The document discusses project-based learning (PBL), an approach where students work in teams to explore real-world problems. It provides an example where a high school team had to make a local bank more environmentally sustainable on a budget. The students used software like SketchUp and Skype, and consulted experts to complete their project. By using technology like modeling software to make their thinking visible, the students gained 21st century skills through an authentic challenge rather than focusing on the tools themselves.

1. 21st Century Education

2. Project-Based Learning, or PBL, is a dynamic
approach to teaching in which students work
in teams to experience and explore real-
world problems, questions, issues, and
challenges through active and engaged
learning.

3.  Student-centered learning inspires students
to obtain a deeper knowledge of the
subjects they are studying

4.  Through active learning, students gain 21st
Century Skills such as:
◦ Accessing and Analyzing Information
◦ Agility and Adaptability
◦ Collaboration across Networks and
Leading by Influence
◦ Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
◦ Curiosity and Imagination
◦ Effective Oral and Written Communication
◦ Initiative and Entrepreneurialism

5.  A high school team of students will
immerse in a real-world project.
 Their challenge: How to make the local
bank branch more environmentally
sustainable while staying within a
budget?

6.  They will go from producing a spreadsheet
to using a program called SketchUp, also
using Skype to consult with experts outside
of the classroom
 When a student was asked how he learned
to use SketchUp he simply replied “Just by
using it.”
 In PBL, that’s exactly how technology
integration should happen.

7.  This wasn’t a “SketchUp” project. It was a
challenge that required problem-solving
and connected students with people beyond
the classroom.
 Students chose to use online modeling
software because 3-D graphics offered a
way to make their thinking visible.
 Technology was integrated because it
helped students meet their project goals.

8.  SketchUp
◦ Students use this program to create simple, but detailed 3D
models of the redesigned exterior of a building
◦ Similar to an Excel or a PowerPoint project
◦ http://www.sketchup.com/industries/education.html
 Skype in the Classroom
◦ Students use Skype to connect to the world. More specifically for
this example, they could connect to content experts outside of the
school
◦ https://education.skype.com/
 Padlet
◦ Students can stick virtual “sticky notes” to a “wall” (their class’s
personally website to share their ideas) for everyone to see
◦ http://padlet.com/

9. • http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning
• http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/pbl.html
• http://wveis.k12.wv.us/teach21/public/project/Guide.cfm?upid=3513&
tsele1=3&tsele2=102
• http://www.p21.org/tools-and-resources/p21blog/1105-integrating-
technology-with-pbl-keep-the-end-in-mind
• http://www.sketchup.com/industries/education.html
• https://education.skype.com/
• http://padlet.com/