The Kingdom of Tunga, in the South Pacific, has issued the following edict .

c

His Highness wants to find an island worthy to be colonized.

To achive that aim, he has organized a contest.The contestants must find an unexplored island, among the thousand islands in the South Pacific Ocean , and produce a report with information about different aspects of the island and its inhabitants. They have to convince the monarch that the island they have found is the one that best suits his wishes.

All the members of the winning team will be appointed governors of the island and they will be granted properties, money and priviledges.

A bilingual group of 1st eso students and their teachers are willing to participate in the contest.

They have to organize a mission to explore the islands and find one that suits the monarch's wishes.

Stakeholders and their roles:

The bilingual coordinator: he/she will motivate and lead the project.

The bilingual teachers will provide the students with guidance and promote different skills to make this mission a succesful one.

The bilingual students will work in groups. They will have to carry out different taks.

Families and expert professionals from the community will be invited to participate.

VISION OF THE RESULT

They will make a blog with information about the island and its inhabitants. The island will be analysed from multiple perspectives. Furthermore, they will have to defend their project orally and in written form.

They will achieve this through working in groups of students and with the help of teachers from different departments. This plan will encourage team-work, critical thinking and creativity.

First, they will have to analyse their strengths, resources and strategies:

STRENGTHS

-The expertise knowledge and commitment of the bilingual teachers involved.

-The enthusiasm of the students.

RESOURCES

Human Resources

-Bilingual Coordinator

-Bilingual Teachers

-Bilingual Students

-Parents and expert professionals

Material Resources

-The curriculum of 1st ESO Real Decreto 1105/2014 for Secondary Education.

-Documents, videos and links provided by the teachers on the different aspects of the project.

-Literature and videos on Project Based Learning.

-Questionnaires and rubrics to evaluate the different tasks , the stakeholders and the project.

-Other material resources: meeting rooms, computers...

STRATEGIES

-Periodic meetings of the bilingual staff involved, lead by the bilingual coordinator.

-A workshop on how to implement a Project Based Learning approach in the classroom.

-The workshop can be organized through the Community of Madrid as a "Seminario"with the visit of expert teachers or as "Grupo de trabajo".

-Different courses on PBL organized by the Community of Madrid in the different "CTIFs" or "CRIF-Acacias.

IDEAS, APPROACHES,METHODOLOGY

Project-based learning is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying https://www.edutopia.org/

IDEAS on this approach have been taken from different videos and links presented by Rachel Kelly in the wiki https://leadbyyourexample.wikispaces.com/DAY+4 designed for the professional development course IN-29.

-Ideas on how to implement PBL in a Spanish environment have been taken from videos by Fernando Trujillo

ISSUES THEY COULD FACE

The coordinator: He/She finds very hard to motivate the teachers and students

Bilingual Teachers : Teachers might feel reluctant to use Project Based Learning methodology in their classes.

Students:They find hard to work in groups

The solution to these issues is to provide teachers and students with enough information about this methodology. Moreover, regular meetings to check the project are the key to success.

FIRST STEP

-Students are informed of the project

-They are grouped in teams of 5/6 students.

-The subjects involved are:Biology, Advanced English, Social Science,Technology, Physical Education and Ethics.

-Every team makes a blog.

-A scheduled is organized in such a way that all teams explore the island from two diferent perspectives each term.

1st term - Literature and Social Sciences

2nd term- Biology and Physical Education

3rd term - Technology and Ethics

Each subject teacher must devote, at least, 4 sessions to the project.

The introduction to the project can be made by any teacher. (2 sessions)

Roles in each group are assigned:

(The students rotate the roles)

-Coordinator - (1 student) this person must check that everyone does their job. He/She also monitors that interaction is carried out in English.

-Information searches- (3 students)They search for information. They use different sources.

-Editors- (2 students)They write and edit the information.They upload a summary of the task and some illustrations/ photographs onto the blog.

-Everyone supervises the final task.

SECOND STEP

-The teachers decide what learning standards, competences and skills of the curriculum want to work within this project.

-In the bilingual meetings every teacher will present the tasks they have planned to do with the students. In this way, everyone is familiar with the development of the project at any time.

-The bilingual coordinator will encourage participation and accommodate the project to the different needs that might come out.

-The tasks are presented as follows:

a) Revise previous knowledge on the issue

b) Research

c) Production

d) Final revision of the task

e) Upload a summary and illustrations of the task onto the blog.

Samples of tasks:

Literature: They have found a manuscript with legends of the people on the island. Every team has to produce a legend that is related to a natural phenomena. They have to create a digital book.

Biology: They produce a document that illustrates the flora and fauna of the island. Imagination and creativity will be encouraged.