IMPLEMENTING PROJECT BASED
LEARNING
RACHEL COOK AND STEPHANIE DULMAGE
SESSION AGENDA
The Why and What of PBL
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7 Whys of PBL
PBL Video
The How of PBL
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Essential Elements of PBL
Project Vs. Project Based Learning
Project Planning
PBL in Action
You Are What You Eat
Energy Makes The World Go Round - 1st grade PBL
Un Restaurante Nuevo - MS Spanish PBL
Getting Started
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Resources and Tools
Q and A
WHY PBL?
PBL Helps Students Develop Skills for Living in a
Knowledge-Based, Highly Technological Society
Solving highly complex problems requires that students
have both fundamental skills and 21st century skills:
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personal and social responsibility
planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity
strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation
needs
cross-cultural understanding
visualizing and decision making
knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most
appropriate tool for the task
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide-importance
THE WHY CONT’D
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PBL and Technology Use Bring a New Relevance to
the Learning at Hand
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PBL Lends Itself to Authentic Assessment
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PBL Promotes Lifelong Learning
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PBL Accommodates Students with Varying Learning
Styles and Differences
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PBL Increases Opportunities For Relationship
Building and Personalized Learning
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Research Supports PBL
WHAT IS PROJECT BASED LEARNING
(PBL)? HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LMCZVGESRZ8
What is Project Based Learning?
“A project is
meaningful if it
fulfills two criteria.
First, students
must perceive it as
personally
meaningful…
Second, a
meaningful project
fulfills an
educational
purpose. Welldesigned and wellimplemented
Project Based
Learning (PBL)
is meaningful in
both ways.”
- BIE
http://www.bie.org
PROJECT ORIENTED LEARNING VS.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
Remember… this is not simply doing a project or
culminating activity that demonstrates what
students learned from teacher-directed lessons or
lectures.
Watch and reflect…
http://howtovideos.hightechhigh.org/video/265/W
hat+Project+Based+Learning+Isn
CONVENTIONAL VS. PROJECT BASED
INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH
Teacher –centered
Student-centered
Teacher-directed
Self-directed
Listen, memorize, repeat
Discover, apply, present
Independence
Collaboration
Teacher decision-making
Teacher and student decision
making
Knowledge of facts, terms,
content
21st Century Skills
Direct instruction
Varied instructional strategies
Short, isolated lessons with
predetermined answers
Long-term investigations
Standards-based
Standards-based
Assessment tests
Ongoing assessments
School-based
Real-connections
Quizzes and tests
Reflections
http://www.intel.com/education/video/pbl/content.htm
NOW WHAT?
DEVELOPING AN IDEA AND DRIVING
QUESTION(S)
Begin with the end in mind…sound
familiar?
http://www.bie.org
DEVELOPING A PROJECT IDEA:
Developing a Project Idea
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Summary of the issue, challenge, investigation,
scenario, or problem
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Student-driven
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Project resources
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Planning Forms
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Entry Event
Generate Driving Question (s)
Characteristics of a Driving Question

Provocative or challenging to students,
because it is relevant, important,
urgent or otherwise interesting.
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Open-ended and/or complex; there is
no single “right answer,” or at least no
simple “yes” or “no” answer. It
requires in-depth inquiry and higherlevel thinking. Requires action!
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Linked to the core of what you want
students to learn; to answer it well,
students would need to gain the
knowledge and skills you have
targeted as goals for the project.
“A project
without a
Driving
Question is like
an essay
without a thesis.
Without one, a
reader might be
able to pick out
the main point a
writer is trying
to make, but
with a thesis the
main point is
unmistakable.”
BIE
EXAMPLES OF DQS
Why do people revolt?
 How do humans compete in an ecosystem?
 Will global warming affect our community?
 What does an in-depth study of a pond tell us
about an ocean?
 How can we educate students so that the amount
of trash decreases and recycling is increased at
our school?
 How can individuals make a difference in the
world?
 Is conquering the impossible possible?
 How are people and plants connected?
 Just because we can, should we?
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Good
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How have robotics and
automation changed
our society in the past
century?
Better
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What is global
warming?
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How are living things
in an eco-system
connected?
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How have robotics and
automation changed
our town and its
businesses in the next
century?
Should we be worried
about global warming?
What does an in-depth
study of a small pond
tell us about oceans?
You Are What You Eat
First Grade Project-Based Unit
Driving Question(s)?
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What is meant by the saying “You are
what you eat? “
How do healthy eating habits help me
grow bigger and live longer?
How can we, as first graders, educate
our school community about healthy
living?
Student-directed
Transformative
integration of
technology and
web 2.0 tools.
Communication,
creation,
collaboration, and
contribution.
Focused on inquiry,
problem-solving,
and critical
thinking.
Perceptions
surveys indicated
high student
engagement.
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Energy Makes The World Go
Round
Explored and
researched energy
in our lives.
How does energy impact our daily
lives?
Engaged in 4 STEM
Design Challenges.
Why should we be responsible for
using less energy?
How can we, as first graders, change
the energy loss at Gretchko
Elementary?
Communicated/
Collaborated via
Kidblog &
Twiducate.
Gathered data on
heat loss using FLIP
cams, Ipods, &
Google Docs.
Student-led
research on
solutions for heat
loss: Kid-Safe
Google Search and
SymbalooEdu
Student-led
presentation to the
Plant Engineer and
Administrator.
UN RESTAURANTE NUEVO
MS SPANISH PBL
Driving Questions:
What similarities and differences exist in cultural foods in Mexico,
Spain, and the United States?
How might you incorporate this information into an open-house
presentation of a new restaurant in Mexico or Spain?
How might you justify including artwork we have studied as
decoration in your restaurant?
Products:
Required: Restaurant Open-House Presentation,
Restaurant Menu (Spanish), Artwork (English)
Choice: Presentation Roles and Additional
Written Product (News Article or Diet Plan)
Students Expressed:
More confidence in Spanish,
better way to learn, felt
more real-world ready, more
fun
Teacher Perspective:
Relationship building,
increased student
engagement, JUST TRY
IT!
RESOURCES AND TOOLS
Web Resources
Buck Institute for Education - http://www.bie.org/tools/freebies
Scoop-It - http://www.scoop.it/t/project-based-learning-2
Live Binders - http://www.livebinders.com/edit/index/448454
Suggested Books
Project-Based Learning for Gifted Students : A Handbook
for the 21st-Century Classroom, by Todd Stanley
Bringing Innovation to School and Reinventing ProjectBased Learning– Suzie Boss
Creating Innovators - Tony Wagner
World Class Learners Educating Creative and
Entrepreneurial Students – Yong Zhao
CONTACT INFORMATION
Stephanie Dulmage
Gretchko Elementary
West Bloomfield School District
dulmage@wbsd.org or dulmage@westbloomfield.k12.mi.us
Twitter: @stephe1234
http://educationvisionleadership.edublogs.org
Rachel Cook
Brownstown Middle School
Woodhaven-Brownstown School District
cookr@wbsdweb.com
Twitter: @RachACook