What is Project-Based Learning (PBL)?
Checklist - Attributes - Issues - Project Examples - Third Party - Teacher Resources - Student Resources
Descriptions - 2 Perspectives
(1) teacher-facilitated, student emphasized. A teacher-facilitated project transforms teaching from "teacher telling" to "students doing." It places the emphasis of the doing on the students.
A strategy that recognizes that significant learning taps students' inherent drive to learn, capability to do important work, and the need to be taken seriously;
Learning in which curricular outcomes can be identified up-front, but in which the outcomes of the student's learning process are neither predetermined nor fully predictable;
Learning that requires students to draw from many information sources and disciplines in order to solve problems;
Experiences through which students learn to manage and allocate resources such as time and materials.
(2) teacher-guided perspective, teacher accountability is emphasized. A teacher-guided project lets you teach to your curriculum standards AND engage your students. Accountability is placed on the teacher.
pick the different skills and content you will teach (for example, standards derived);
identify the essential knowledge you want all students to learn (key objectives);
craft a question that will focus the project and engage your students (driving question);
decide how students will demonstrate what they have learned (products/performances);
choose or create assessment tools to clarify expectations and evaluate student work (rubrics).
There can exist some degree of compromise between them, however, both perspectives are derived from the same basic question of who's in control. You can find the interplay of this issue in the Schematic on the Elements page.
Checklist for Implementing Group Investigation, by Yael and Shlomo Sharan, outlines PBL unit implementation pretty well. This document serves as an overview of the PBL process.
Best practice of PBL supports the notion that students construct learning for themselves. Its objective is to inspire a desire to learn within the student. Its construct promotes a shift from teacher activity to student enabled. Indeed, a successful PBL is characterized by student facilitated activity - the essence of constructivism.
Experiencing PBL can develop skills in technology use, inquiry and research, teamwork and cooperation, communication, and content delivery for both teacher and student. The teacher/student relationship becomes mutually inclusive. Its beauty lies in the diversity it represents.
In A Review of Research on Project-based Learning, John W. Thomas (http://www.autodesk.com/foundation) describes the challenges associated with enacting PBL (p.22). The challenges encountered by students relate to various skill deficiencies that surfaced during the PBL. The challenges encountered by teachers relate to control issues.
The potential of PBL to expand the learning experience may challenge students' ability to interact successfully in a group, function efficiently with technology, communicate effectively with others. The potential of PBL to create diversity and introduce new awareness may challenge the teacher's ability to monitor the proceedings without controlling them, guide student progress with leadership, and address accountability issues.
Messy - "Knowledge is a process, not a product"- Bruner. The best projects are open-ended exploration. The "right answer" approach is problematic for PBL. Emphasizes group investigation. Horizontal relevance implies lateral connectivity - curriculum integration instead of fragmentation.
Subversive - Teachers have to relinquish control of the learning process. Students answer their own questions, "Why do we have to do this? With whom do we work? What do we do?" The corporate, test-driven, top-down teacher-as-purveyor of knowledge model is inconsistent with PBL. Focus is not on the teacher and instruction. "Coverage is the ending of understanding"- Howard Gardner. PBL is the antithesis of the knowledge-to-application model: "Learn this stuff, you might need it later." "Will this be on the test?"
Authentic - Project-based student learning is a whole-hearted, purposeful activity within a social context. Meaning and relevance in this process is student created. The correct answer to the question, "Which is greater, 4 sevenths or 11 nineteenths?" is "Who cares" (Kohn). PBL begs the student to ask, "What makes more sense?" Meaningful problems create intrinsic motivation to learn.
Feedback - Best practice indicates that feedback is a critical aspect of success for PBL. Student-to-student as well as teacher-to-student dialog helps to monitor and promote progress. How and when to incorporate feedback is determined by the teachers management style. Formalized checklists, informal meetings, Question-Comment-Concern forms, student self-assessment progress checks, and journal entries are a few strategies for feedback.
Time - PBL can be as short as overnight or as long and several weeks in duration. PBL units flourish in a block schedule routine. Be alert to the amount of time a project takes when examining the PBL examples (below).
Parent Concerns - Be prepared to explain your decision to embark on PBL to the parents of the students involved. Prior notification and explanation will go far in assuaging concerns parents may have about their child's learning. Updates, newsletters, FAQ sheets are among many ways to keep parents informed of their students' involvement with this learning process.
The National Geographic Society and NGS Kids Network see Geo-kits
Technical Education Research Centers (TERC) go to Project Web Sites
I*EARN - International Education and Resource Network go to Projects
Global Schoolhouse at Lightspan.com go to Collaborative Projects
Challenge 2000 Multimedia Projects reference for constructing PBL with examples
Third Party (other PBL designers)
Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach, Katz and Chard, 2000, Ablex Publishing, ISBN 1567505015
Checklist for Implementing Group Investigation, a model by Yael and Shlomo Sharan.
Curriculum Integration - Sites and Suggestions a collection of useful references for all PBL phases
Steps in Building a Unit of Study Instructional Technology Teacher
Center for Technology in Learning articles about students and technology