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The Definitive Project-Based Learning (PBL) Guide | Prodigy

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The Definitive Project-Based Learning (PBL) Guide | Prodigy

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For some teachers, it's classroom bliss.

Students work together to investigate an authentic and nuanced problem. They build curriculum-aligned skills in the process. They're rewarded with enhanced communication and problem-solving abilities.

But organizing and running suitable project-based learning (PBL) activities isn't always easy, as the pedagogy is surrounded by debate and takes form in a range of exercises.
To help you find and facilitate ones appropriate for your students, this guide covers:
As you read through, you should be able to determine if the pedagogy is worthwhile and - if so - come away with a handful of effective ideas to easily implement.

What is project-based learning?

Through project-based learning, students work individually or in groups to address an engaging, intricate curriculum-related question or challenge.
This question or challenge must:

Be open-ended

Encourage students to apply skills and knowledge they've developed in your classes

Allow students to take their own approaches to develop an answer and deliver a product

For example, in social studies, you could task students with conceptualizing and mapping out a smartphone app that addresses a problem within your country. To add a math element, they can budget the necessary resources to develop it.

As you can see, project-based learning doesn't conform to rote approaches or teacher-led instruction.

Driven by critical thinking, it's often interdisciplinary and encourages students to take a rewarding-yet-challenging road to skill-building and knowledge acquisition.

What does project-based learning typically look like?

The process is straightforward.

You present the issue, methods of investigation and any supplementary materials. It's up to your students to deliver a defined product. Next, encourage students to reflect on their work and make revisions, ultimately delivering a presentation to their peers.

Despite this clear-cut process, there's a lot of space for diverse tasks and differentiation in general.

As a type of active learning and , the nature of a given project-based learning activity depends on yourself and your students. As John Dewey famously wrote inquiry-based learning

The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding.

Following this philosophy, it's probable - and ideal - that any project-based learning exercise you run looks different from those run by your colleagues.

What matters is prioritizing your students' needs and learning styles above the curriculum.

What are the benefits and criticisms of project-based learning?

Debate permeates discussions about project-based learning.

It's up to you to understand the pros and cons, applying them to your classroom situation to make a decision about a given activity.
Here are many of the key research-backed benefits of project-based learning:

Increased engagement - Project-based learning empowers students to play an active role in learning, as the complex tasks they take on demand novel approaches and are relevant to real-world contexts. This creates a classroom environment in which students overwhelmingly report feeling engaged, according to a meta analysis of 82 studies .

Better knowledge retention - Compared with traditional instruction, extensive research indicates that students who complete project-based learning exercises and assessments often show superior knowledge retention in a range of subjects from math to second-language learning. This can translate to higher performance on tests, according to a .

Improved critical thinking abilities - The process of completing and delivering a project-generated product inherently builds problem-solving abilities, according to research from as recent as 2010 . This is because students must heavily exercise those abilities, applying them in tangible contexts. For these reasons, the research indicates that students in project-based learning environments can better use problem-solving skills out of school than those in traditional learning settings.

More opportunities to explore EdTech - Project-based learning, by nature, enables students to use EdTech and explore Internet resources. For example, independent research is likely rooted in online searches. EdTech, on the other hand, can lend itself to creating and delivering artifacts.
Here are most of the major criticisms of project-based learning:

Subjectivity in assessments - When grading a project-based learning product, many critics will say you're closing the door on objectivity. This is because, as opposed to using standardized forms of measurement, you'll rely on subjectively assessing a range of products. For these reasons, there's an argument you shouldn't use project-based learning for a large part of students' marks.

Hyper-focus on product creation - It's possible for the day-to-day focus of project-based learning to transition from developing and applying essential skills to merely working on a product. When this happens, you can debate that students won't reap benefits such as improved problem solving and knowledge retention.

Questionable application in mathematics - Largely skill-based for elementary learners, dedicating time to project-based learning may not be the best use of time. Consider this: Would students better understand multiplication by applying it in a project-based learning context, or by running through drills and word problems ?

Armed with this knowledge, it's ultimately your decision to bring project-based learning into your classroom.

You can get a better idea of what this looks like by reading about the ideas and examples below.

10 project-based learning ideas for your classroom

1. Play area

Give students an opportunity to apply their geometry skills by designing a new playground for the school.

Using a range of free web applications, or simply grid paper and a pencil, task them with mapping out the playground while meeting certain conditions. These conditions should be based on including a certain number of 2D or 3D shapes in the components of the playground, such as slides and monkey bars. For example, at least two isosceles triangles, three equilateral triangles, four squares and so on. Once complete, each student must calculate the area and perimeter of his or her playground, as well as each component.

2. Your very own math story

Fuse math with visual and language arts by asking students to write their own .

Taking the form of an original short story, require students to cover a certain number of curriculum skills. They should explain and exemplify each skill within the context of the story, inherently allowing them to improve understanding. In exemplifying how to use a given skill, students should teach themselves its importance for a real-world scenario. You should notice improved retention as a result.

3. Favorite recipes

Take a mathematical approach to nutrition by having your class analyze their favorite foods and dishes for presentations about select recipes.

Each student should choose a main course, two sides and a dessert. They must then create and deliver presentations about how to make the dishes. But instead of standard cooking advice, the focus is nutritional values - calories, carbohydrates, daily vitamin intake and so on - based on the ingredients. You may need to provide a go-to resource for students to find this information, but the onus for creating a healthy meal is on them. Bon appetit !

4. What happened to the dinosaurs?

Satiate your students' curiosity and probable love of dinosaurs by having them research and argue what caused their extinction, crafting a visual display to illustrate findings.

As the dinosaurs' extinction remains a debate that can draw students into a rabbit hole, consider providing questions to guide their research. How did the planet change from the Triassic to Cretaceous period? How prevalent were carnivores compared with omnivores and herbivores? Such guiding questions should allow students to reach informed opinions, writing reports to defend those opinions and allowing them to craft creative visualizations.

5. Ancient civilization of needs

Combine history, anthropology and psychology through this project, requiring learners to envision newly-discovered ancient civilizations.

The basic premise is to borrow elements from other ancient societies, creating a unique one. But there's a catch - the society must satisfy each tier in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If students are not familiar with the theory, present it along with guiding questions. For example, "Which tier of the pyramid is most important for society to function?" These questions should encourage students to develop a collection of products, including: a written explanation of the society and how it meets Maslow's needs; an analysis of the elements borrowed from other ancient civilizations; a visual depiction of the society and more.

6. Where it comes from

Launch this independent or paired study activity to explore how ancient machines are still present in modern-day science and engineering

The exercise starts by each student or pair choosing a simple machine - a pulley, lever, wedge and so on - or another ancient tool. They must research the history of their tools, determining how and where scientists and engineers still use them today. Students can then envision how the same tools will work as part of inventions 100 years into the future. They can produce videos, presentations or mock interviews with inventors to showcase their research and ideas.

7. The Oscar goes to ...

Have students script a part of a significant historical event to exercise their drama, history, and creative writing skills.

Whether a battle, court proceeding or formation of a powerful organization, have students choose from a list of events. Each learner's goal is to thoroughly research an event, forming a cohesive string of scenes they'd watch in a movie or television show. This will allow them to write scripts, highlighting each figure's motives and background. They must also pay particular attention to historical accuracy in terms of dialogue and settings. After you've approved each student's script, they can form small groups and choose their favorite, acting it out in front of the class.

