GWTeach Speaks: Alexa Vero, Project-Based Learning Student

On November 19th, GWTeach Speaks hosted Alexa Vero, a student in GTCH 3103: Project-Based Learning. 

Vero joined GWTeach as an Engineering student, and later switched her major to History. Though she is not currently planning to get her teaching licensure, Vero loves the applicable skills she gets from her GWTeach classes. 

"Knowing how to teach people is just a valuable skill to have," Vero states. "Learning how to convey an idea in a way that people really understand it, that's so important."  

Vero honed this skill when planning and implementing a Project-Based Learning lesson on Earth Systems for AP Environmental Science students. She hoped her students would learn the content knowledge through the lesson, rather than using a project to simply check for students' understanding. 

"The essential question I asked my students was, 'How can we protect and prepare our communities from natural disasters?'" recalls Vero. She showed her students examples of natural disasters occcuring around the United States, which they used to develop evidence-based emergency action plans. Vero's students researched plate tectonics, the formation of natural disasters, and effective marketing strategies to create thier emergency action plans.

"For PBL, I always had to remember to connect the content material back to the final project, which is really different from other lesson models," Vero states. "The project is really the vessel for students to learn the content, and it really makes them engage with it more deeply." 

Interested in GWTeach courses like Project-Based Learning? Check out which GWTeach courses are being offered in Spring 2021!

• GTCH 1001 – Step 1: Inquiry Approaches to Teaching
  • W 8:00AM - 9:15AM | 18024
  • W 11:10AM – 12:25 PM | 18025
• GTCH 1002 – Step 2: Inquiry-Based Lesson Design
  • T 8:00AM – 9:15AM | 18026
• GTCH 1003 – Step 1 & Step 2 Hybrid
  • TR 9:35AM – 10:50AM | 18027
    • Fulfills Oral Communication GPAC requirement
• GTCH 3101 – Knowing and Learning
  • MW 3:45PM – 5:00PM | 17442
    • Fulfills Oral Communication GPAC requirement
• GTCH 3102 – Classroom Interactions
  • W 12:45PM – 3:15PM | 14038
• GTCH 3201W – Perspectives on Math and Science
  • W 7:10PM – 9:40PM | 17443
    • Fulfills WID requirement
• GTCH 4000 – Apprentice Teaching
  • W 3:30PM – 6:00PM | 18028