Project Based
Learning
Engaging Students in the 21st Century
Why PBL Works
• Overcomes the dichotomy between knowledge and
thinking, helping students to both “know” and
“do.”
• Assesses performance on content and skills using
criteria similar to those in the work world, thus
encouraging accountability, goal setting, and
improved performance.
• Meets the needs of learners with varying skill
levels and learning styles.
• Engages and motivates bored or indifferent
students.
Project Based Learning
Explained
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=LMCZvGesRz8
8 Essentials for Project-Based
Learning
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1. Significant Content
2. A Need to Know
3. A Driving Question
4. Student Voice and Choice
5. 21st Century Skills
6. Inquiry and Innovation
7. Feedback and Revision
8. Publically Presented Content
• Read the article and discuss.
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
First Steps
1. DEVELOP A PROJECT IDEA
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Work backward from a topic
Use your Standards
Find projects and ideas on the Web
Map your community
Match what people do in their daily work
Tie the project to local and national events
Focus on community service
2. DECIDE THE SCOPE OF THE
PROJECT
SMALL PROJECT
AMBITIOUS PROJECT
• Duration
• Breadth
• 5 to 10 days
• One Topic/standard
• Most of semester
• Multiple
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Technology
Outreach
Partnership
Audience
Limited
Classroom-based
One Teacher
Classroom/School
Extensive
Community-based
Multiple
Expert panel
Student Autonomy
PROJECT DESIGN AND THE STUDENTS’ ROLE
Limited Student Input
Maximum Student Input
Teacher selects topic
Teacher solicits student
input
Students select topic
Teacher defines learning
outcomes
Teacher and students
negotiate learning
outcomes
Students define learning
outcomes
Student Autonomy (cont.)
PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND THE STUDENTS’ ROLE
Limited Student
Autonomy
Maximum Student
Autonomy
Teacher defines products
and activities
Students define products
and activities
Teacher controls
timeline and pace of
project
Teacher solicits student
input
Students determine
timeline and pace of
project
3. SELECT STANDARDS
• Key questions: “What do you want your
students to know and be able to do?” or “What
topics would you be embarrassed about if your
students couldn’t discuss them intelligently at
the end of the project?”
• Be selective: do not try to meet too many
standards in a short project. Three or less is
best.
• Literacy as a core standard: Include at least
one literacy outcome in your project-along
with a major product (writing, speaking).
4. INCORPORATE SIMULTANEOUS
OUTCOMES
Work together in teams to
discover projects to
incorporate across the
curriculum.
How can “The Immortal Life
of Henrietta Lacks” produce
simultaneous outcomes at
Bertie Academy?
“CRITICAL FRIENDS” ACTIVITY
• Watch the following YouTube clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZZguTrq
qo
• Discuss in groups of 2-3, how this issue can
produce simultaneous outcomes in your
school.
• Use chart paper to write your ideas, post.
• Gallery Walk
GALLERY WALK PROTOCOL
• Visit each posting. You are now “critical
friends.”
• Using Post it notes, leave feedback with
statements that begin with “I like…” to
express the things you like about the idea, and
“I wonder” for things you have questions about
or things you think can be done differently or
better.
Skills
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Communication
Technology
Group Process
Design
Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
Task- and Self-Management
Workplace Skills
21st Century Skills
5. WORK FROM PROJECT DESIGN
CRITERIA
• Does your project…
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Meet standards?
Engage students?
Focus on essential understanding?
Encourage higher-level thinking?
Teacher literacy and reinforce basic skills?
Allow all students to succeed?
Use clear, precise assessments?
Require the sensible use of technology?
Address authentic issues?
6. CREATE THE OPTIMAL
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
• Give your project one or more connections
beyond the classroom.
• Alter your classroom’s look and feel.
• See the whole before practicing the parts.
• Study content and apply it to authentic
problems.
• Make schoolwork more like real work.
PLANNING A PBL PROJECT
THE BIG PICTURE
PLANNING: The Gender Project
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y8_UxQnuHc&
list=PL3AA6ADD734414F11
• What did you notice about the diversity of the
student population?
• What did you notice about the professionals who
collaborated on the project design?
• How do those entities compare with those of Bertie
Academy?
Planning Steps
• Select significant content for your project
• Develop a project idea
• Decide on major student products
• Involve a public audience
• Write a driving question
PLANNING PRACTICE
• Go to www.bie.org and use the Project Search feature, or
use one the examples provided. Choose two projects that
might be of interest to you and complete the form.
• Brainstorm about potential project ideas for your content
area.
• Select significant content for your project. List the general
topics you plan to teach for the semester and circle
content that jumps out as potential starting points for
project ideas.
• Think about which standards are the most important in the
academic content areas you teach.
• Decide the major products (Written, Presentations, Media
and Technology, Models, Planning).
• Decide on the public audience for your project.
Crafting the Driving Question
• Driving Questions Are:
Provocative and engaging
Open-ended
Go to the heart of a discipline or topic
Challenging
Generated from real-world dilemmas that students
find interesting
• Consistent with curricular standards and frameworks
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Refining the Driving Question
GOOD DQ
BETTER DQ
Was Truman’s decision to drop
the bomb justified?
Can the use of nuclear weapons
be justified?
What is global warming?
Should we be worried about
global warming in our town?
What have been the most
How has reading changed for
popular novels among teenagers teenagers over the last 30
in the last 30 years?
years?
Activity: Refine the DQs. Share (p. 23 PBL 101)
PBL Project Planner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWh0act_9HE&list=PLjPPY3iAAnI6GylOwW
QLqdrnxONc1cwbW
RESOURCES
• www.bie.org
• www.edutopia.org
• http://www.youtube.com/user/BIEPBL?featur
e=g-high-crv