8. Fashionista

Encourage students to take the roles of fashion designers and marketers with a scenario that combines business with visual and language arts.

This scenario entails a client - played by you - asking fashion agencies - played by small student groups - to manage the creation and launch of a specific clothing item, such as a dress or jacket. Although your idea is crystal clear, you're having a hard time communicating it. So, the agencies must start the project by developing a questionnaire to draw answers from you. As you respond to each agency, they can begin the next steps. These can include designing mock-ups, writing advertisements and calculating an appropriate sale price. After this work is done, each agency will pitch their version of the item to you. You determine who best captured the client's ideas.

9. A career with math

Give students a chance to look towards the future, investigating a career path that heavily relies on math.

You can present a list of relevant careers or have students suggest their own. Either way, choosing a career will launch the investigation process. Each student must research the career, writing a brief report about how professionals use math in daily duties. From there, students should be able to choose a skill used in their selected procession, linking it to a skill in the curriculum. The final task is to write a textbook chapter that explains the skill while offering specific exemplifies of how and when it is used in the given career.

10. The economics of pizza

Analyze, from a mathematical perspective, many students' favorite meal: pizza.

This project-based learning assessment starts by choosing a pizza chain, researching its prices and applying linear algebra concepts to find the base cost of a pizza. These same concepts will allow students to determine how much each additional topping costs.

But the task isn't done there. Students should research - individually or in small groups - how much it costs to source each topping. They can then determine which type of pizza yields the greatest and smallest profit margins. Doing so acts as an introduction to basic economic concepts, encouraging students to critically think about business.

Noteable project-based learning examples

Your inspiration doesn't have to be limited to isolated activities, as there are notable examples of

ongoing project-based learning initiatives.

You'll likely be able to freely borrow ideas from these institutions:

THINK Global School - Calling itself the "world's first traveling high school," THINK Global School has its students live in four countries per year while developing curriculum knowledge entirely through project-based learning. For example, students can use "data modeling techniques from [their] math class to synthesize information about sea urchins [they] collected while scuba diving." The projects are rooted in the cultures and environments surrounding the students. Although your class won't be traveling to four countries, you can still take a problem-based learning approach through exploration in - and analysis of - your surrounding community.

Muscatine High School - An oft-referenced example of commitment to project-based learning, Muscatine High School in Iowa worked with a third-party organization to implement project-based learning opportunities across classes and subjects. The projects are diverse, ranging from developing personal financial plans to exploring local history through interviews with community members.

EdVisions - A non-profit organization, ' mission "is to help and sustain great schools ... using the most student-centered teaching and learning." This largely involves partnering with schools to implement project-based learning opportunities. The organization does so by working with a given school to identify students' learning needs and preferences, tailoring projects to them. This serves as an important reminder: Project-based learning starts and ends with students in mind.

Referencing these examples should not only help you ideate project-based learning activities, but justify their importance in your classroom.

Final thoughts

After reading this guide, you should have a better understanding of project-based learning as a pedagogy, as well as how to launch certain projects.

To further solidify your knowledge and generate more ideas, consider researching the above-mentioned examples.

Just remember that the teaching strategy must be student-centered. What works for some teachers may not work for you, and what works for you may not work for others.

But you'll never know until you try.

>> Create or log in to your teacher on Prodigy - a free, game-based learning platform for math that's easy to use for educators and students alike. Aligned with curricula across the English-speaking world, it's loved by more than 800,000 teachers and 30 million students.

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The Definitive Project-Based Learning (PBL) Guide | Prodigy

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For some teachers, it's classroom bliss. Students work together to investigate an authentic and nuanced problem. They build curriculum-aligned skills in the process. They're rewarded with enhanced communication and problem-solving abilities. But organizing and running suitable project-based learning (PBL) activities isn't always easy, as the pedagogy is surrounded by debate and takes form in a range of exercises.

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While project-based learning has existed for decades, design thinking has recently entered the education lexicon, even though its history can be traced back to Herbert A. Simon's 1969 book The Sciences of the Artificial. So why the resurgence of these ideas?

Lately, I have heard teachers and school leaders express a common frustration: "We are _______ years into a _______ initiative, and nothing seems to have changed." Despite redesigning learning spaces, adding technology, or even flipping instruction, they still struggle to innovate or positively change the classroom experience. Imagine innovation as a three-legged stool. Many schools have changed the environment leg, but not the other two legs: the behaviors and beliefs of the teachers, administrators, and students.

Consider this conundrum: much of what we know about teaching comes from 16+ years of observation as students. In no other profession do you spend that much time watching the previous generation before being told to change everything once you take control. Without the framework or scaffolding for that change, it's truly unreasonable to tell educators, "OK, start innovating."

If we look at the science of improvement, systematic change occurs between the contexts of justification (what we know) and discovery (the process of innovation). What if we view PBL and design thinking as possible bridges between those two contexts? What if these frameworks could serve as the justification for discovering new classroom practice?

PBL and 21st-Century Skills

Encouraging students to engage in inquiry, explore real-world contexts, and share their learning lies at the heart of PBL. As an instructional framework, it allows teachers to achieve these goals while still meeting curriculum requirements.

Last spring, Billy Corcoran designed a PBL experience for his fourth-grade class in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. In addition to meeting a multitude of standards, he created an opportunity for his students to make personal connections within their community.

The technology and content requirements for this project had previously existed. The innovation occurred in the shift in behavior and beliefs. He used PBL to:

Guide his students' problem solving

Support their collaboration and critical thinking

Provide voice and choice in how they demonstrated their learning

Empower them to realize that their contributions to the community make a tangible difference

A project like Billy's can seem daunting. However, viewing PBL as a process rather than a product means that teachers can fit it within existing curricular objectives, as exemplified by Jodie Deinhammer. Though her science students ultimately work toward larger projects (this year, they will collaborate on a multi-touch book for the Dallas Zoo as well as contribute to an iTunes U course called Life Science), individual classes still address specific skills such as vocabulary acquisition or research. In Jodie's classrooms, students drive their own learning, make real-world connections, and learn that they have a voice to share well beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom.

Combining Design Thinking and PBL

Creating true PBL experiences is hard! Moving from projects to PBL can feel overwhelming. Design thinking provides another potential form of teacher scaffolding to help craft these experiences.

According to the Stanford d-School process guide, design thinking begins with empathy:

What do your students consider important?

Which topics spark their curiosity?

How might they want to engage with this specific content?

How might they choose to demonstrate their learning?

Jodie approaches each new year with objectives and goals, but no plans. During the first five days of school, she seeks out her students' curiosities and passions so that she can leverage their interests to drive curriculum throughout the year.

In the next phase of design thinking, you define a problem. In school terms, this could be a curricular unit, a set of skills, or a broader community challenge. Recently, I used design thinking to prepare a professional development workshop. As I read through participants' online discussion posts, I realized the problem: they had never been students with technology. They didn't know what it felt like to learn in a non-traditional classroom, and so they struggled to create one for their own students. I had now defined the problem that this workshop needed to address.

