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This learning environment can be applied with several methods of instruction that promote the idea of perspectives. Methods like Jigsaw and Academic controversy lend themselves to this type of learning environment. One idea I had for a lesson I have created used the structured Academic Controversy to examine the context surrounding the terms "Captain of Industry" or " Robber Baron." These terms are used to describe the same people. the context they are used in reflects on the perspectives of the people using them. This activity shows my students that perspectives and bias paly a role in historical analysis.

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Academic controversy- Captains of Industry or robber baron

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This type of complex learning environment focuses on students formulating and asking their own questions and deciding how they will go about answering the question while creating a product to share with the public. By having students formulate essential questions for an activity I am promoting student involvement. Student Motivation is highest when answering their own questions. This idea for an inquiry based lesson will be directly relatable to students today and will help them understand things like global pandemics.

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This type of complex learning environment requires commitment from students. These projects usually take extensive time to complete and could be used as a summative assessment for the end of a unit. This project can also give many opportunities for formative assessments at different stages of the project. This type of learning environment promotes student involvement in solving real world problems and results in a finished product that can have an impact on others like, a blog, a proposal to city council, newspaper articles, a written letter, etc...

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Are you interested in getting your students involved in service learning? The teachers we've talked to agree that the key to making service learning work is to encourage students to come up with their own project idea-or find one that they truly support-and to connect that project to the curriculum in multiple ways. To inspire you, here are seven cool service learning projects that teachers have shared on our site:

1. Invite students to research a local landmark, such as a historical site or community park.

After researching the history of the site and touring it in person, encourage students to brainstorm ways your class could improve the landmark for visitors while maintaining its historical integrity.

2. Sponsor a service learning craft club.

Members can put their talents to work making decorations for school events as well as for the wider community. Invite club members to share any special skills-such as sculpting or needlepoint-with the rest of the group.

3. Make measurement practice meaningful.

Have students put together coffee, tea, or hot chocolate mix for local workers who make a difference in your community, such as nurses, firefighters, or police officers.

4. Beautify your school.

Encourage students to study the origins and key players of an artistic movement, such as street painting, and then inviting kids to create their own works of art inspired by the movement.

5. Take your recycling program to the next level.

Ask students to create video or audio podcasts discussing the importance of recycling and waste reduction. Post the podcasts on your school website for the wider community to learn from.

6. Study the art and culture of an impoverished nation or one that is in crisis.

Invite students to make their own artwork inspired by that country, then auction off the pieces and donate the proceeds to a charity in the struggling nation.

7. Start a gardening project with a younger classroom.

Have your students take the lead on planning and researching the garden and then presenting the information to the younger kids. Your students will learn leadership skills in addition to creating a spot to promote relaxation and nutrition at your school.

Question for you: What kind of service learning projects do you do in your school?

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7 Creative Service Learning Projects - WeAreTeachers

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Are you interested in getting your students involved in service learning? The teachers we've talked to agree that the key to making service learning work is to encourage students to come up with their own project idea-or find one that they truly support-and to connect that project to the curriculum in multiple ways.

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Problem based learning is focused on activities that relate to real life case scenarios. Finding personal connections for students that are related to the problem being addressed will promote students purpose.  This activity adds to what students already know and most of the learning in this activity comes from solving the problem. Students can work collaboratively on solving these problems by assigning roles and responsibilities to each student. Here is a list of 10 ideas for social studies based problem based learning projects.

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I would spend hours cruising through Pinterest boards, looking for ideas and inspiration for different projects to perfect my teaching practice.

Project based learning is about getting rid of the old, and bringing in the new. That's the approach it takes to transition your teaching style from one that focuses on "doing projects" to project based learning.

Project based learning isn't something that you can perfect in a matter of days or weeks. It's a journey of learning and teaching that will take years to master

It's an experience that allows you to learn and grow with your students as you put it into practice-the earlier you begin, the easier it'll get.

In this guide, we'll look at project based learning examples to help you inspire and excite your students.

Table of Contents

1. What is project based learning?

2. Building bridges with list infographics

3. Writing to a Congressman with a letterhead template

4. Starting a business with a business plan template

5. Writing a blog post to display your learning

6. Comparing a movie and book with a presentation

7. Creating a fundraising campaign for an issue you care about

8. Creating a family tree with a tree diagram

9. Planning a community event with an event poster template

10. Helping local businesses increase environmental impact with flyers

11. Using a tracking calendar to monitors your plant growth

1. What is project based learning?

Simply put, project based learning is a teaching method that allows students to gain knowledge by requiring them to work for an extended period of time to investigate a complex problem or question.

Students are given the freedom and opportunity to explore real world problems and develop a deeper and more enriched understanding.

