Project-Based+Learning

The following resource page was created by Brenda Sherry and Peter Skillen for PBL Teacher Workshops:
=What is PBL?= Project-Based Learning is an educational approach that falls under the umbrella of inquiry learning and is described in many different ways. Here are some references:

1) Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real World Projects in the Digital Age by Susie Boss and Jane Krauss (ISTE, 2007)
 * Projects form the centerpiece of the curriculum - they are not an add-on or extra at the end of a "real" unit.
 * Students engage in real-world activities and practice the strategies of authentic disciplines.
 * Students work collaboratively to solve problems that matter to them.
 * Technology is integrated as a tool for discovery, collaboration, and communication, taking learners places they couldn't otherwise go and helping teachers achieve essential learning goals in new ways.

2) The Buck Institute Project-based learning:
 * focuses on the central concepts and principles of a discipline
 * involves students in problem-solving investigations and other meaningful tasks
 * allows students to work autonomously to construct their own knowledge, and
 * culminates in realistic products

3) Powerful Learning: What we know about teaching for understanding by Linda Darling-Hammond (Jossey-Bass, 2008)

PBL involves completing tasks that typically result in a realistic product, event, or presentation to an audience. They are:
 * central to the curriculum
 * organized around driving questions that lead students to encounter central concepts or principles of a discipline
 * focused on a constructive investigation that involves inquiry and knowledge building
 * student-driven, in that students are responsible for making choices and for designing and managing their work
 * authentic, by posing problems that occur in the real world and that people care about

4) George Lucas Educational Foundation (Edutopia) Project-based learning:
 * is curriculum fueled and standards based
 * asks a question or poses a problem that each student can answer
 * asks students to investigate issues and topics addressing real-world problems while integrating subjects across the curriculum
 * is a method that fosters abstract, intellectual tasks to explore complex issues.

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Resources
> > //Tips for// //creating authentic tasks//
 * Inquiry Schools - Great site for examples, movies etc.
 * Neil Stephenson's Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning
 * What does the research say?
 * Tips for Project Design [[file:tech2learn/Project Design.pdf|Project Design.pdf]]
 * Natural Curiousity - @http://www.naturalcuriosity.ca/
 * A step-by-step guide to Project Planning - from the Buck Institute for Education's Online resource for PBL . Click to download the 8 page planner as a word doc or a pdf [[file:tech2learn/ProjectPlanningForms.doc|ProjectPlanningForms.doc]] [[file:tech2learn/ProjectPlanningForms.pdf|ProjectPlanningForms.pdf]]
 * Questions when planning projects [[file:tech2learn/PBL Project planning questions.pdf|PBL Project planning questions.pdf]]
 * Adobe Youth Voices Excellent resources are available here. You will need to register at no cost to get them. It's worth it if you are doing **any**media work with students.
 * Main Course Not Dessert: Project-Based Learning vs. Projects from www.bie.org
 * From Kim Trefz - A teacher’s journey into PBL Prezi
 * PBL Videosmodeling some best practices
 * Gary Stager: [[file:tech2learn/What Makes a Good Project.pdf|What Makes a Good Project.pdf]] and Raising Our Standards: Developing projects that endure [[file:tech2learn/goodprojects2.pdf|goodprojects2.pdf]]
 * The Teachers's Guide to PBL - From High Tech High & Learning Futures (England)
 * Designing to Learn by Diane McGrath [[file:Design.pdf]]

Tony Vincent shares some great ways to integrate hand-held technologies into your PBL units:

media type="custom" key="12177320" [|Project Based Learning in Hand] from [|Tony Vincent] on [|Vimeo].


 * The Construction Zoneblog by Peter Skillen - some relevant articles:
 * ZPD - Who's in Charge Here?
 * PBL - Who IS in Charge? What Tools can Help?
 * Scaffolding for Deep Understanding
 * Journal Writing - Just Another Worksheet
 * PBL - The New Worksheet
 * Collaborative Projects: What Does It Mean to Co-construct?
 * Why Should Students Collaborate?
 * Project Based Learning Slideshow
 * Hidden - A Project that Worked
 * The 'Loafer' Effect and Project-based Learning
 * The Science of Passion Based Learning
 * PBL: Am I Doing It Right?
 * Project Based Learning: Don't Start with a Question


 * EdutopiaResources for PBL
 * Edutopia Core Strategy: Project-Based Learning- a complete site about PBL
 * Edutopia's Blog on Project-Based Learningby Suzie Boss
 * Debunking Five Myths About Project-Based Learning - John Larmer's Blog Post
 * Edutopia Community Discussion for PBL
 * A reading list of for PBL Learning


 * [|The Learning Zone blog]- some PBL references from Brenda
 * Digifest - Digital Storytelling Festival
 * Getting projects started
 * Reggio Emilia Approach
 * Project-Based Learning Explained
 * Global Projects Connecting Kids
 * Machinto: A Global Peace Project
 * PBL Experts are Among Us
 * Back to the Classroom - Part 1