With the problem articulated, start generating ideas. During the ideate phase, the goal is breadth because the answer may not be readily apparent. Many of these ideas then turn into prototypes, simplified versions of potential solutions. As teachers, consider the power of prototyping learning objectives or lesson plans with colleagues. This gives you the freedom to experiment without concerns about failing with students. When ready, produce the final lesson, unit, activity, or even a complete PBL experience.

Christine Boyer, a fifth-grade teacher at Heathcote School in New York, used design thinking to transform her rocketry unit:

Before design thinking, I really told the kids what they were going to build, and it was a very "cookie cutter" type project. Design thinking changed not only this project, but my approach to teaching.

Christine worked through the design thinking process to better connect with students, define the problems in her curriculum, test potential solutions with colleagues, and then produce new curriculum plans. Ultimately, she shifted her practice from disseminating procedures to fostering a culture of innovation.

Tony Wagner, author of Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, writes that today's students exist in an "innovation economy." They need to become not only problem solvers, but also problem seekers -- those who can look for solutions in contexts where one never previously existed. As educators, we face a daunting task to bridge our requirements for today with our students' requirements for tomorrow. PBL and design thinking may provide two avenues to scaffold our own thinking and instruction as we move toward innovating our classrooms and schools.

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While project-based learning has existed for decades, design thinking has recently entered the education lexicon, even though its history can be traced back to Herbert A. Simon's 1969 book The Sciences of the Artificial. So why the resurgence of these ideas?

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One of my first meetings after accepting a job for my current principal placement at STEM School Chattanooga went something like this:

Me: "Throughout the interview process I was told several times that this high school is supposed to implement PBL. I have done some research on PBL and was wondering if the district was interested in project-based learning or problem-based learning. Which is the method the district would like to see implemented?"

After an awkward silence, which seemed to last forever but probably lasted closer to ten seconds, one of the folks in the room said, "that."

Ever since that day, I have wondered how often teachers have been through a similar experience. Someone, an administrator, an educational guru or even a fellow teacher has said to them: "You should do PBL."

Just do PBL, right?

As if it were that easy. It is not. Is PBL worth the change for students? Absolutely. But it's not something anyone can be told and go in the next day of school and just do. However, there are several things that can be done to prepare teachers to become strong PBL implementers.

Almost complete! 10th grade @STEMcha students testing their project for their PBL final presentation! #STEM pic.twitter.com/M9KoGHawJv

- STEM HS Chattanooga (@STEMcha) October 6, 2016

Start Small

To understand and implement PBL well, a teacher must learn how to set the stage and create an environment where students ask questions, seek out information and find various solutions. In a typical lesson, students ask questions when prompted, wait for the teacher to provide the information and everyone works toward the same one solution. The paradigm shift from a typical lesson environment to a PBL type environment is the foundational stage for a teacher to begin

The paradigm shift from a typical lesson environment to a PBL type environment is the foundational stage for a teacher to begin the journey of PBL work. It is important to note that the teacher does not have to start with full-fledged PBL to implement this environment. An excellent resource for designing this setup can be found in the SOLE approach - a Self-Organizing Learning Environment.

This approach is not difficult to learn, does not require hours of training and can be planned in a very short amount of time. In this approach, the teacher sets a big question for students to answer, sets the students off in finding information to build out their answer, allows students to move among groups to see what others are finding and creating and requires students to present out their ideas and solutions as the capstone to the lesson.

Find Your Peers

Once a teacher becomes more comfortable with the student-centered classroom environment described above, it is now time for the teacher to find peers. The goal is for a teacher to find other teachers and educators that either want to pursue PBL initiatives or are already implementing PBL.

It is important for a teacher not to be isolated in the PBL learning process. Every teacher needs at least one person who they can bounce ideas off of around their PBL work. Why? High-quality quality PBL implementation requires collaborative efforts among students. If the teacher is not trying to work collaboratively, it is very difficult for the teacher to empathize with the students. Great collaboration among students is not by chance.

Develop Your PBL Content Knowledge

What is in a great PBL plan and why include it? Teachers who cannot answer this question (especially the 'why' piece) need to build understanding of the parts included in PBL. There are several ways to build this piece. The obvious is research PBL online-a teacher can find hundreds of sites.

My preferred method: find a PBL training for the teacher to attend where participants build a PBL plan throughout the training. The key is to avoid attending trainings that provide a PBL overview and instead make sure to find trainings where the teacher creates a PBL unit. There are more than several training groups in this arena. A few organizations I believe have quality PBL training include Buck Institute for Education, and ARIE - Advanced Reasoning in Education.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Great PBL is a result of great planning. Planning for PBL is very different from planning for a traditional lesson. Teachers should have a template of the items that need to be planned out for a PBL implementation. Items that I use as my holy grail for PBL templates include detailing the driving question, hook event, scaffolding activities, calendar, common assessment rubric and culminating event. Teachers must have a template they use and plan each of these pieces out before the first day of implementing PBL.

The most challenging and important piece to the planning process is the common assessment rubric. Teachers need to provide this rubric to students on the front end of PBL work because it sets the expectation and quality for student PBL products. This is the one piece in the planning process that teachers must have someone else review. It can be an administrator, a colleague, a peer online-just be sure to have another educator review it.

The goal of the review is to help the teacher have a clear rubric that students understand and one that has high expectations for the quality of student work. Examples of plans, in both single subject areas and cross-curricular units, can be found under PBL - Curriculum Units for STEM School Chattanooga.

PBL Scaffolding Activities

Once a teacher is at this point, the implementation of PBL in the classroom is reliant on the day-to-day scaffolding activities. Teachers who seek out other educators to observe their PBL implementation and provide feedback on the scaffolding activities are the teachers who grow the fastest. These are activities that can be used throughout the PBL process. Activities that I endorse and have found to be the most beneficial include:

Class Activities. These are full class activities where the teacher wants everyone to participate at the same time.

Station Activities. These are full class activities where the teacher wants everyone to participate, but the teacher does not need everyone to participate at the same time. It is a station (center) in the classroom.

Workshops. These are optional activities for a small group of students at a station. Workshops can be based on information a teacher believes will be helpful or the workshop can be requested by students. Workshops can be teacher and/or student created and led.

Focus Groups. This is mandated small group time with the teacher for students who need help in basic skills and knowledge.

PBL Teams. Should include a very brief description of the PBL team makeup and describe any miscellaneous items that are used in the group dynamics (like a student contract).

Digital Resources. Include any digital resources that are not already highlighted in a category above, but are useful resources for PBL students.

Every PBL Experience is Another Prototype

The final piece in teacher development for PBL relies on prototyping. Prototyping is the process of building something small, testing it, revising it, growing it, testing it, revising it, growing it, etc, etc, etc.. Teachers often have a strong fear of failure and are conditioned to judge items as successes or failures. Prototyping is not about success and failure. Prototyping is about continuous improvement.

Teachers can learn this prototyping process through other activities like the marshmallow challenge. The best project-based learning experiences are not judged as a success or failure in the initial implementations. They are considered as prototypes in a continuous improvement process.

For teachers, administrators and schools that focus on developing teachers along this professional development pathway, teachers will grow tremendously and the classroom experience for students will forever be changed positively.

Tony Donen is the Principal at STEM School Chattanooga. You can follow him at @tonydonen and read his blog TD Talks Education.

This blog is part of "It's a Project-Based World" series. To learn more about this series and to learn ways that you can contribute, click the icon below to go to the Project-Based World page.

