When fourth-graders began their Creature Creator PBL a while back there was excitement, trepidation, questions, and a whole bunch of scientific thought and creativity. Creature Creators took a back seat for our Thanksgiving Float PBL but when it was time to step back towards it, the students did so with gusto! The break, though unplanned, brought a renewed sense of accomplishment with what they had already completed and along with it a fire to persevere to continue and finish it with a bang. As noted in the article What Is Perseverance? by Harappa “At its simplest, perseverance is the act of working toward your goal despite challenges and setbacks. It’s the persistence you display, even if there is a delay in achieving goals or success. People who have long-term goals often lose focus and direction. It’s difficult not to lose motivation and enthusiasm after a certain point; however, perseverance teaches you how to continue working hard until you succeed.” While we discuss this skill often in our classroom, this PBL allowed me to see it in action among my students. Revisiting this project with the intention of its completion had students looking back on what they’ve finished thus far with new ideas. Many students changed or altered their designs in some way; whether by adding an adaptation that would ensure not only their creature’s survival but that the creature would thrive in their planet’s biome, or dissecting their original thoughts and getting rid of a feature that served no purpose. Students were coached through each step but the entirety of their creature creation came from them collecting, synthesizing, and utilizing their scientific knowledge and research from our units of study.
Upon revisiting our PBL, students were tasked with completing building their creature’s structure, forming it in clay, and painting it. In all of these steps, students were asked to ensure that their creature would easily show some of its adaptations. Once completed, they worked to create a background that depicted which planet they chose; Rainia, Mountainia, Desertia, or Oceania. Lastly, they had to create a museum card naming their creature (with a combination name from the animals whose adaptations it has), describing its environment, and explaining the adaptations that help it survive and thrive. This past week, we put our creatures on exhibit to an audience of all staff and all students at PNA after explaining what our task was. Staff and students had a comment box and praised the fourth grades with compliments ranging from “It’s clear to see what hard work was put into this,” “The features on the Armadilpouse were so well done,” to “The Henlin is the creature that I think is most realistic and would see in a blockbuster movie.” The audience received the creations wonderfully and the students completed this challenging project with a smile.
While there’s always excitement when beginning a project or task, there’s great satisfaction in finishing things. Bringing a large project to completion is an important thing for young learners to experience. The sense of accomplishment and efficacy that comes from successfully meeting a goal helps build confidence and teaches learners that they have control over themselves and how they shape their learning.
