Here are some articles, blog posts, research studies, and other resources I’ve recently run across that connect to Project Based Learning.
Why Is the Relationship Between 'Learning Culture' and 'Equity Culture' So Lopsided?
Education Week
In this important piece, Michael Fullan and John Malloy make a powerful argument for focusing more on historically underserved students’ inequitable experience of school, in additional to inequitable learning outcomes.
Many Frustrated Teachers Say It’s Not Burnout — It’s Demoralization
EdSurge
A former teacher tells what drove her out of the classroom: “high stakes testing, administrator turnover and battles over curriculum scripting.” She doesn’t mention PBL explicitly, but we’ve always said it’s part of the solution.
Assessment is evolving — but is change coming fast enough?
Education Dive
Here’s a good collection of articles – key quote from the introduction: “recognition of the need for more creative and critical thinking is seeing standardized assessments, which are largely dependent upon rote memorization, fall by the wayside in favor of more active models like project-based learning or portfolios.”
Prioritizing STEM and coding won’t fill one of the biggest gaps in education
Quartz
A clear call for teaching systemic thinking, collaboration, and real-world problem solving (i.e. PBL): “We need to give children the tools to look about their world, find the problems they’re passionate about, and design solutions for them.”
Students at Hilliard’s Sunrise Academy show community about Muslims
The Columbus Dispatch
A nice story about a 2nd-3rd grade project to counter stereotypes about Muslims, from a school using PBL to help earn a STEM designation from the state.
Emerson Elementary third-graders learn about Ohio’s endangered and threatened species
Cleveland.com
Another good project from Ohio; the teacher notes, “We could simply be reading (about life cycles and adaptation) in a book, but doing project-based learning gives the children the opportunity to do real-life investigations."
Humans of FCHS
Instagram
Check this out: high-quality portrait photography by students at Fort Collins High School in Colorado, from a project whose goal is “to share the unique stories of the FCHS migrant community.”
Project Based Learning and Social Emotional Learning Jobs
Borton Science blog
A high school teacher describes how she provides her students with reflection tools and is rethinking roles on project teams. For example, “What if instead of a person who keeps the papers, we had a student reflecting on the group’s ability to remain socially aware?”
Personalized Learning Through Project-Based Learning
National Association of Independent Schools
A well-written, comprehensive story about how a K-12 school in Ontario, Canada, which has been supported by PBLWorks, is transitioning its program to be “focused on creativity, solving authentic problems, and innovation and personal growth.”