Join in the conversation at #projectbased.

For more, see:
Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update . This post includes mentions of a Getting Smart partner. For a full list of partners, affiliate organizations and all other disclosures please see our Partner page

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One of my first meetings after accepting a job for my current principal placement at STEM School Chattanooga went something like this: Me: "Throughout the interview process I was told several times that this high school is supposed to implement PBL.

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The Difference Between Projects And Project-Based Learning

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The Difference Between Projects And Project-Based Learning

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by TeachThought Staff

Projects in the classroom are as old as the classroom itself.

'Projects' can represent a range of tasks that can be done at home or in the classroom, by parents or groups of students, quickly or over time. While project-based learning (PBL) also features projects, in PBL the focus is more on the process of learning and learner-peer-content interaction than the end-product itself.

While some examples of project-based learning might be helpful, it's also useful to understand the big picture: While PBL is a different approach to learning, it's not hugely different from traditional learning from a broad enough perspective. The learning process is simply personalized in a progressive PBL environment by students asking important questions, and making changes to products and ideas based on individual and collective response to those questions. In PBL, the projects only serve as an infrastructure to allow users to play, experiment, use simulations, address authentic issues, and work with relevant peers and community members in pursuit of knowledge.

By design, PBL is learner-centered. Students don't simply choose between two highly academic projects to complete by a given date, but instead, use the teacher's experience to design and iterate products and projects-which often address issues or challenges that are important to them.

The chart by Amy Mayer at the bottom of this post is helpful to clarify many of the important differences between projects and PBL. Ultimately, the biggest difference is the process itself.
Projects
The audiences are generally in the school

Are more about the end-product and less about the learning and process

They are pre-planned and clear

They are based on directions and criteria

They can be done at home without teacher guidance or collaboration

They can be outlined in detail on one piece (or even two pieces) of paper by the teacher

In a project, the 'teacher work' mainly occurs after the work is complete

Are less open-ended and more uniform

Projects are 'turned in' rather than 'published,' presented, or otherwise managed on an ongoing basis (like a business, for example)
PBL
In PBL, the audience is generally outside the school

PBL includes 'need to knows' and progress checkpoints

Input from peers, teachers, community members, experts, and others can help guide and improve the project

The 'teacher work' is done mainly before and during the process itself

PBL Is often based on a driving question and ongoing inquiry, discovery, and iteration

PBL depends on background knowledge, learner choice, technology tools, support from others, and dozens of other factors that result in a process of learning that produces very different results

Image attribution flickr user josekevo; © Amy Mayer, @friEdTechnology, The Original WOW! Academy, www.friEdTechnology.com

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What's the difference between projects and PBL? In PBL, the focus is not on projects but the process of learning through them.

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Developing the questions for project-based learning

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Developing the questions for project-based learning

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Project-based learning (PBL) involves a large time commitment, so if you are going to make the time investment, you'll want to focus on the big ideas in our classroom curriculum.

In order to frame project work, you need to determine exactly what it is you want students to know and do as a result of completing the project. Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe refer to this process as "Backward Design" in their book Understanding by Design. Here is a simple process to help you determine the enduring understanding behind your topic:

1. Brainstorm a list of ALL the different things you teach on this topic.

2. Review the list. Group the items together by theme or other obvious relationship.

3. Write the theme or relationship next to each grouping.

4. Review the groups. Try to combine them together under a larger theme.

5. Repeat this process until you have only one theme left.

6. Write a sentence of no more than six words that articulates the big idea.

Once you have determined exactly what students should understand when they finish a project, framing project work becomes much easier. The next step is to write an essential question that will drive the project.
An essential question:
has many different answers and no obvious correct answer, and as such, provokes disagreement;

leads to discovery by requiring students to UNcover and REcover important ideas;

seeks to solve real life problems or address real world issues;

requires responses to be an assessment of current information combined with experiments and

experiences to form an argument or solution;

is at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy;

engenders further interest in the topic by leading to many more questions.

For example, look at the topic of immigration. A question like "How many immigrants entered the United States from 1800-1850?" has a right answer. While you may ask the above question, it should not drive a project.

Instead, you might ask "What factors contribute to successful relocation of new immigrants?" This question drives at the enduring understanding much more effectively. The question has more than one right answer. The topic was and is still is an important issue. A product or task you could assign the students might be to develop a plan for support the new immigrants who arrive in your city.

If search online for "essential questions" and your subject or topic, you are sure to get some relevant hits. Wallingford Public Schools in Connecticut has also posted some great enduring understanding and essential questions to their district website for:

Language Arts

Math

Science
Social Studies
Dr. Sara Armstrong also shares some great idea for questioning in general in her article, "How Do You Know and Why is it Important?"

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Developing the questions for project-based learning

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Project-based learning (PBL) involves a large time commitment, so if you are going to make the time investment, you'll want to focus on the big ideas in our classroom curriculum. In order to frame project work, you need to determine exactly what it is you want students to know and do as a result of completing the project.

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Inquiry-Based Learning: Developing Student-Driven Questions | Edutopia

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Inquiry-Based Learning: Developing Student-Driven Questions | Edutopia

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The Inspiration

Wildwood was already using inquiry-based learning to some extent, but things took off for them when, in Principal Mary Beth Cunat's second year, the school put on an Inquiry Fair. The event was similar to a science fair, where students demonstrated their personal inquiries/projects and results, some of which aligned with unit content and some of which drew from their own personal interests. This event catalyzed the school's a deep dive into inquiry-based learning once the teachers saw how invested the students became in their areas of research and inquiry.

"All of the sudden, we see our students doing things that really matter to them, and they're excited and they're passionate, and they want to talk about what they're learning," says Cunat.

"[Teachers were] realizing that when you let the students take the reins," reflects Cunat, "you get even better results than when you try to plan every detail, and that if you give students real time, resource, opportunity, support, and feedback to explore something that matters to them, you end up with more than if you just assign a project."

Student-driven inquiry is now the norm at Wildwood, as teachers regularly use student questions and lines of inquiry to drive their lessons. Students are also encouraged to pursue their curiosity through personal projects, lead school assemblies, work in one of the school's makerspaces, and more. Teachers are moving away from the "sage on the stage" style and facilitating or guiding students through learning subjects they are curious and passionate about.

It All Starts With Questions

Moving to a more inquiry-based style of teaching starts with questions. "Teachers need to develop a standards-based essential question, then open the conversation up to students," says Cunat. "What do they already know or think on this topic? What do they want to learn? What are they wondering about?" The responses will then allow teachers to see what topics or angles students are really inquisitive about as they plan lessons to harness that curiosity.

Wildwood works to gradually acclimate students unaccustomed to the inquiry-based practice. Some, when asked what they want to learn, may not be used to these questions or ready for the freedom to drive their own learning. A good start, says Cunat, is to begin teaching students about the kinds of questions: factual, conceptual, and debatable. Teachers in the lower grades often spend time teaching their kids how to ask questions, question assumptions, observe and ask follow-up questions, and evaluate information.

But while seeking and encouraging student questions is important, teachers at Wildwood try not to simply answer them. Instead, they say, it's more important to model what it's like to be a self-directed learner. So rather than giving students an answer, a teacher will work with them to find the answer, showing the steps along the way. Once students know how to find the information, they can continue learning even when outside of a classroom.

