You’re Superheroes in My Eyes: Problem-Based Learning as Method for Community Healing

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Addressing Social Justice in Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning (Table 5)

Abstract

This qualitative case study considers how one urban charter school used PBL as a method for community healing during the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. Through analysis of planning documents, curricular materials, teacher reflections, and student artifacts, results center on two PBL units responding to the most significant contexts of students’ lives during the 2020-2021 school year. Analysis shows how the PBL units were powered by student-led action, resulted in community learning through students, and represented culturally responsive pedagogy by centering lessons on social issues versus mandated state standards. Implications consider possibilities and complications for extending PBL as a method for community healing beyond unique contexts such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authors

• Anne E. Martin, Georgia State University

• Sterling Slaughter, Charles R Drew Charter School

• Teresa R. Fisher-Ari, Rollins Center for Language and Literacy