Reflection of Project Based Learning Activity

Now that we completed our planning of our project based learning activity, I can see how this project will support our objective of getting them to see math being used in real world applications. However, after studying and reading what project based learning truly means, I have discovered that this is really not a project based learning activity. The first step in a project based learning activity is that students identify a problem and they research and develop a solution to the problem. However, as students in this class we identified this as a problem in this Math I class and developed a solution to the problem. So, for the purposes of this class it could be considered a project based learning activity.
We started the project by planning for college. This gave the students an opportunity to research possible occupations that they may be interested in and the amount of college needed for that occupation. They will also research colleges and compare tuition prices and decide what college will fit into their financial budget. From this activity, they will use the information to plan a budget. They will include details such as automobile repair, doctor visits, and many other monthly expenses that they will incur each month. They will then move on to the next three activities using the budget they have created. They will purchase a car within their budget; plan a vacation, and a special event. I think that the students will enjoy these activities and appreciate their parents more when they realize what they have to pay just for them to have the things that they have.
I like the activities that we have planned and would love to see this actually taught. However, I am a kindergarten teacher, so I doubt I will ever benefit from seeing this project actually carried out. I think our group worked well together, in fact I felt that this project was the best that we have completed so far. Keri was an awesome group leader and we had great communication. I would be willing to work with any of these people again on a group assignment.