Project Based Learning

Last year my students read Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, both of which are dystopian tales.  My students were asked to briefly describe their own utopian society, but this activity was very brief and, since they were working on their own, it was easy; they did not have to worry whether their views of the perfect society would differ with those of their peers.  This year, I would like to revisit that activity, but I would like to change it so that it becomes a PBL activity.

THE LESSON

Title: Creating a Utopian Society

Objective: Students will work together to create a utopian society.  By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand and explain why utopian societies fail.

CCSS Standards: SL.8.1.a-d

Materials:       Creating a Utopian Society Planner   
                       Chromebooks

Part 1 - Introduction: 

1. As a class, we will briefly review the societies introduced in “Harrison Bergeron” and Fahrenheit 451.
2. Students will answer the following writing prompt: “What would your perfect society look like?”

Part 2 - Creating a Utopian Society:

1. Students will be divided into groups of 4.  As a group they will discuss what their ideal, or perfect, world would be like.
2. Each group member will be given an assigned role in order to create the perfect utopian society: Political Leader, Urban Developer, Marketing Director, and Recreation Director. 
3. Each student will be responsible for completing at least one task from the Utopian Society Planner within their assigned role in order to create a utopian society, but they must also work with each other to ensure cohesion.
4. The groups will create a multimedia presentation describing the Utopian society that they have created and addressing the topics addresses in the Utopian Society Planner.
5. Groups will present/explain the societies they have created to their classmates and justify the rationale used behind their choices in creating their society.

Part 3 – Conclusion:

1. All students will take part in a class discussion that revisits the reasoning behind utopian societies and whether or not utopian societies are possible.

Differentiation and Student Accountability

Differentiation is achievable within this lesson in numerous ways.  First, as the teacher, I could use cooperative grouping to pick and choose which students work together.  Additionally, I could also choose to assign the roles, rather than letting students pick what they want to do within the group.  In addition to this, rather than telling students what task they have to complete under their assigned role, they have the ability to choose a task; some tasks appeal to different types of learning (i.e. create a map of where your perfect society would be located, create a diary entry of how a typical day would be spent within your utopian society).  Because of the assigned roles and the need for students to defend/justify the rationale behind their decisions, each member has a sense of responsibility, especially in regards to their presentation.  Although this assignment seems simple and it appears that a group of four students should be able to create a perfect society, each individual role has differing tasks, goals, and questions posed.  For example, the Recreation Director may want to build an amusement park, but they can’t do that without the approval of the Urban Developer, who in turn must go to the Political Leader, who is in charge of the money.  It seems simple, but then the question is posed: How do you obtain money to build these projects?  Suddenly a perfect society of fun, freedom, and no taxes seems less plausible.