Gold Standard PBL: Project Based Teaching Practices
When transitioning to PBL, one of the biggest hurdles for many teachers is the need to give up some degree of control over the classroom, and trust in their students. But even though they are more often the “guide on the side” than the “sage on the stage,” this most certainly does not mean that teachers don’t “teach” in a PBL classroom. Many traditional practices remain, but are reframed in the context of a project.
What is Gold Standard PBL? To help teachers do PBL well, we created a comprehensive, research-informed model for PBL to help teachers, schools, and organizations measure, calibrate, and improve their practice. In Gold Standard PBL, projects are focused on students' acquiring key knowledge, understanding, and success skills.
Gold Standard Project Based Learning by PBLWorks is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Seven Project Based Teaching Practices
Design & Plan
Teachers create or adapt a project for their context and students, and plan its implementation from launch to culmination while allowing for some degree of student voice and choice.
Align to Standards
Teachers use standards to plan the project and make sure it addresses key knowledge and understanding from subject areas to be included.
Build the Culture
Teachers explicitly and implicitly promote student independence and growth, open-ended inquiry, team spirit, and attention to quality.
Manage Activities
Teachers work with students to organize tasks and schedules, set checkpoints and deadlines, find and use resources, create products and make them public.
Scaffold Student Learning
Teachers employ a variety of lessons, tools, and instructional strategies to support all students in reaching project goals.
Assess Student Learning
Teachers use formative and summative assessments of knowledge, understanding, and success skills, and include self and peer assessment of team and individual work.
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Engage & Coach
Teachers engage in learning and creating alongside students, and identify when they need skill-building, redirection, encouragement, and celebration.
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Watch These Gold Standard PBL Teaching Practices Tutorials
VIDEO: Design and Plan
VIDEO: Scaffold Student Learning
VIDEO: Engage and Coach
For more great Gold Standard PBL resources...
See our books on Project Based Teaching.
Check out the Project Based Teaching Rubric to get a detailed description of what each of the seven Project Teaching Practices looks like.
Read the white paper about Gold Standard PBL: Project Based Teaching Practices.