The Evolution of PBL:
Change and
Project-Based Learning
There was a time when all
learning was project-based
Then, educators tried
some other approaches.
Aristotle teaching at the
Academy
300 BC
Chinese students
gathering around a wall
posting the results of the
civil service exam.
Sui Dynasty - 605
Education reinforced and was
prescribed by class division.
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Hands-on education was traditionally for
craftsmen, trades, and laborers
(and upper-class women)
“Hands-off” education =
prestigious education
Education based on reading, writing,
abstract mathematics, and speaking (rhetoric)
was reserved for aristocracy, civil servants
and clergy
Vocational / Career Education
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Traditionally for apprentices, indentured servants,
and slaves
By the mid-1880s “trade” education was mostly for
children in institutions (orphans, Native Americans,
the poor)
Booker T. Washington believed
trade-specific education
was a good way
to integrate
Major reform: Francis Parker
and John Dewey
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1870s- early 1900s
Parker’s “Quincy System” called for
child-centered and experience-based learning
Dewey: “The Modern Father of Experiential
Education”
“My Pedagogic Creed”
(John Dewey, 1900)
I believe that the active side precedes the
passive in the development of the child
nature; that expression comes before
conscious impression; that the muscular
development precedes the sensory; that
movements come before conscious
sensations; I believe that consciousness is
essentially motor or impulsive;
that conscious states tend to project
themselves in action.
“My Pedagogic Creed”
(John Dewey, 1900)
I believe that the neglect of this principle is
the cause of a large part of the waste of time
and strength in school work. The child is
thrown into a passive, receptive or absorbing
attitude. The conditions are such that he is
not permitted to follow the law of his nature;
the result is friction and waste.
The Progressive Education
movement (1900s - 1920s)
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Progressive educators opposed
separating academic education for
elite vs. vocational training for the
masses.
During the 1920s, education turned
increasingly to "scientific"
techniques such as intelligence
testing and cost-benefit
management.
Progressive educators insisted on
the importance of the emotional,
artistic, and creative aspects of
human nature.
Constructivism
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Piaget and Vygotsky argued for play as
a learning method, and provided
scientific evidence for its importance
Both encouraged hands-on, active
learning for all students
After WWI, drastic educational
reform in 20th century Europe
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Maria Montessori: hands-on learning
Loris Malaguzzi: the Reggio Emilia approach
(Italy 1950s)
In the US: the Progressive
Education movement (1940s)
During the Depression, a group
of politically oriented progressive
educators dared schools to "build
a new social order"
 Students of Dewey taught the
principles of progressive
education to thousands of
teachers and school leaders
A major research endeavor, the "eight-year study,"
demonstrated that students from progressive high
schools were capable, adaptable learners and
excelled even in the finest universities.
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Backlash to progressivism
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Death of Dewey, 1952
Onset of the Cold War
launching of Sputnik
a wave of "back to the
basics” reforms
Reagan conservatism
Bush-era NCLB
1990s: Rebirth of
Project-Based Learning
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Interactive digital tools
spurred a rebirth of thinking
on constructivism and
project-based learning
Many researchers and
practices: “action learning,”
“ideas in action,”
“WebQuests,”
“neo-Piagetism,”
“service learning,” etc.
Constructionism
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Constructionism (Harel & Papert, 1991; Kafai &
Resnick, 1996) posits that individuals learn best when
they are constructing an artifact that can be shared
with others and reflected upon, such as plays, poems,
pie charts or toothpick bridges.
Debate over PBL
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Purely constructivist theory of project-based learning,
with minimal intervention/ instruction
Vs. a “guided instruction” theory
Jonassen (1997) proposed well-designed, wellstructured learning environments provide scaffolding for
problem-solving.
Both Sweller and Jonassen
support problem-solving
scenarios for more advanced
learners
Everything old
is new again…
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Despite its long history, “learning by doing” is at
the leading edge of educational reform and is
often seen as radically new!