Investigative Journalism PBL: Modern Muckrackers

In the Investigative Journalism PBL, students were asked to be modern muckrakers, who dug up injustices in their community and called attention to important, local issues. Students were also asked to share their research and solutions to the issue through a public service announcement that targeted an intended audience of their choice, based on who they believed most needed to hear the message. Students were given choice about what their final product looked like; some made commercials, others wrote songs or slam poetry, while others still chose to go more traditional, by writing full articles.

All students were expected to have preliminary formal writing to demonstrate their research and original ideas, but were tasked to push past a traditional research paper by creating something with which a mass audience could more easily connect. They were also asked to present their ideas, with real-world advice for how every-day people could contribute to solving the issue they identified, to a panel of judges made up of community members, teachers, and peer students.