19. Example Project
• Create your own ecosystem
– Students will design their own ecosystem and
include primary, secondary, and tertiary predators
and producers and explain how they interact with
each other. Students will present this information
using poster board, power point, book (story),
shoe box, or song.
20. Example Project Rubric
Needs Improvement Basic Outstanding
Project does not explain
producers or primary,
secondary or tertiary
consumers or has examples
from their ecosystem
Project doesn’t explain
producers or primary,
secondary and tertiary
consumers, but does use
examples from their
ecosystem
Project explains producers
or primary, secondary and
tertiary consumers using
examples from their
ecosystem
Project includes and 1 or
no types of symbiotic
relationships
Project includes and 2
types of symbiotic
relationships
Project includes and
explains at least 3 types of
symbiotic relationships
Project doesn’t explain
food web or give examples
Project gives examples of
food web from their
ecosystem
Project explains food web
and gives examples from
their ecosystem
Food web/ecosystem
model is not easy to
understand and is messy
Food web/ecosystem is
messy but understandable
Food web/ecosystem is
explained or demonstrated
in a creative, yet clear and
easy to understand manner
21. References
• Edutopia (2014) 5 keys to Rigorous Project-
Based Learning. Retrieved from: http://
• BIE (2015)What is Project Based Learning
(PBL). Retrieved from:
www.edutopia.org/video/five-keys-rigorous-
project-based-learning
Editor's Notes
So first of all, what is PBL? PBL stands for Project Based Learning and is A teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to a complex question, problem, or challenge (AKA a project). There are 8 key things successful include.
Students need to learn specific content or understand key concepts
The project should encourage critical thinking, problem solving, communication collaboration and creativity skills
Project should engage students and include a rigorous process of asking questions and researching answers
Project includes an open ended question that students understand and find interesting
Students understand the importance of the project and why they need to figure it out and complete the work
The project should be flexible and allow students to make decisions such as when and how they work and how they present their project
Students should have opportunities to evaluate other students and receive feedback
Students should present their work, ideally in front of more than just their classmates and teacher
Have a project that covers topics such as physiology, environment and evolution or cellular development, evolution, biology and chemistry or microbiology, structure, function, chemistry, symbiology and evolution
Students use technology to monitor or observe changes in experiments and present the data they collected or that they design an experiment or create a theoretical situations and apply their knowledge of science to solving their own problem
Have students ask themselves and answer a lot of questions about their project or experiment and be prepared to answer questions form the class such as the 5Ws (who, what where, et cetera) and even hypothesize possible senarios
Science can have a stigma in that “cool kids” hate it, so its important to have a project that students find interesting, so its important to offer a variety of projects to pick from or a variety of ways they can present the information they have learned.
This is like the objective- what is it you want students to know? Do you want them to be able to explain the water cycle and how it affects our lives or how animal cells work together to form tissues, which work together to form organs which work together to form organ systems?
This was explained already in the “driving question”, but in order to create an individualized lesson, it is important to offer a variety of tasks. You can have students create 3D models of proteins or videotape their experiment. It is important to differentiate the project as much as possible so students don’t get bored doing the same thing everyone else is doing. Also allow students to work on their own time and by their own schedules- everyone works differently.
If the project is going to take a long time to do, break it into steps and have students submits pieces of their project for guidance and evaluation. This way, you can monitor progress. If in group projects, allow students to evaluate each other’s efforts
Have all of the students present at once , like with a science fair so students can explore other projects and parents can observe. Presenting in cmaller groups should make the studens less nervous
As you can see this project hits a lot of the major points listed in the PBL success criteria such as significant content, in-depth inquiry, 21st century competencies in that the project allows for a lot of creativity, in presentation and design and requires students to explain a lot of information.
2. 21st Century Competencies
3. In-Depth Inquiry
4. Driving Question
5. Need to Know
6. Voice and Choice
7. Critique and Revision
8. Public Audience
So here is an example rubric, which further outlines the key points they need to list in their project. This rubric guides them to deeper learning in that they will see how every organism and species and consumer level is important and how they all depend on each other and support the environment no matter where they are.