This document provides an overview of implementing project based learning (PBL). It discusses the benefits of PBL, including developing 21st century skills. PBL allows for more student-centered and collaborative learning compared to traditional instruction. Examples of successful PBL projects are provided, such as a first grade project on healthy eating and an middle school Spanish project on creating a restaurant. The document also reviews essential elements of developing high-quality PBL projects and questions to guide student inquiry. Resources and tools for implementing PBL are shared.

1. IMPLEMENTING PROJECT BASED
LEARNING
RACHEL COOK AND STEPHANIE DULMAGE

2. SESSION AGENDA
The Why and What of PBL
 7 Whys of PBL
 PBL Video
The How of PBL
 Essential Elements of PBL
 Project Vs. Project Based Learning
 Project Planning
 PBL in Action
You Are What You Eat
Energy Makes The World Go Round - 1st grade PBL
Un Restaurante Nuevo - MS Spanish PBL
Getting Started
 Resources and Tools
Q and A

3. WHY PBL?
PBL Helps Students Develop Skills for Living in a
Knowledge-Based, Highly Technological Society
Solving highly complex problems requires that students
have both fundamental skills and 21st century skills:
 personal and social responsibility
 planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity
 strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation
needs
 cross-cultural understanding
 visualizing and decision making
 knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most
appropriate tool for the task
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide-importance

4. THE WHY CONT’D
 PBL and Technology Use Bring a New Relevance to
the Learning at Hand
 PBL Lends Itself to Authentic Assessment
 PBL Promotes Lifelong Learning
 PBL Accommodates Students with Varying Learning
Styles and Differences
 PBL Increases Opportunities For Relationship
Building and Personalized Learning
 Research Supports PBL

5. WHAT IS PROJECT BASED LEARNING
(PBL)? HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LMCZVGESRZ8
What is Project Based Learning?

6. “A project is
meaningful if it fulfills
two criteria.
First, students must
perceive it as
personally
meaningful…
Second, a
meaningful project
fulfills an
educational
purpose. Well-
designed and well-
implemented
Project Based
Learning (PBL) is
meaningful in both
ways.”
- BIE

7. PROJECT ORIENTED LEARNING VS.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
Remember… this is not simply doing a project or
culminating activity that demonstrates what
students learned from teacher-directed lessons or
lectures.
Watch and reflect…
http://howtovideos.hightechhigh.org/video/265/W
hat+Project+Based+Learning+Isn

8. CONVENTIONAL VS. PROJECT BASED
INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH
Teacher –centered Student-centered
Teacher-directed Self-directed
Listen, memorize, repeat Discover, apply, present
Independence Collaboration
Teacher decision-making Teacher and student decision
making
Knowledge of facts, terms, content 21st Century Skills
Direct instruction Varied instructional strategies
Short, isolated lessons with Long-term investigations
predetermined answers
Standards-based Standards-based
Assessment tests Ongoing assessments
School-based Real-connections
Quizzes and tests Reflections

9. NOW WHAT?
DEVELOPING AN IDEA AND DRIVING
QUESTION(S)
Begin with the end in mind…sound
familiar?

10. DEVELOPING A PROJECT IDEA:
Developing a Project Idea
 Summary of the issue, challenge, investigation,
scenario, or problem
 Student-driven
 Project resources
 Planning Forms
 Entry Event

11. Generate Driving Question (s) “A project
without a
Driving
Characteristics of a Driving Question
Question is like
 Provocative or challenging to students, an essay
because it is relevant, important, without a thesis.
urgent or otherwise interesting. Without one, a
reader might be
 Open-ended and/or complex; there is able to pick out
no single “right answer,” or at least no the main point a
simple “yes” or “no” answer. It writer is trying
requires in-depth inquiry and higher- to make, but
with a thesis the
level thinking. Requires action! main point is
 Linked to the core of what you want unmistakable.”
students to learn; to answer it well, BIE
students would need to gain the
knowledge and skills you have
targeted as goals for the project.

12. EXAMPLES OF DQS
 Why do people revolt?
 How do humans compete in an ecosystem?
 Will global warming affect our community?
 What does an in-depth study of a pond tell us about
an ocean?
 How can we educate students so that the amount
of trash decreases and recycling is increased at our
school?
 How can individuals make a difference in the
world?
 Is conquering the impossible possible?
 How are people and plants connected?
 Just because we can, should we?

13. Good Better
 How have robotics and  How have robotics and
automation changed automation changed our
our society in the past town and its businesses
century? in the next century?
 Should we be worried
 What is global about global warming?
warming?
 What does an in-depth
 How are living things in study of a small pond
an eco-system tell us about oceans?
connected?

14. You Are What You Eat Student-directed
First Grade Project-Based Unit Transformative
integration of
Driving Question(s)? technology and
web 2.0 tools.
 What is meant by the saying “You are Communication, cr
what you eat? “ eation, collaboratio
n, and contribution.
 How do healthy eating habits help me
Focused on
grow bigger and live longer?
inquiry, problem-
 How can we, as first graders, educate solving, and critical
thinking.
our school community about healthy
living? Perceptions
surveys indicated
high student
engagement.

15. Explored and
Energy Makes The World Go Round researched energy in
our lives.
 How does energy impact our daily
lives? Engaged in 4 STEM
Design Challenges.
 Why should we be responsible for Communicated/
using less energy? Collaborated via
Kidblog & Twiducate.
 How can we, as first graders, change Gathered data on heat
the energy loss at Gretchko loss using FLIP
cams, Ipods, &
Elementary? Google Docs.
Student-led research
on solutions for heat
loss: Kid-Safe Google
Search and
SymbalooEdu
Student-led
presentation to the
Plant Engineer and
Administrator.

16. UN RESTAURANTE NUEVO
MS SPANISH PBL
Driving Questions:
What similarities and differences exist in cultural foods in Mexico, Spain,
and the United States?
How might you incorporate this information into an open-house
presentation of a new restaurant in Mexico or Spain?
How might you justify including artwork we have studied as decoration in
your restaurant?
Products:
Required: Restaurant Open-House Presentation,
Restaurant Menu (Spanish), Artwork (English)
Choice: Presentation Roles and Additional
Written Product (News Article or Diet Plan)
Students Expressed: Teacher Perspective:
More confidence in Spanish, Relationship building,
better way to learn, felt increased student
more real-world ready, more engagement, JUST TRY
fun IT!

17. RESOURCES AND TOOLS
Web Resources
Buck Institute for Education - http://www.bie.org/tools/freebies
Scoop-It - http://www.scoop.it/t/project-based-learning-2
Live Binders - http://www.livebinders.com/edit/index/448454
Suggested Books
Project-Based Learning for Gifted Students : A Handbook for
the 21st-Century Classroom, by Todd Stanley
Bringing Innovation to School and Reinventing Project-Based
Learning– Suzie Boss
Creating Innovators - Tony Wagner
World Class Learners Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial
Students – Yong Zhao

18. CONTACT INFORMATION
Stephanie Dulmage
Gretchko Elementary
West Bloomfield School District
dulmage@wbsd.org or dulmage@westbloomfield.k12.mi.us
Twitter: stephe1234
http://educationvisionleadership.edublogs.org
Rachel Cook
Brownstown Middle School
Woodhaven-Brownstown School District
cookr@wbsdweb.com