"Students are learning a process," says Cunat. "They're learning to ask questions. They're learning what makes a good question versus a 'yes/no' question. So those kinds of scaffolded experiences help build the child's understanding of how to ask questions. Where do you find answers out? Eventually, how do you save searches? All the way up through the upper grades or making sure that they are practicing good digital citizenship as they're involved in this kind of inquiry, because kids can go in directions that are not safe for them."

Student Curiosity Leads the Learning

Once teachers have teased out various lines of inquiry that capture the students' interest, they find avenues for channeling that inquiry and give students opportunities to explore. Inquiry-based learning is more concerned with the process of learning (how well the students learn how to learn) than the product of learning (a worksheet or correct quiz). If the students need to learn how to analyze a text, Wildwood teachers are more interested in teaching them how to analyze a text than the particular text that they choose to analyze.

"So kids are hitting the standards with the bigger questions and being able to create evidence of their understandings and their learnings in all kinds of ways that the kids get to pick," says Cunat. "If a kid wants to do a video about kangaroos, they can do a video about kangaroos to show they're learning about mammals. And then it's their job to show, 'What do I know about mammals, and kangaroos as mammals?' So a kid can take that content in the directions that they want to learn, and then it's their job to provide evidence of their learning."

A Willingness to Be Flexible

"Empowering students doesn't mean we're doing less planning," says Cunat. But it does mean that teachers must be willing to be flexible. Lessons can go anywhere. Depending on what the students are interested in, learning may go in a totally different direction than the teacher planned. "With inquiry, the teacher has a general road map of a possible end-result," says eighth-grade teacher Rebecca Braun, "but depending on the group of kids, that road map could be abandoned, tweaked, and/or revised. It makes it more interesting. This also requires the teacher to lean into the idea of allowing the learning to move in a different direction. Usually it's more fascinating and engaging than what I originally had planned."

Eighth-grade teacher Brigid Jennings believes that pacing is the key to ensuring that the curriculum is being covered. "It's OK to have fluid lesson plans, and to let things take off in whatever direction the students' love for learning takes them," says Jennings. "I would suggest for teachers to create a monthly and year-long pacing guide to make sure that everything that needs to be covered does get done."

Clear communication between teachers and students also is an essential part of opening up learning to student inquiry. "Very clear learning objectives are communicated at the beginning of each day and each unit, so students know what content is being covered," says Jennings. "Figure out what your non-negotiables are for the lesson, and give everything else up to the creativity and ownership of the kids."

When individual students develop interests that don't fit in with content that the whole class needs to know, or want to pursue something not built into curricular inquiries, Wildwood gives students the option of making it a personal project.

"For instance, we have a student who's so completely obsessed with wolves," says Cunat. "And he talked to wolf biologists, he talked to all kinds of people who love wolves. He joined wolf advocacy groups, and he eventually did a wolf assembly for the whole school. So he's learning the reading and the writing and the speaking and the listening. And he's doing all kinds of important work, and he's producing something that's uniquely his and talking about that. And you'll never be able to replace that. It matters to the child, and they'll carry that with them for their whole life."

Students can pair up with a faculty sponsor to determine the learning goal and audience, and examine whether the project might lend itself to an event or assembly. "This year, the number of projects, events, and assemblies got to be so frequent that teachers asked me to develop a protocol to limit how many times per quarter their students are pulled out of the classroom," says Cunat. "I am turning the development and approval process over to the student government. I am expecting that we may have two days per quarter that are big 'event' days -- kind of like a conference with breakout sessions run by students for students."

Steering Inquiries Keeps Students On Track

While flexibility is key to success with inquiry, class time is not a free-for-all. Teachers always need to guide the inquiry toward further learning and keep students from being sidetracked.

Fourth-grade teacher Georgia Melidis sometimes has to be creative with matching the inquiries to curriculum content, but she finds that there is almost always a way to do so. "We teachers are the best at tying things in or connecting things," says Melidis. "It will almost always connect with what I need to teach. . . In the event that it absolutely cannot connect or is taking away from what I need to teach, we compromise. I tell them if they want to keep going in the direction they took the inquiry, then they have to be held accountable for what I had in mind as well. I make it work by either telling my students to make the connections themselves, or by telling them to make it work their way. Basically, I tell them that we have to learn a certain skill/content, and I ask them to prove to me that they learned it, their way."

Teachers may also ask students to pursue some of their inquiries as private projects, or occasionally set boundaries when students broach a topic that is inappropriate or concerning. Teachers at Wildwood may discuss with parents and students why a particular topic has come up and what the boundaries are for their learning at that time.

"I was distressed this year because a line of inquiry and reading Number the Stars resulted in some fascination with Hitler and the Nazi party in one of my grades," said Cunat. "A few years ago, it was fascination with military weapons. This year a group of students wanted to examine genocide. Depending on the age, conversations have to occur with the students, parents, and teachers about what is developmentally appropriate for the learner at that time, and to assure them as they get older they will be able to explore those areas with more knowledge, experience, and perspective. We do not want to shut kids' curiosity down, but we have to frame some of the investigations into atrocity and human rights violations, animal cruelty, industrial massacre of the environment, in a way that is developmentally appropriate and solution-oriented."

Resources

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Harnessing Students' Curiosity to Drive Learning | Edutopia

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Wildwood was already using inquiry-based learning to some extent, but things took off for them when, in Principal Mary Beth Cunat's second year, the school put on an Inquiry Fair. The event was similar to a science fair, where students demonstrated their personal inquiries/projects and results, some of which aligned with unit content and some of which drew from their own personal interests.

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EdTechTeam: 4 Easy Steps to Start Google Expeditions in the Classroom

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EdTechTeam: 4 Easy Steps to Start Google Expeditions in the Classroom

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ISTE on Twitter: "Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl https://t.co/8RKOsQiMMg"

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ISTE on Twitter: "Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl https://t.co/8RKOsQiMMg"

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Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl

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Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl https://t.co/8RKOsQiMMg

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Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl pic.twitter.com/8RKOsQiMMg
— ISTE (@ISTEofficial) July 19, 2016

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Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl https://t.co/8RKOsQiMMg

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Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl https://t.co/8RKOsQiMMg

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Project-based learning has major benefits for students & teachers. Learn more: https://t.co/aAcEDk59RC #pbl

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A New Infographic on Project-based Learning for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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A New Infographic on Project-based Learning for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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July 12, 2016
According to BIE, project based learning is "an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom."In its essence , project based learning is all about engaging learners in meaningful and goal-oriented learning activities.Technology is proved to be an effective means of creating and enhancing a PBL-based culture in and outside class. Today we are sharing with you this handy infographic we created based on a previous post we published here a few months ago. The visual features a number of educational mobile apps and web tools to help teachers integrate the ethos of PBL in their instruction. Check it out and share with your colleagues. Enjoy

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A New Infographic on Project-based Learning for Teachers

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July 12, 2016 According to BIE, project based learning is "an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation.

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Part 2: STEM, STEAM, Makers: Over 40 Amazing STEM Resources | Tech Learning

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Part 2: STEM, STEAM, Makers: Over 40 Amazing STEM Resources | Tech Learning

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Welcome to this second post in a series that brings STEM, STEAM, and Maker Space together with Project Based Learning and proper technology integration in the classroom. You will discover around one hundred resources in this series along with some great ideas for finding student success. Before reading, please take a moment to subscribe by email or RSS and also give me a follow on Part 2: STEM, STEAM, Makers: Over 40 Amazing STEM Resources Science - STEM Resources

Science Net Links - A premiere site for STEM resources. What a wonderful place for educators to find quality teaching tools, interactives, podcasts, and hands-on activities, and best of all... it's free!

