with real-world projects, answering Fullan and Langworthy’s (2013) call for more models that show “what teaching for this kind of connected and flourishing learning looks like” (p. 11).
Learning From Pioneers
In the vanguard of this nascent PBL movement are networks of schools that deliver all their instruction through projects. To leverage their collective wisdom, these PBL pioneers—including High Tech High, the New Tech Network, Expeditionary Learning, Envision Learning, and others—have joined the Deeper Learning Network, an initiative of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. By coming together as a network, they are in a better position to collaborate, share and model best practices, and communicate with the larger education field about how to achieve lasting school change (Boss & Krauss, 2014).
Although their models vary somewhat, they typically emphasize student-driven inquiry, authentic problem solving, and access to technology. Teachers in these settings rise to the challenge of being curriculum designers. They leverage peer collaboration, critiquing, and, often, instructional coaching to improve their practice.
Schools at the forefront of this movement tend to be transparent about their systemic approaches to rethinking education through PBL. They open their classrooms to visitors and, in many cases, make project examples and resources publicly available. That’s good news for educators who want to see PBL in action before taking the plunge themselves.
The Buck Institute for Education, a nonprofit that focuses on improving education globally, has been another driver of change, helping teachers and school systems around the world design and implement high-quality PBL. (Visit the Buck Institute for Education website [http://bie.org] for downloadable PBL planning resources. Full disclosure: I’m part of the Buck Institute for Education faculty and have collaborated on publications.)
Stand-alone schools, such as the well-respected Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also share their PBL success stories and instructional strategies. The Science Leadership Academy hosts an annual conference, EduCon, that attracts hundreds of educators to its urban campus for conversations about reimagining K–12 education. Students at Science Leadership Academy take part in these conversations, reflecting on the projects that have challenged and inspired them, such as following in Alexis de Tocqueville’s footsteps to become modern-day historians themselves, using their understanding of science to design a solar-powered water purifier for the developing world, or teaching lessons about social justice and civil rights to middle schoolers in their community.
These pioneering schools’ strong results, along with mounting evidence about the effectiveness of PBL, have sparked interest in project-based learning in more mainstream settings. Since the 1990s, researchers have documented a range of benefits for PBL, including increased motivation and engagement, deeper understanding of academic content, and enhanced problem-solving skills (Finkelstein, Hanson, Huang, Hirschman, & Huang, 2010; Mergendoller, Maxwell, & Bellisimo, 2006; Stites, 1998; Thomas, 2000). A 2014 study of schools in the Deeper Learning Network, which includes the PBL schools mentioned previously, reports higher graduation rates, better test scores, and stronger interpersonal skills compared to more traditional schools (Zeiser, Taylor, Rickles, Garet, & Segeritz, 2014).
Bob Lenz, cofounder of Envision Education and incoming executive director of the Buck Institute for Education, finds particularly hopeful news embedded in this research. Blogging about the Deeper Learning Network research, he comments on the evidence of equity in PBL settings:
Perhaps two of the most significant findings from the list [of outcomes] above are that students are developing higher levels of academic engagement, collaboration, motivation, and self efficacy and that deeper learning is working with students regardless of their income levels or prior school achievement . . . Deeper learning strategies are giving all kids the opportunities, experiences, and skills each of us want for our own children. (Lenz, 2014)
Given the inequities that persist in education, this is hopeful news, indeed. Students who will be the first in their families to attend college dominate the California schools in the Envision network. (For a more comprehensive look at the research on PBL, see Vega, 2012, and visit go.solution-tree.com/technology to access the link.)
As PBL spreads from early-adopter schools to more mainstream contexts, various implementation models emerge. A shift to PBL sometimes starts at the grass roots with a core group of teachers who become advance scouts for their colleagues. Or an entire faculty or professional learning community might participate in professional development together to learn PBL fundamentals. In many schools, technology rollouts are the precipitating factors for rethinking instruction that leverages digital tools in new ways.
Instead of doing all projects all the time, some schools have students engage in PBL only a few times a year or just in certain disciplines, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or career and technical education. Even in smaller doses, PBL can produce transformative results if it helps students recognize their potential and see how school relates to their interests.
Whether projects last for a couple of weeks or an entire semester and whether they focus on one content area or cross disciplines, the same strategies apply. To make the most of the learning opportunities that PBL affords, keep in mind the following four core ideas (Boss & Krauss, 2014).
1 The inquiry project, framed by a driving question, is the centerpiece of instruction. It’s not an add-on or hands-on activity wrapping up a unit of study. Instead, the project is designed with specific learning goals in mind.
2 Students get involved in real-world problem solving, applying the strategies and tools used in authentic disciplines and, often, engaging with outside experts.
3 Students share their work with authentic audiences.
4 Technology is used as a means for students to collaborate, communicate, and make discoveries they wouldn’t otherwise gain.
By giving students a reason to engage and the opportunity to discover their passions and talents, PBL may help address the worrisome decline in student optimism discussed previously. Connie Rath, vice chair of Gallup Education, highlights this glimmer of positive news in a six-hundred-thousand-student Gallup survey:
Students who strongly agreed that their school is committed to building students’ strengths and that they have a teacher who makes them excited about the future are almost 30 times as likely to be engaged learners as their peers who strongly disagreed with both statements. (Gallup, 2014, p. 3)
About This Book
Implementing Project-Based Learning draws on the four core ideas, using my own experience with schools implementing PBL and interviews with teachers and students, to set the stage for rigorous, relevant, digital-age learning that excites students about the future.
Teachers who were the designers of the creative projects you will read about in the coming pages reflected on their PBL experiences in post-project interviews. Unless otherwise indicated, interviews took place during December 2014.
Chapter 1 lays the foundation for PBL, identifying the environment and critical skills essential to success and four phases every well-designed project goes through. Then, in chapters 2 through 6, I delve into five specific types of PBL: (1) geoliteracy projects, (2) data literacy projects, (3) entrepreneurship and innovation projects, (4) media literacy projects, and (5) storytelling projects. In the examples in chapters 2 through 6, you will read about projects that deliberately build on students’ strengths while introducing them to new ways of thinking and problem solving. Each chapter ends with helpful resources to get started with
