What Is Project-Based Learning?

This teaching strategy helps students strengthen vital creative and problem-solving muscles.

In a career where “new” is ubiquitous, it’s easy to feel jaded about the latest and greatest. Each year brings new requirements, new curriculum, new teaching strategies, and new headaches.

But what if there was a “new” that helped your students improve content, career, and social skills at once? Project-based learning can check all of those boxes.

What is project-based learning?

Project-based learning, or PBL, is a teaching strategy in which students spend prolonged periods researching, developing, presenting, and defending solutions to large scale, real-world problems. Think of it as problem solving on steroids — students are tasked with creating dynamic solutions to difficult questions.

How does project-based learning affect students?

PBL can have a positive impact on students’ ability to problem solve.

• Students get to learn on their own terms. When students tackle big issues through PBL, they engage in both critical and creative thinking. There is no roadmap, only resources. This allows for authentic learning as students create knowledge on their own terms.

• Students stretch their creative muscles. There isn’t just one right answer to the big questions posed by PBL. Students are empowered to be creative as they research, formulate, and present complex solutions to complex problems.

• Students experience engagement through purpose. When students study challenges that exist in the real world, they are far more engaged. It gives them a tangible purpose to their schoolwork. This link between the classroom and reality also prepares students for career success.

How can I learn more about project-based learning?

If you teach grades 6-12 in a departmentalized setting, the upcoming Project Based Learning and Assessment workshop on Sept. 26, 2019 and March 26, 2020 is for you. Dr. Jennifer Pieratt of CraftED Curriculum — who was also a recent guest on 3 Ps in a Pod, the Arizona K12 Center’s Podcast — will be teaching participants how to connect PBL to standards, apply it to individual content, conduct effective assessments, and much more. In the period between the two workshop dates, you’ll receive individualized support as you implement this new strategy.

Project Based Learning and Assessment will take place at the Arizona K12 Center Learn more or sign up here.