PHet - These are interactive simulations from the University of Colorado in Boulder. They include a large selection of simulations in biology, earth science, physics, chemistry, and math. On a Teacher Page, you can browse for teacher created activities that go with a simulation. Best of all, you can download simulations to a local computer if you do not wish to rely on an internet connection.

NSDL - The National Science Digital Library has some outstanding resources that include numerous links to some great STEM programs and organizations.

Understanding Science... How Science Really Works - Discover this assembly of resources to help educators increase student understanding of nature and the process of science. There is a collection of wonderful lesson plans, teaching tips, and pedagogical strategies You can also visit a Teacher's Lounge or explore the all-level resources. It is fun to discover how science really works.

New York Hall of Science - Wonderful site presents 450 exhibits, demonstrations, workshops and participatory activities that explain science, technology, engineering, and math.

MIT and Khan Science - Khan has so much more than Math, in fact... visit this Science site that includes resources with Khan Partner MIT K-12. Here you will find great lessons involving Physics, Natural Science, Resources, and Measurement. This is an area that may just help you flip your STEM classroom

HHMI BioInteractive - It really is through innovative science education programs that HHMI seeks to strengthen education in biology,and related sciences from elementary school to graduate studies and beyond. Educators will find a wealth of information and resources including sources from Biology, Chemistry, Physiology, and even 3D Printing. There is something for just about any STEM classroom that is ready to engage students.

Click To Science -The basic foundation of Click2Science is their 20 Skills to Make STEM Click. These are skills they claim are necessary to implement science effectively in an out-of-school time settings. Click2Science really is an indispensable resource for staff working directly with youth and for coaches and trainers working with staff. It also a resource that classroom teachers may just want to get some STEM ideas from.

MIT K12 - This site was built around a simple idea: K12 educators and MIT should be working together to make movies for K12 students. Educators submit ideas for experiments or demonstrations they would like to see an MIT student perform and explain in a short video. MIT students can then "check out" these assignments or they can come up with their own ideas and check them out themselves. The result is an amazing K12 STEM video online to be used in the classroom.

NASA Wavelength - Now is the time for you to explore NASA Wavelength, an initiative dedicated to providing education a digital collection of Earth and space science resources for educators of all levels. The incredible resources at Nasa Wave Length were developed through funding of the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD). You will find that all the resources have undergone a rigorous peer-review process.

Technology STEM Resources

Code - Educators interested in computer programming need to visit this site dedicated to expanding participation in computer science. The vision of CODE is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer programming. STEM educators will discover ways to integrate core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.

Scratch - With Scratch, kids can program their own interactive stories, games, and animations - and share your creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively . All of this is possible while essential skills for life in the 21st century are facilitated. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge.

Computer Science Unplugged - CS Unplugged is a wonderful collection of free learning activities that teach Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. The activities introduce students to underlying STEM concepts such as binary numbers, algorithms, and data compression, separated from the distractions and technical details we usually see with computers.

Tynker - Along with great programming opportunities, the Hour of Code activities are designed to teach students computational thinking and the basics of computer programming. Students solve each puzzle by programming visual code blocks to achieve a goal.

Accelerator Nation - It is time for you to bring aerodynamics to life in your STEM Classroom. You and your students can dive into hands-on aerodynamics experiments and dynamic STEM activities that support core science lessons in force, momentum, and speed. Along with the main link... check out this special area for teachers

National STEM Video Game Challenge - You and your students will enjoy this site inspired by the Educate to Innovate Campaign to promote a renewed focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. The National STEM Video Game Challenge is a multi-year competition whose goal is to motivate interest in STEM learning among America's youth by tapping into students' natural passion for playing and making video games.

Tech Museum of Innovation - Check out these challenges available from an amazing museum. While you are at the site check out all the other possible resources that might just work for your classroom.

Tech Rockets - Students ages 10 to 18 can create a Tech Rocket account and gain access to amazing tech courses. These include Python, iOS, Java, Minecraft, 3D printing. Each course contains lessons, support materials, and interactive challenges. Students can even gain points and badges along the way.

NASA Kids Club - Students take part in some amazing technology based missions as they engage in various missions. This is a place where students learn and enjoy as they possibly even blaze through space.

Center for Game Science - Discover this unique site that has created games focused on the importance of scientific discovery, discovering optimal learning pathways for STEM education, cognitive skill training , and unique games that explore collective over individual intelligence.

Smithsonian Science and Technology - Make sure you take the time to look at these lesson plans that emphasize the idea of science and technology through culture and history. You will find great ideas!

Engineering STEM Resources

Design Squad Nation - Another great service from PBS filled with some entertaining and engaging ways to integrate STEM into any classroom. Teachers can explore and use Design Squad Nation activities, animations, video profiles, and episodes in classrooms and after-school programs, in libraries and museums, at events and at home.

Engineer Your Life - This engaging website is the centerpiece of a national campaign, and is meant for high school girls and the adults in their lives (parents, counselors, teachers, and other educators) who want to learn more about what life and work are like for engineers. It is a great place to explore outstanding engineering possibilities.

Teach Engineering - This is a comprehensive collaborative project between faculty, students, and teachers associated with five founding partner universities, with NSF National Science Foundation funding. This real world collection continues to grow and evolve with new additions submitted from more than 50 additional contributors, a cadre of volunteer teacher and engineer reviewers, and feedback from teachers who use the curricula in their classrooms.

Discover Engineering - This organization coalition of volunteer engineer professionals works together to celebrate engineering and give students hands-on experiences with engineering.

eGFI Dream Up The Future - Be ready to discover a variety of tools to boost your students' math and science skills, enliven the classroom with engineering projects, expand your own professional horizons and stay informed. There is also an amazing free newsletter with updated features that will arrive in your in-box every month. This is a site that is a must visit for any STEM teacher.

EIE - Engineering is Elementary EIE) supports educators and children with curricula and professional development that develop engineering literacy. EiE serves children and educators in grades K- 8 with research-based, teacher-tested curriculum materials for schools and out-of-school time programs. The program also helps teachers build skills and confidence in teaching engineering and technology in their professional development workshops.

The Lemlinson Center -Take a moment to visit this center that showcases the study of invention and innovation. It is part of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, the center documents, interprets, and disseminates information about invention and innovation; encourages inventive creativity in young people; and fosters an appreciation for the central role that invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.

Cooper Hewitt Lesson Plans - Take a look at the design possibilities covering all subject areas and grade levels. There will surely be something to promote design thinking!

Try Engineering - Here a place to visit for the lastest information, resources, and research. It will provide numerous ideas to bring engineering to the classroom.

The Engineering Place - This might be the right place to get the idea you need. There are wonderfullesson plans for K-8 students.

Math STEM Resources

MathSite - You will enjoy this amazing interactive journey in math. The exhibits found at MathSite are intended for people of all ages who are interested in or are curious about mathematics. No specialized mathematical knowledge or special expertise is assumed. You will find it a place to see, hear, and do mathematics.

