone has learned or how well someone understands a particular subject.
Authentic Learning: Learning that uses real-world problems and projects, and that allows students to explore and discuss these problems in ways that are relevant to them.
Peer-Evaluation: Where peers (such as students) evaluate each others’ solutions to problems or other assignments.
Participatory Learning Approach: A pedagogical approach involving students in the entire learning process involving a problem, including authoring, solving, and evaluating a problem and its solution.
Constructivism: A theory of learning and knowing that holds that learning is an active process of knowledge construction in which learners build on prior knowledge and experience to shape meaning and construct new knowledge.