What+is+PBL?

In order for a project to be meaningful, two elements must exist. The project must be meaningful to the students and it must be serving an educational purpose. In order for students to be most engaged and enjoy the projects they are working on, they must find a reason as to why they are learning the particular topic they are involved in. Teachers using project based learning will provide the students with a specific reason why they need to be experimenting and inquiring about the topic. Additionally, students will be given a focus question to guide their exploration. This focus will keep students on task and ultimately guide their learning. // Educational Leadership, Volume 68, Number 1,September 2010 // // (http://www.bie.org/images/uploads/useful_stuff/7_Essentials_PBL_EdLeaderSept10.pdf) //

__According to the Buck Institute for Education, during a Project Based Learning experience the following happens:__
 * Students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge.
 * While allowing for some degree of student "voice and choice," rigorous projects are carefully planned, managed, and assessed to help students learn key academic content, practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking), and create high-quality, authentic products & presentations.

This graphic shows a break down of the elements that are considered above. These components are included as the skills and planning elements that are successful in a properly planned and executed Project Based Learning experience.

 : Those creating project based lessons must be mindful of these elements and their importance in driving the projects. The following information can be found at @http://www.bie.org/about/what_is_pbl/ Rigorous, meaningful and effective Project Based Learning: http://www.bie.org/about/what_is_pbl/
 * **is intended to teach significant content.** Goals for student learning are explicitly derived from content standards and key concepts at the heart of academic disciplines.
 * **requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication.** To answer a Driving Question and create high-quality work, students need to do much more than remember information. They need to use higher-order thinking skills and learn to work as a team. They must listen to others and make their own ideas clear when speaking, be able to read a variety of material, write or otherwise express themselves in various modes, and make effective presentations. These skills, competencies and habits of mind are often known as “21st century skills,” because they are prerequisite for success in the 21st century workplace.
 * **requires inquiry as part of the process of learning and creating something new.** Students ask questions, search for answers, and arrive at conclusions, leading them to construct something new: an idea, an interpretation, or a product.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**is organized around an open-ended Driving Question.** This focuses students’ work and deepens their learning by framing important issues, debates, challenges or problems.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**creates a need to know essential content and skills.**Project Based Learning reverses the order in which information and concepts are traditionally presented. A typical unit with a “project” add-on begins by presenting students with knowledge and concepts and then, once gained, giving students the opportunity to apply them. Project Based Learning begins with the vision of an end product or presentation. This creates a context and reason to learn and understand the information and concepts.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**allows some degree of student voice and choice.** Students learn to work independently and take responsibility when they are asked to make choices. The opportunity to make choices, and to express their learning in their own voice, also helps to increase students’ educational engagement.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**includes processes for revision and reflection.** Students learn to give and receive feedback in order to improve the quality of the products they create, and are asked to think about what and how they are learning.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**involves a public audience.** Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher – in person or online. This “ups the stakes,” increasing students’motivation to do high-quality work, and adds to the authenticity of the project.