At Venngage, we're committed to providing educators with the project based learning templates to supplement their teaching, to make education more fun and accessible.

We understand the amount of work it takes to plan a simple lesson, let alone an entire project. That's why we've gathered together some great ideas to make your teaching experience easier.

In this blog, you will not only get a comprehensive understanding of what project learning is, but you will be able to begin implementing it in your classroom immediately - using many of our templates and examples.

In this guide, we'll look at project based learning examples to help you inspire and excite your students.

What are the important elements of project based learning?

1. Significant content

This is where you outline learning goals. Looking at your standards and referring to them frequently is helpful. You don't need to stress yourself and fit every learning standard, but enough to ensure you're meeting some of them.

2. A need to know

Creating a "hook" for the introduction of a project is important to get your students interested and engaged. Its purpose is to generate the curiosity of the classroom. It could be in the form of a video, a guest speaker, or a lively discussion. The driving questions should be abstract enough to get your students wanting more.

3. Driving question

This is the question that your students will be working towards answering with in-depth inquiry. It should have a sense of challenge and purpose. Every activity will work towards the answers to this question. The question should be complex enough that it cannot be answered with one google search.

4. Voice and choice by students

This is the fun part of the planning for students. Ownership comes into play in this stage of their project based learning because they get to set their own learning paths. Below we outline many project based learning examples such as brochures, infographics , tree diagrams and more that allow students to choose what medium they would like to display their information in.

To spark your curiosity, here are some project based learning examples your students can use to display their learning:

5. 21st century skills

Use of technology, collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking are all 21st century skills that authentic tasks should require.

6. In depth inquiry and innovation

Students will be spending the most of their time working on this stage. This is where they will be finding answers to the many questions that will evolve as they conduct their research. They will be using websites, books, articles, and videos to dive deep into the subject they're exploring. All this gathered information will be used to create their product.

7. Reflection and revision

At this stage, students will use rubrics, exemplars, peer editing, and feedback from their teacher to create high quality work. It's an ongoing process that is a great way to self reflect on the process and drives students to continue improving.

8. Public presentation

Time to show off all the hard work that students put into their projects in a public setting! It doesn't have to be just to classmates, it can be to larger audiences including parents, experts, or a larger community. Public also doesn't have to be in front of a live audience, it could be online as well. Students can brainstorm what they see best fit in terms of how they would like to present their own projects.

Other important elements to consider in project based learning:

What are the benefits of project based learning?

1. Engagement: Students are more likely to be engaged in their schooling when they feel autonomy over their own learning. Project based learning allows students to be drivers of their own learning.

2. Teach and assess multiple skills: Teachers have multiple assessment opportunities to test different skills.

3. Differentiation: Students with various learning styles and differences are accommodated since PBL showcases a broad range of capabilities.

4. Accountability: Students take greater responsibility for their own learning.

Is project based learning effective?

Project based learning has been proven to be effective in the classroom. Many reports globally have been published encouraging educators to use the project based learning approach to deepen and enrich their student learning.

"One of the major advantages of project work is that it makes school more like real life. It's an in-depth investigation of a real-world topic worthy of children's attention and effort."- Education researcher Sylvia Chard

The benefits of project based learning are endless. It allows for authentic assessment, promotes lifelong learning, and prepares students to develop skills for a highly technological society. Project based learning allows students to learn by doing-from language, to data science, to history.

What are some examples of project based learning?

We know that teaching is a skill that requires a lot of planning and that people underestimate the amount of time it takes to create a thorough lesson plan, let alone an entire in depth project.
Read More: 27+ Lesson Plan Examples for Effective Teaching
The project based learning examples below will help to bring creativity in the way that your students present their information. Your students can use the templates for their projects, or you can use the templates for your teaching.

2. Building bridges with list infographics

Building bridges is a great project that allows teachers to implement all aspects of S.T.E.M. It requires a lot of problem solving skills and builds on competitive learning skills as well. Using a lesson plan template to create your criteria helps to keep your work organized:

List infographics are a great way to make things easy to remember in a creative way. Certain projects may require a long list of materials from your students, such as this bridge project. In order to keep track of their materials and keep students organized, a list is integral.

Below are 2 great example of list infographics:

3. Writing to a Congressman with a letterhead template

A good project based learning example is one that can incorporate many different aspects of learning. Not only does this project based example develop writing skills, it takes learners beyond that.

By writing to a congressman students are moving beyond just writing a letter about their research and moving them towards taking action about it by expressing their opinions about an issue they care about. It encourages students to be agents of change by using their civic voice with elected officials.

Below are great letterhead examples that can be customized to incorporate colour, a border, and a header. Your students will feel like professionals as they're creating their letters. It could be powerful enough to get their letters noticed and read, with a possible response!

