In case my last post on rubrics wasn’t exhilarating enough, I’m back with a sequel! But seriously, rubrics are really valuable tools, especially as an assessment and guide for PBL instruction. If you ever struggle with creating rubrics (like I sometimes do), here are a few suggestions to help you along the way: Add a […]
Creating a PBL rubric? Here’s a little advice.
A well-crafted rubric is the Swiss Army knife of assessment tools: it communicates expectations for student work; it describes clear steps for learner growth; it provides a guide for students throughout a project or unit; and perhaps most importantly, it requires educators to really reflect on what it is they want their students know and […]
PBL, the Global Goals, and Empathy
“How can I connect my content standards to something that is real for students?” This question comes up a lot during our PBL trainings. And to be honest, depending on the subject matter in question, I’ve not always had a stellar answer. But hey, we learn and grow. However, when I receive this question now, […]
5 Ways to Boost Student Reflection from Project Zero
If you’re not familiar with Harvard’s Project Zero Thinking Routines Toolbox, I hope this post will convince you to take five minutes to explore their website. Reflection is a key element of project-based learning (not to mention all learning), and I’m pretty sure the PZ Thinking Routines could be a one-stop-shop for all of your […]
The Authentic PBL Audience Within Your School
Think about that first time that your students saw you outside of the school setting. Maybe you’re shopping for groceries, out for lunch, or on a walk. My middle school students usually exhibited mild shock that I existed anywhere other than within the school campus; I’m pretty sure they assumed I emerged from my supply […]
Six Strategies to Strengthen Student Research
Reinforce Key Skills Beforehand It’s increasingly likely that students will engage with digital resources online rather than in a library or with an actual textbook. This means that students need to build the skills and meta-strategic knowledge to locate, navigate, and evaluate information on the internet. CommonsenseEd offers a digital citizenship curriculum for free, and […]
Five Ways to Create a Safer Space for Student Feedback
Set Time Limits Feedback sessions can be awkward, for both the student whose work is being critiqued as well as the student responsible for the critique. Setting clear time limits helps to ease the stress of the experience; for students who are new to the feedback process, consider starting with very short sessions, maybe two […]
Five PBL mistakes I’ve made and how you can avoid making them too
First things first, let’s be honest: this is not an exhaustive list, but here goes: #1 Not taking the time to practice presentations This has often been the result of poor timing or tight deadlines, but investing the time to practice, even for a brief period, can help students improve their presentations exponentially. My advice: […]
Welcome to our PBL blog!
Let’s get right to it: this blog will focus on practical project-based learning. When we use the phrase ‘practical PBL,’ we’re talking about digging deeper; we’re talking about the real day-to-day details of project-based learning. Let’s move beyond the high-level theory and the buzz and the anecdotes and talk about actually doing PBL. Let’s literally […]
