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Ed Tech Reflections Project-Based Learning: An Overview Student: We would place the dome right here, for instance. Narrator: These sophomore geometry students in Seattle, have a problem. And they're excited about solving it. Eeva: The problem that they have to solve, is how do you design a state of the art high school in the year 2050, on a particular site. Students are in teams of three to four, and they're in a design competition for a contract to build it. Student: Here's the fire eliminator. Narrator: In Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, these fifth graders are designing a tool to put out fires in space. Student: If you turn it on high, it sucks up the fireballs. Narrator: In Newport News, Virginia, these second graders are investigating cystic fibrosis. Student: One of our students has CF, and we're trying to learn about CF, to see what it is, how it works. Narrator: In Hawaii, high school students are building electric cars, and racing them. Student: Yeah, yeah, put something right there. Student: We did a experiment on dead worms.

Wheaton High to model project-based learning for Montgomery County schools This is project-based learning, where educational instruction moves away from a traditional academic setting to an active classroom that encourages collaboration and communication among students. As the Montgomery County Public Schools system plans to replace the Wheaton High School building in Silver Spring, officials aren’t just aiming for physical classroom overhauls. They’re also planning to redesign the curriculum, expanding a project-based learning environment that will resemble adult work settings and real-life situations. It is part of a larger quest to “redefine the school” and prepare students for “21st century education,” Schools Superintendent Joshua P. “Critical competencies for workers now include skills and knowledge acquired beyond a high school education as well as the ability to apply learning, think critically about information, solve novel problems, collaborate, create new products and processes, and adapt to change,” Starr said. School projects aren’t new.

Tiki-Toki Technology Integration Matrix | Arizona K12 Center EduCon 2.2 — January 29–31, 2010 — Philadelphia Project Based Learning and iPads/iPods Introducing an irresistible project at the beginning of a unit of study can give students a clear and meaningful reason for learning. Plus, they end up with a product or result that could possibility make a difference in the world! In project based learning students are driven to learn content and skills for an authentic purpose. PBL involves students in explaining their answers to real-life questions, problems, or challenges. It starts with a driving question that leads to inquiry and investigation. Students work to create a product or presentation as their response to the driving question. Technology can be helpful throughout a project, whether students use iPads, Chromebooks, Android tablets, laptops, or desktops.

What’s the Best Way to Practice Project Based Learning? By Peter Skillen Project Based Learning can mean different things to different people, and can be practiced in a variety of ways. For educators who want to dive in, the good news is that a rich trove of resources are available. In order to create your own definition and practice, here are some parameters to consider. We like to think with the frame of continua rather than dichotomies simply because things are rarely on or off, black or white, ones or zeroes. You could likely add other dimensions to consider as you build your own understandings and beliefs. Who is in control? Who is asking the question to be investigated in the project? If the projects are collaborative in nature, you may wish to consider the amount of interdependence that students have with one another. Is the content a rich, deep problem space or is it a more narrowly focused content area? How authentic is the problem under investigation? This post originally appeared on Voices from the Learning Revolution. Related