Below are a couple of great examples to get you started:

Professional blue letterhead template

Creative letterhead template

4. Develop a business plan

This project based learning example allows students to work in groups to develop a business plan.

Beginning with developing a concept, then doing market research and competitor analysis and ending off with a financial plan. These templates have outlines and examples prepared so that students don't feel so overwhelmed and can pitch their ideas with ease and confidence.
Related reading: An in-depth guide to creating a business plan that you can share with your students.
The business plan templates below will ensure that any business plan created by students looks professional and inspiring. It may even lead to coming to life!

Here's a business plan template your students can use:

5. Write a blog post to share your learning

Blog posts are great creative ideas for students to take ownership of their own learning in an expressive way. Instead of writing a traditional essay, a blog post will display the same information but with a kick. Blog posts are also a good asset to include for their portfolios, to help improve their personal brand.

You don't need to worry about having to do all the research on how to write a blog post and what to avoid. Sharing an infographic with your students that outlines the steps of how to create a blog post will help them understand the success criteria of their projects.

When you visualize information, it's harder to miss important information. Everything is in front of you and is easy to read.

Below are two infographics that explain how to write a blog and what mistakes to avoid that can be easily share with your students:

6. Compare a movie and book with a presentation

Comparing a book to its movie adaptation is a fun project that incorporates a lot of learning skills. Reading, writing, analysis, with a touch of entertainment as well. The ideas are endless in the different tasks that could be done, what makes it easy is to display all the information by creating a presentation.
The examples below include important elements to creating a great presentation design. Some of these include:
Creative presentation template

Whimsical presentation template

7. Create a fundraising campaign for an issue you care about

Another great project based learning example is creating a fundraising campaign. Students again have an opportunity to be agents of change for an issue that they genuinely care about.
Important elements of a poster include: Fundraising poster template
Here is an example of how students can use a timeline infographic template to plan a fundraiser:

Once students have completed their planning, they can use a poster design to create an event which outlines all the details of their campaign.

8. Create a family tree with a tree diagram

A good real world question is: how does your family ancestry make you a unique person? Students will have to dive deep into their family history to answer that question. One of the outcomes may be that they create a family tree to trace back who was a part of their lineage.

Using a family tree template helps eliminate disorganization and helps students stay focused. After designing their family tree, students can easily share it with their family members online!

Below are examples of family tree diagram templates students can use:

9. Plan a community event
Some poster design tips:
Planning a community event takes a lot of work. Students have an opportunity to create change in their communities and take action. After doing the research in terms of food, theme, and decorations - students can create a proposal demonstrating how the event may look and cost.

The end result of the planning would be creating the actual event poster . Students can make their planning into reality and be the change makers in their community.

To get started, here are some event poster templates:

10. Help businesses decrease environmental impact with flyers

The best projects are those that include multiple subjects in one.

Students can create digital flyers to inform businesses about ways to decrease their environmental impact by "going green". They can share it with companies that are known to not be environmentally conscious. This is a great way of culminating their research.

Below are some great examples of flyer templates that students can customize into their own by changing colors, fonts, and the text.

11. Use a tracking calendar to monitor your plant growth

Students can learn all about plant by observing their growth patterns. They could learn about parts of the plant, what plants need to grow, and the functions of the plant.

Students can track the progress of their plant growth by inputting their observations into each day of the week:

Outcomes of PBL

A well designed project based learning experience will have great outcomes .

Here is a great visual outlining all the different positive outcomes of project based learning:

Get started with project based learning in your classroom so that you can develop critical skills for your students. If you've already started and are just looking for more ideas and tools, this guide is also great for you. Whatever your teaching needs may be, your students will appreciate accessing so many of the template examples.

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10+ Project Based Learning Examples for Educators - Venngage

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I would spend hours cruising through Pinterest boards, looking for ideas and inspiration for different projects to perfect my teaching practice. Project based learning is about getting rid of the old, and bringing in the new. That's the approach it takes to transition your teaching style from one that focuses on "doing projects" to project based learning.

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This learning environment addresses community needs and gives students real world connections to real world problems.  This lesson uses discussion and activity to help students explore how advertising and the media affect self-image. Media Literacy and understanding messages imbedded in media will promote students caring for ideas.

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"Exploring Media Messages"
Estimated Time of Completion: Two to four 50-minute periods

For grades 7-12. This lesson uses discussion and activity to help students explore how advertising and the media affect self-image.

To learn to recognize negative aspects of advertising and how they exploit young people

To explore where each individual stands on the issues of advertising and self-image

To examine how one's own style and techniques are defined and who defines them

To provide students with tools to feel stronger within themselves by looking at their own values and ideas

To give participants guidance in taking a stand against negative media images

To help students learn to believe in themselves and not compare themselves to unrealistic model images

Poster board or easel

A wide variety of popular magazines with teenagers. Be sure to also include popular mainstream adult magazines such as People, Vogue, Elle, Glamour, etc.

