Below is a recent television broadcast of Manor New Tech High School in Manor, TX. Manor New Tech uses Project Based Instruction as it's primary teaching pedagogy and many of it's mathematics and science teachers are graduates of the UTeach Program at the University of Texas at Austin and have taken my Project Based Instruction course. In addition, Manor New Tech is where my current pre-service students do their field experiences. Manor New Tech is three years old and has not had a single drop out and has done above state average on all standardized testing. It's students are largely alternative students- think students from Demarest Alternative School. The following story is from a local television affiliate. The new curriculum in Hoboken was designed to facilitate the use of Project Based Instruction. -Dr. Petrosino
Manor New Tech High School has already taken the idea and run with it. The high school is a public high school and has the same subjects like other high schools. However they do not use textbooks to teach kids the curriculum.
Every classroom has several computers that students use. They gather in groups of 2 to 4 to learn about a specific project that falls under requirements of the states standards.
"The main format here is project base learning," Manor School Superintendent Andrew Kim said. "So all of our instructions are through projects hands on activities that are front loaded to kids. Mainly our students have open access to various sites through the internet to gather info they need to create an answer to complex assignments."
Manor New Tech High School has been open for three years with zero drop outs. This year they will have their first graduating class, many moving on to four year universities.
Published : Wednesday, 07 Apr 2010, 5:35 PM CDT
