Introduction to Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Inadequate Definition: Project-Based Learning is learning THROUGH a project (not the typical application of new learning to a culminating project). PBL is designed to increase student engagement through activities, often student developed, that pursue personally meaningful student interest and more deeply involve students in the complexities of curricular content. PBL often implies student teams deciding on a project topic that has outside-of-classroom value and developing that project over an extended time (relative to grade level and classroom constraints).
Qualified Definition: PBL is best understood through examples of actual Project-Based Learning activities that goes on in real schools. It is also helpful to see the different criteria used by PBL advocates in their PBL definitions and descriptions. For example, PBLworks promotes a rigorous “Gold Standard” design that would not fit with most teachers and schools. In contrast, Edutopia provides descriptions and videos of a wider variety of PBL activities suggesting that it’s not important to match a specific definition, but rather to match the opportunities that fit individual teachers and schools. The examples will make this clearer than words can ever do!
PBLWorks.org (my.pblworks.org) has promoted PBL through its media and teacher training for decades. Created by the Pearl Buck Education Institute, it has developed a rigorous system of training, templates, examples, and assessment for teachers and schools to follow. This is the best site for an initial exposure to PBL ideas. In addition to PBL background, this site has a broad library of PBL design templates, lesson plans, and research.
PBLWorks’ Gold Standard PBL Design contains 7 essential elements starting with identifying a “Challenging Problem or Question.”
For practical PBL in normal classrooms, this model may be an ideal, but some elements may be shortened or omitted.
There is no one “right” or correct way to introduce PBL to a class or school. PBL must fit in with classroom curricula, schedules, and environment.
Edutopia.org is the main product of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. As his movie director roots would suggest, Lucas teaches us about PBL primarily through video examples. Edutopia has been compiling videos of successful teaching and activities to clearly show teachers and schools what is possible and practical. PBL is one of their main topic categories; PBL is so much easier to understand by seeing it in action than reading about it. They even have examples of using AI to support PBL! To find a PBL video for volcanoes, “search” for “PBL volcano video.” Note that many of the PBL videos are not recent; they represent a period of experiment with PBL. With the advent of AI tools, there are several new articles on using AI to support PBL.
Edutopia Early Childhood Example: Five-Year-Olds Pilot Their Own Project Learning (9 min), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyucHMifto
The Classic Example of PBL is High-Tech High (https://www.hightechhigh.org), a San Diego public school. Their curriculum is delivered through Project-Based Learning, the school is organized around the PBL model. While your school would find it difficult to copy High-Tech High, their model has been so successful that similar High-Tech elementary, middle, and high schools have sprouted up across the U.S. from New Jersey to California. HTH example projects are found in the websites of the individual HTH schools.
High School Example: 10th graders’ PBL helped them learn about California’s propositions for voter education. They created a podcast to educate citizens about this voting issue. https://www.hightechhigh.org/project/the_mad_props_podcast_project/
Student Publication Projects: While many HTH projects involve construction or community organization, some students have created written projects in the form of published books. This has been done from grade 6 through 12. Here are some examples from San Diego HTH: https://www.hightechhigh.org/student-work/publications/
Why Project-Based Learning?
U.S. Schools Ready for Change
U.S. Educational Achievement, 1960’s to present (a positive twist):
• U.S. student achievement saw moderate gains from the 1970s through early 2000s, followed by stagnation and recent declines, particularly post-pandemic.
• On international assessments, U.S. students perform at or above average in reading and science but consistently below average in math, with a widening gap between the U.S. and top-performing countries like Singapore, Japan, and Estonia.
• The U.S. has not closed the achievement gap with global leaders, especially in mathematics, over the past two decades.
—- actually U.S. student achievement, which led the world in the 60’s, has remained roughly the same … while most other developed countries have dramatically increased their student achievement during that time. U.S. schools have not gotten worse; others have gotten better.
—- academic standards, introduced around 20o2, have not moved the needle in the U.S.
—- in other words, over 50 years our efforts to improve U.S. schools have not worked. New approaches are needed.
What Needs to Change?
U.S. secondary students report that school is often boring. Teachers report that many students are not engaged in their learning. How can schools change to deepen student engagement in learning? Project-Based Learning has been suggested as one approach, though it is difficult to implement during traditional class periods, and it requires different teaching methods. A few U.S. schools have made this leap. As Artificial Intelligence matures, some schools have avoided while others have embraced AI. Below is a new school that is built upon AI and Project-Based Learning to more deeply engage students (challenge: can you pick up the name and location of the school from the brief clip?)