Camera (Optional)

Construction paper, markers, tape, glue

Part One

1. Begin by asking students to brainstorm a list of women who display or are identified with feminine ideals, and build a list on the blackboard or an easel. Ask them to identify which women would be considered the ideal "woman". Encourage them to list all types of celebrities: movie stars, music stars, athletes, models, etc. List suggestions as they come up.

2. Repeat the process with masculine ideals.

3. Break down "ideal" images of women and men even further by brainstorming a list of physical features that the media focuses on. For women, likely suggestions will be: breasts, hair color, legs, etc. For men, likely suggestions might be: arms, chest, legs, posterior, etc. You might then talk a bit about how often-- and in what way-- the media highlights non-physical qualities such as intelligence, sense of humor, and kindness.

4. Discuss some of the "role models" and "ideals" from years past. Who was considered ideal in the 1970's? What about the 1950's? How have ideals changed? What caused the change? To further illustrate the point and spark discussion, you might bring in old magazines from these eras.

Part Two

1. Prepare in advance examples from magazines, newspapers etc that depict negative advertising.

2. Conceal what the ad is trying to sell.

3. Make overheads of the ads. It's best if you can use a color copier for the colored ads.

4. Display the ads on an overhead projector and encourage students to guess what the picture is advertising. This should provoke a discussion and begin to bring to the participant's attention the aspects of self-image related to advertising. Discuss whether or not the girls are more likely to purchase that particular product based on the way it is displayed. How should it be marketed so they would buy it?

5. To wrap up the activities and discussions, explain to students that they will be creating an "Magazine Ad Review" booklet of their own (which can be an in-class assignment or done as homework):

Ask students to search magazines for ads that reflect both positively and negatively on their self-image.

Students will then tape or glue each ad to a piece of contruction paper, writing a short commentary on it and whether it presents negative or positive images.

If the advertisement is negative, students should write what changes could be made to make it positive.

"Bind" the pages together in a booklet with staples or string.

The last page of their booklet might feature an essay on what they believe defines human beauty, their opinion about how the media portrays young people, and what they learned from this lesson.

V. Classroom Assessment:

Score student work accordingly on:

Class discussion and participation

Completion of poster or booklet on negative ads, with descriptive sentences about what makes them negative and what could make it a positive ad.

Completion of letters to companies

Completion of extra activities as assigned

Extra credit given for exploring advertising in their local neighborhoods and communities.

VI. Extensions and Adaptations:

Have students write down at least 5 or more positive personality traits about themselves and 5 positive physical traits. It can be very difficult to get adolescents and teens to acknowledge positive characteristics about themselves. In turn, you may also go around the room and have each student make a positive comment about every other student in the room. An alternative to having teens list positive traits about themselves is to have them fill in blanks such as: I am great at ________________, I have beautiful ___________, I am a fantastic _____________, etc.

Instruct the students to list things they value about themselves. Whey do they value these things? Where did these values come from? Are they learned from family or friends? Or the media? Uniquely belong to them? Discuss what values they have are at risk of being compromised by the images portrayed in the media.

Have the group design their own positive ads, through words or taking photos.

Make posters of positive words and images related to teens.

Have students write letters to companies that depict teens in a negative light, expressing their feelings about the issues.

Have students write a letter to a celebrity they look up to that participates in negative advertising explaining how it affects them and makes them feel.

Create a collage or booklet specifically on gender-specific ads for toddlers and young children (i.e. ad that show little girls cooking in a toy kitchen and boys working with tools). Find ads that show gender equality.

VII. Online Resources:

VIII. Relevant National Standards:

These are established by McREL at http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/docs/contents.html:

Language Arts

Students will use descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas

Students will use a variety of sentence structure to express expanded ideas

Life Skills

Self-Regulation: Students will identify personal strengths and weaknesses

Self-Regulation: Students will identify their basic values

Self-Regulation: Students will remind self of strengths

Self-Regulation: Students will use affirmation to improve sense of self

Thinking and Reasoning: Students will understand and apply the basic principles of logic and reasoning

About the Author:
Dana Arvidson has worked with at-risk youth for 10 years in residential treatment centers, and has developed group programming for the Ramsey County Probation Department in Minnesota. Her current focus is work with adolescent girls and spending more time with her 10-year-old daughter, Alyssa.

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In the Mix - Lesson Plan: "Exploring Media Messages"

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"Exploring Media Messages" Estimated Time of Completion: Two to four 50-minute periods For grades 7-12. This lesson uses discussion and activity to help students explore how advertising and the media affect self-image.