Project Based Learning

This course is taught using a project based approach. All student work gets published in our class blog - edTechMethods and the best work becomes an iBook.

Essential Elements of PBL include

1. Significant Content - At its core, the project is focused on teaching students important knowledge and skills, derived from standards and key concepts at the heart of academic subjects.
2. 21st century competencies - Students build competencies valuable for today’s world, such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation, which are explicitly taught and assessed.
3. In-Depth Inquiry - Students are engaged in an extended, rigorous process of asking questions, using resources, and developing answers.
4. Driving Question - Project work is focused by an open-ended question that students understand and find intriguing, which captures their task or frames their exploration.
5. Need to Know - Students see the need to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills in order to answer the Driving Question and create project products, beginning with an Entry Event that generates interest and curiosity.
6. Voice and Choice - Students are allowed to make some choices about the products to be created, how they work, and how they use their time, guided by the teacher and depending on age level and PBL experience.
7. Critique and Revision - The project includes processes for students to give and receive feedback on the quality of their work, leading them to make revisions or conduct further inquiry.
8. Public Audience - Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher.

A great source of PBL resources is the Buck Institute for Education - register to access their resources.