Smith- Connecting PBL, Technology, and STEM/STEAM

Connecting PBL, Technology, and STEM/STEAM

 

     SAMR, refers to Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.  It is framed like a ladder with Substitution at the bottom.  Enhancement and reformation are part of the framework for teachers. The idea behind SAMR is to have a common language in education across the curriculum (Puentedura, 2023).  The goal is to lead to greater comprehension, for students to learn from one another and to give a sense of community of practice. Like PBL and STEM, the learning experience should be meaningful.  The use of technology should enhance the experience. Technology should be the glue, the tool to bring the resources to the student.  The tool to open the walls of the classroom to the outside real world (Gorman, 2014).

   With the use of technology, student choice can be invoked through allowing the students to search for resources, choose topics, choose presentation methods etc. The students can achieve a high level of learning because there is simply more to access. There is more information, more tools available, more choices, more points of view, more ways to investigate, and more to discover. In turn, there are more ways to provide and receive feedback.  Students can be more creative, innovative, and are more engaged. Both SAMR and PBL allow students to use the skills they have learned and put them to use. They can practice investigation, collaboration, and communication. The vast array of information and discovery at the students' fingertips forces them to mold that information into a design or solution in their own way.  It requires them to move into a higher level of thinking and use higher level thinking skills. This takes learning and understanding to a whole new level. The projects and activities are not generally short activities, they are multifaceted and take weeks. The process and products become more meaningful which leads to higher and longer lasting comprehension. STEM/PBL and SAMR combine together to become more of a learning pedagogy in the sense that it is a student choice, investigative, collaborative process that is made possible through technology. Instead of thinking of STEM and PBL combining with the SAMR framework just for a single project or activity, it should be seen as an overall teaching practice.  The whole process should be structured. As with the SAMR framework, the structure should enable students to use their choice and creativity to take them different ways and connect to the real world in an authentic way. As a result, the students learn during that process instead of from the product that process produces.

 

Gorman, M. (2014, September 15). Essential Connections of STEM, PBL, and Technology 

Integration… What Would Dewey Think?  

https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/essential-connections-of-stem

-pbl-and-tech-integration-what-would-dewey-think/


Puentedura, R. (2023, February 5).  Ruben Puentedura on the Impact of the SAMR

        Model.  [Video].  Common Sense Education.  

        https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/ruben-puentedura-on-the-impact-of-the-samr-

        model?page=1

 

 

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