PBL in Pendergast
PBL in Pendergast
Embedded Files
The Pendergast District believes Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an effective teaching strategy because it engages students in meaningful, real-world learning experiences that foster deeper understanding of academic standards. PBL encourages critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration as students work to solve authentic problems, making learning more relevant and memorable.
By connecting classroom instruction to real-world applications, PBL empowers students to take ownership of their learning and develop essential skills for success in college, careers, and beyond. This website was built to support teachers in implementing PBL, providing resources, tools, and guidance to ensure effective and impactful project-based instruction.
PBL Works Gold Standard
PBL Works Gold Standard
project design elements
project design elements
To help teachers do PBL well, PBL Works created a comprehensive, research-informed model for PBL to help teachers, schools, and organizations improve, calibrate, and assess their practice. In Gold Standard PBL, projects are focused on students' acquiring key knowledge, understanding, and success skills.
A Challenging Problem or Question
The project is framed by a meaningful problem to be solved or a question to answer, at the appropriate level of challenge
Sustained Inquiry
Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of posing questions, finding resources, and applying information.
Authenticity
The project involves real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact, or the project speaks to personal concerns, interests, and issues in the students’ lives.
Student Voice & Choice
Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create, and express their own ideas in their own voice.
Reflection
Students and teachers reflect on the learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of student work, and obstacles that arise and strategies for overcoming them.
Critique & Revision
Students give, receive, and apply feedback to improve their process and products.
Public Product
Students make their project work public by sharing it with and explaining or presenting it to people beyond the classroom.
Project-Based Teaching Practices
Project-Based Teaching Practices
To help teachers do PBL well, PBL Works created a comprehensive, research-informed model for PBL to help teachers, schools, and organizations measure, calibrate, and improve their practice. In Gold Standard PBL, projects are focused on students' acquiring key knowledge, understanding, and success skills.
Design & Plan
Teachers create or adapt a project for their context and students, and plan its implementation from launch to culmination while allowing for some degree of student voice and choice.
Align to Standards
Teachers use standards to plan the project and make sure it addresses key knowledge and understanding from subject areas to be included.
Build the Culture
Teachers explicitly and implicitly promote student independence and growth, open-ended inquiry, team spirit, and attention to quality.
Manage Activities
Teachers work with students to organize tasks and schedules, set checkpoints and deadlines, find and use resources, create products and make them public.
Scaffold Student Learning
Teachers employ a variety of lessons, tools, and instructional strategies to support all students in reaching project goals.
Assess Student Learning
Teachers use formative and summative assessments of knowledge, understanding, and success skills, and include self and peer assessment of team and individual work.
Engage & Coach
Teachers engage in learning and creating alongside students, and identify when they need skill-building, redirection, encouragement, and celebration.
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