Emergent Math - Looking for ideas that just might spark a PBL math idea? Emergent Math is dedicated to brainstorming interesting and dynamic math problems and projects. The facilitator of the blog is employed by the New Technology Network of Schools. The posts really do allow for real mathspiration (inspirational combined with math). As stated in the blog, "interesting math problem/project can come in the form of a picture, a video, a tweet, something your child says, etc". This blog really does attempt to use all of the preceding ideas, plus more! The posts generate ideas on how these concepts just might fit in the classroom and/or provide some driving/guiding questions. The best place to begin your exploration is at the first page of the blog and read the index! You will enjoy your immersion in Math!

Exploring Space Through Math - This amazing NASA site promotes inquiry through real world applications. Students assume the role of NASA scientists, engineers and researchers who work in teams to accomplish tasks. These projects promote cooperative learning, problem-solving and the use of technology. The problems in this project follow the 5-E's Instructional Model with a segment for each phase of instruction - Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate. The projects cover the scope of Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and Precalculus.

Annenberg Learner Math Lessons - Annenberg Learner uses media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools. This mandate is carried out chiefly by the funding and broad distribution of educational video programs with coordinated Web and print materials for the professional development of K-12 teachers. The math lessons could be a footprint to a PBL unit or scaffolding for an entire PBL. While at the site... take a look at the interactives.

Figure This - This wonderful site is the work of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in cooperation with the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Widmeyer Communications, and the Learning First Alliance. Its mission is to challenge middle school mathematics and emphasizes the importance of high-quality math education for all students. While it was created to allow for family interaction, it is also figures into the Math PBL classroom. The site allows students to have the opportunity to face some every day real life math challenges.

Mathematical Moments - Authenticity is important in Math PBL. It seems that Math educators are always looking for ways they can show how math is used in the world around us. Discover a site that will help you achieve this goal of real world application. The site is cleverly titled Mathematical Moments and it is well worth the time! It contains free printable posters that are 8.5″ x 11″ PDF documents. These informational posters are available on many different topics in science, nature, technology, and human culture. As you take a closer look many of these posters note that many have a link to some short feature podcast interviews with experts in the field. These posters and podcast could spark the idea for a PBL math unit that brings authenticity into your math teaching.

MIT Blossoms - All of the lessons in the MIT Blossoms library have been contributed by BLOSSOMS partners from around the world. There is a watch the Teacher's Guide Video Segment included with each lesson to learn more about it. The final segment of each BLOSSOMS video lesson is a one-on-one conversation between the teacher and the "virtual teacher." Best of all, these lessons can be part of a PBL unit. The provided link brings you to the Math (English Language) Section.

Get The Math - Get the Math is about algebra in the real world. See how professionals use math in music, fashion, video games, restaurants, basketball, and special effects. Then take on interactive challenges related to those careers.

Mathalicious - While this is a paid site you will find several free projects on the homepage. Perhaps you will find that the paid lessons are really well worth it! This site does demonstrate that math is about more than just numbers and equations. Students find that math is a tool to explore the world around us. Mathalicious provides teachers with lessons that help them teach math in a way that engages their students-in a way that helps students understand how the world works. Lessons are aligned to Common Core Standards and explore real life questions.

TedEd - The makers of TED... these really are some wonderful flipped lessons with formative tools built in. These are definite lessons worth sharing! You can even make your own

How to Smile - Discover this group of science museums dedicated to bringing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) out of the academic cloister and into the wider world. Find new ways to teach kids about math and science. Discover activities that meet you where you live, whether your "classroom" is an active volcano, the shark tank at the local aquarium, or your own kitchen table. SMILE is collecting the best educational materials on the web and creating learning activities, tools, and services.

Next in the Series...Great STEM Competitions ! cross-posted at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com Michael Gorman oversees one-to-one laptop programs and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a consultant for Discovery Education, ISTE, My Big Campus, and November Learning and is on the National Faculty for The Buck Institute for Education. His awards include district Teacher of the Year, Indiana STEM Educator of the Year and Microsoft's 365 Global Education Hero. Read more at 21centuryedtech.wordpress.com. Twitter at mjgormans. I promise you will find some great information coming your way in the posts that follow...So sign up now and please pass this on with a retweet. - Mike Gorman (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/)

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Part 2: STEM, STEAM, Makers: Over 40 Amazing STEM Resources

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Welcome to this second post in a series that brings STEM, STEAM, and Maker Space together with Project Based Learning and proper technology integration in the classroom. You will discover around one hundred resources in this series along with some great ideas for finding student success.

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Finding an Authentic Goal for Your PBL Classroom | Edutopia

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Finding an Authentic Goal for Your PBL Classroom | Edutopia

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I think this is the main reason why the e-NABLE Community Foundation seems to have taken the PBL world by storm.

e-NABLE initially began in 2013 as a simple but powerful matching service between children who might benefit from receiving prosthetic hands and designers and makers who could construct those hands inexpensively and quickly.

Their passion for the open source movement helped to propel its popularity, and people like Jon Schull created the organization as we know it now. He also created a Google + community that served as an informal café for people to seek information from each other on anything from 3D printing in the news to improved prosthetic designs.

The e-NABLE Mission

Then, a gentleman named Rich Lehrer discovered the organization. He was intrigued by what looked like both an interesting device and organization, one that could possibly meet the needs of his own son. Lehrer was also a middle school teacher, and he soon realized that it wasn't just the recipient who could be impacted by this exchange of needs. He saw the potential for students to adopt the mindsets of both the maker and advocacy movement.

Cut to two years later, and e-NABLE has found its way into hundreds of classrooms and clubs around the world, including my own English-language arts class.

But this post isn't simply about e-NABLE. It's about a movement, an undertaking to combine authentic goals with student learning. So I spoke with Rich Lehrer, now the e-NABLE Educators Exchange Coordinator -- as well as the Innovation Coordinator at the Brookwood School in Massachusetts -- for his take on PBL, e-NABLE's influence in the classroom, and how teachers can find authentic objectives in their own backyard.

How to Find Authentic Goals

PBL is focused on helping solve the problems around us. e-NABLE has definitely tapped into something, but it doesn't need to be the charity that you focus your classroom on. Frankly, there is great power in discovering the needs of your own community, and teachers have a role to play in helping students ask the questions to discover what those needs are. This process of inquiry should be the initial part of any PBL unit.

For instance, earlier this year, I helped a colleague learn about PBL. We decided (based on her own interest in marathons) to have her English-language arts class host a 5K Fun Run fundraiser for a local charity. Her kids weren't the ones running, however. Instead, they were meeting with the timing company, developing the registration website, pitching sponsors, working on mapping the course, and meeting with the city to seek approvals on the process.

They settled on a local charity by researching from a list of local organizations. In small groups, they started researching using a hyperdoc the teacher had curated. They watched videos, examined documents, and each group created a Google slideshow about their charity to pitch to their class.

3 Tips for Finding Real-World Goals

In terms of finding real-world goals for your PBL unit, Rich Lehrer has some further advice:

1. Search Online. Google PBL + Authentic Projects. Also try searching the Buck Institute for Education website for project ideas using the key word authentic. There's a treasure trove of lists out there.

2. Have an Authentic Project Mindset. Seek outlets for authentic work in your life and in the lives your students. Sometimes a goal can be found in the stories and experiences of those found in your own classroom.

