by John Larmer December 15, 2020 Posted in Projects in Action

favorite projects of 2020 with PBLWorks logo

Each year, our editor-in-chief John Larmer chooses a set of favorite projects from the year. Want to see more great projects? Check out some of the past favorite projects (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016) and the project library. 

All of the projects on this year’s list were done via remote learning.

We heard about them from dedicated teachers who wrote blog posts for us or told us about them in our webinars—follow the links to read about them.

Some of these teachers were new to PBL and found it worked well in keeping students engaged and learning despite being online and distanced from each other. Some came from teachers who were already using PBL, which allowed them to make a smooth transition to the new world we all found ourselves in.

  • Red Wolves Project 
    By middle school science teacher Shannon Hardy at The Exploris School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Featured in our spring webinars.
  • Classroom Community Project
    By kindergarten teacher and National Faculty member Sara Lev, Larchmont Charter School, Los Angeles, California.
  • Slow the Spread Project
    A high school project about Covid-19 designed for Massachusetts STEM week by Sarah Field, PBLWorks.
  • Save a Pond Project
    A summer project (which was not entirely remote) conceived by 2nd grader Zara, Waxpool Elementary School, Ashburn, Virginia.
  • Outsiders Playlist Project
    By 8th grade ELA teacher Mandy Stracke, Quimby Middle School, San Jose, California. Featured in our spring webinars.
  • Visual Art Show Project 
    A high school project by teacher Christine Alexander, Innovation Tech High School, Syracuse, New York. Featured in our spring webinars.
  • Gold Mines in the Amazon Project
    Done by high school students in Iowa and Massachusetts, with Earthrise Education satellite imagery.
  • Field Guide to Our Homes Project
    A 10th grade ELA/media project described by student Lillian Sanders, Quest Forward Academy, Santa Rosa, California.

Bonus!

Here are two non-remote-learning projects that made my 2019 list, but had not yet been written about—and early this year we had excellent blog posts about them:

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John Larmer, Senior Fellow
John is a key builder of PBLWorks (Buck Institute for Education), having served as editor in chief, director of publications, and director of product development. He co-developed the model for Gold Standard PBL that is the foundation of PBLWorks’ products and services, and oversees the quality of all its written materials and website content.