Recent articles
Bring the National Parks Into Your Classroom
04/12/2022
Topics: Project-based learning
In 1872, Yellowstone became the world’s first national park, and early visitors arrived full of questions about the landscape that surrounded them.
The first “guides” were actually U.S. Army…
Taking PBL from Good to Great: How To Achieve Real-World Impact
04/01/2022
Topics: Project-based learning
Students at Elizabethton High School in Tennessee might have trouble choosing their most memorable learning experience. Was it winning a…
Some Students Pursued Passion Projects During the Pandemic. What Happens to Them Now?
11/01/2021
Topics: Project-based learning
Ryman Yang spreads a bolt of fabric out neatly on his basement floor. Pattern pieces are pinned neatly on top, ready to guide his scissors as he prepares to make a new pair of snow pants. Like many students, the…
Students Refurbish Computers To Help Seniors Connect With Loved Ones
06/25/2021
Topics: Project-based learning
Senior citizens had a hard time during the COVID pandemic. With most retirement homes closed to visitors for months on end, residents were unable to see friends and family.
Matthew Cerza, a teenager from…
Fine-Tuning Your PBL Projects
03/03/2021
Topics: Project-based learning
In project-based learning, students achieve better results when they receive feedback and have time to make improvements in their final products or solutions. The same is true for PBL teachers. Critique and…
The maker movement: A learning revolution
02/11/2019
Topics: Makerspaces, Project-based learning
The impulse to create is one of the most basic human drives. As far back as the Stone Age, we were using materials in our environment to fashion tools for solving the problems we encountered. And in the millions of years since then, we have never stopped creating. In fact, the rise of…
Leon Tynes: Working To Tip the Scale on Diversity
02/18/2021
Topics: Project-based learning
Leon Tynes couldn’t believe what his students were telling him.
Black men, they said, comprise fewer than 2 percent of U.S. educators. And that number is shrinking at an alarming rate.
A black male educator himself, he’s no stranger to the diversity problems that still…
Project Citizen: Bring civic engagement to your classroom
08/21/2018
Topics: Digital Citizenship, ISTE Standards for Students, Project-based learning
Student activists at Florida’s Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High, who attracted global attention by demanding better gun laws after 17 of their classmates were killed inspired some Eugene, Oregon, students to take on a civic engagement project of their own.
The…
Empower learners through project-based learning
08/15/2018
Topics: Global collaboration, ISTE Standards for Students, Project-based learning, Student empowerment
Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar: A teacher wants her students to engage in project-based learning (PBL) and also demonstrate their learning. So at the end of a chapter or unit, she assigns them to research a topic, collect some images and present their slideshows to the class…
Empower global citizens with PBL
12/17/2019
Topics: Global Collaborator, Project-based learning
Nearly 5,000 miles separate Paris, France, from Lopez Island in the state of Washington. Middle-school students from these far-flung locations worked together to research, curate and share the otherwise forgotten stories of World War I American soldiers buried abroad.
Students…