Project-Based Approach

Project-Based Approach

1. What is?

   • Is a Instructional approach
     • designed to
       • Give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects
         • Using
           • Problems they may face in the real world.
   • As the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) explains
     • Is "learning by doing."
       • As Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget put it
         • “Knowledge is a consequence of experience.”

2. Elements of the approach

   • A Challenging Problem or Question
     • Focuses the student on a big open-ended question, challenge, or problem to research and respond to and/or solve.
   • Critique and Revision
     • Provides opportunities for feedback and revision of the plan and the project.
   • Public Product
     • Requires students to present their problems, research process, methods, and results.
   • Student Voice and Choice
     • Uses 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, among others.
   • Reflection
     • Brings what students should academically know, understand, and be able to do into the equation.

3. Benefits of the approach

   • Connects students to the real world
     • It prepares students to accept and meet challenges in the real world.
   • Improves student attitudes toward education
     • it centers student learning around an essential central question or problem and a meaningful outcome.
       • Autonomy
       • Mastery
       • Purpose
   • Helps students develop teamwork and problem-solving skills
     • The collaborative nature of projects also reinforces the social-emotional learning

4. Challenges of the approach

   • It requires you to coach more and instruct less
     • Lectures and book learning
       • Teachers can think through the steps required to solve a problem and use those steps as project-learning activities
     • Planning a massive project
       • The learning process can be made more manageable by chunking the project into smaller parts
     • Traditional summative exam
       • authentic assessments can be developed by communicating with professionals in the field regarding what a presentation would look like related to a particular project

5. Some Lesson Plans

   • The Ultimate Design Challenge
     • Students design solutions to a current problem using mathematical models.
   • Lending a Helping Hand
     • Students become financial advisors and are challenged to make the best use of $25 in a way that impacts their community most.
   • Lost!
     • In this project, students are isolated somewhere in the world and must design a civilization that stands the test of time.