3. Make connections. "Connect with individuals and organizations in your community and around the world who are doing meaningful work and having tangible effects," recommends Lehrer. Involve your students in the work that is already going on in the world. How can we be of service? Lehrer stresses, "As the world becomes more connected, there are amazing chances for kids to do meaningful things."

Help your students develop a sense of their own power. Allow them in on the decision-making process in terms of selecting an authentic goal for your class' PBL unit and you will have increased their ownership of the unit from the get-go.

A Challenge to Rethink Your Overall Goals

e-NABLE has a happy problem: It has exploded in size. With that growth sometimes comes the pains of how to communicate quickly or how to address the needs of each of its donating participants. Nevertheless, if we, the participating classrooms, keep the focus on the experience of the recipients, we will have modeled other traits every PBL unit should strive for: resilience, patience, and selflessness.

In other words, we need to remember that PBL isn't just an authentic vehicle to teach literacy, writing, and speaking. It's also an authentic vehicle to teach character traits.

As just one of the many classrooms now affiliated with the organization, I find that I work hard with my students to print, write, pitch, and fundraise. However, at times, I find that I need to pause and remind myself, and my students, that we are now part of something far greater than a curriculum unit. At the end, there isn't a test. When we send a hand off, the learning isn't over.

The overall "mindset is vital," says Lehrer. This kind of experience gives students a "window to empathy and understanding."

"Kids have never been as empowered to change their local community than ever before," Lehrer exclaims excitedly. "Schools are now recognizing that this is vital for student development, that there is much educational value in this, and that kids now have access to the tools" to make long-lasting advocacy happen.

And so, I would like to leave you with this challenge: How can you create a unit that doesn't have an end? How can you tap into a local need to help teach deep advocacy, empathy, and problem solving? How can you transfer those lessons beyond a quarter or semester, beyond a school year, and beyond school in general? Please share in the comments section below.

We need our students to think of themselves as change agents in this world. They have access to the devices to help that happen, but now they need access to teachers willing to take them on that journey.

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Finding an Authentic Goal for Your PBL Classroom | Edutopia

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I think this is the main reason why the e-NABLE Community Foundation seems to have taken the PBL world by storm. e-NABLE initially began in 2013 as a simple but powerful matching service between children who might benefit from receiving prosthetic hands and designers and makers who could construct those hands inexpensively and quickly.

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Two Approaches to Self-Paced Learning | Edutopia

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Two Approaches to Self-Paced Learning | Edutopia

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If your answer is "No," is it because you lack enough access to technology? Is it because you don't feel ready? Or do you feel ready, but need additional support in your classroom? Depending on your answer, your path to tech integration may look different from someone else's. However varied access and readiness may be, tech integration can successfully occur in any classroom.

This article contains the following sections:

Getting Started

The first step in successful tech integration is recognizing the change that may need to happen inside of yourself and in your approach to teaching. When any teacher brings technology into the classroom, he or she will no longer be the center of attention. The level of refocused attention will, of course, depend on the amount and the type of technology (e.g., mobile device, e-reader, laptop, interactive whiteboard) being brought into the classroom. However, this does not mean that the teacher is no longer essential to the learning process. While students may be surrounded by technology at home, it is dangerous to assume that they know how to use it for learning -- this is commonly referred to as the "myth of the digital native," and you can read more about it in this Edutopia blog post: " Digital Native vs. Digital Citizen? Examining a Dangerous Stereotype." Most students still need a guide to help them use digital tools effectively for learning and collaboration.

Integrating Technology Across the Access Spectrum

As discussed in the What is Successful Technology Integration? section, how we define "technology integration" depends on the kinds of technology available and how much access one has to technology. This definition also depends on who is using the technology. For instance, in a classroom with only an interactive whiteboard and one computer, learning will still remain teacher centered and integration will revolve around teacher needs, which are not necessarily student needs. Still, there are ways to use an interactive whiteboard to make it a tool for your students. Even with one computer in the room, there are ways to integrate that one machine into your classroom and still make sure that you and your students are indeed doing things that you couldn't do before, not just doing the same things you did before in a quicker, more efficient way.

Below you will find a quick overview with suggestions of what kinds of tools and activities are best matched with various levels of technology access. All of the resources linked to are either free or offer free versions.
If your class has an interactive whiteboard and projector: If there is only one computer in your room: If you have a pod of three to five computers in the classroom or access to a library with a pod of computers:

What skills are applied to nearly all tools (e.g., saving a file, naming a file, finding a file, logging in and out of accounts)? Have your students mastered these basic skills?

How many different tools will you introduce this year? How many is too many?

How will technology help your students better understand content -- will it push them to a deeper understanding that could not have been achieved without technology?

What level of integration do you want in your classroom by the end of the school year? What specific steps must you take to achieve that goal? What is a realistic goal based on time and resources?

If you have access to a laptop cart or a computer lab:

All of the above, plus...

Enable students to work through course content at their own pace through the use of screencasts, e-books, and other digital media.

Use Poll Everywhere or Socrative to poll students.

Start live class discussions with TodaysMeet.

Explore enhanced digital note taking with Evernote.

If your students have 1:1 laptops or netbooks:

Hold an introductory session with your students when introducing a new tool.

Use the tool yourself first before putting your students in front of it.

Have a plan for collecting student work.

Communicate with other colleagues that may want to use the resources as well.

Manage time with the resources wisely. Set goals for work completion with your students.

Communicate with your administration about how and when you will be using shared technology.

All of the above, whenever you want, for however long you like (especially if students take their laptops or netbooks home).
If you have access to a handful of mobile devices:

Have students create videos using the Animoto app

Record group discussions using a voice recording app.

Have students record themselves reading aloud for fluency checks.

Assign student-created comics using the Puppet Pals app.

Offer e-books for required readings.

Upload and access course content using the Edmodo or Schoology apps.

Conduct research.

Foster skills practice using apps specific to subject area.

Collaborate using apps like Whiteboard.

If your students have 1:1 mobile devices:

All of the above, plus...

Use them as multifunction devices (e.g., e-book readers, calculators, platforms for taking notes).

Try out a tool like Nearpod to project information onto student devices.

Check out mobile apps for student polling from Poll Everywhere or Socrative.

Getting to "Seamless" Integration

To begin to move your tech integration to the point where it is "seamless," consider these questions:

For more on levels of technology access and what that means for tech integration, read this blog post: " What Does 'Technology Integration' Mean?"

You can also check out the outstanding Technology Integration Matrix produced by the Arizona K12 Center. It provides guidance on different levels of tech integration based on readiness and current practice, and offers links to sample lessons.

Have a nontechnology backup plan.

Just as we always tell our students that failure is OK, that we learn from failure, and that failure is part of the learning process, so must we, as adults, follow our own advice.

Model troubleshooting with your students.

Report the problem (and know to whom this reporting should be done).

Ask for help. Have someone who knows how to fix the problem show you how for next time.

In schools that are not 1:1, sharing resources can be a huge challenge. Here are some quick tips for sharing resources effectively:

Get more details about these six tips from this blog post: " Six Tips for Teachers: How to Maximize Shared Resources."

Creating a Professional-Development Plan

Once you have discovered what level of access you have and what possibilities this access affords you, it is time to address your own comfort level with the technology that is in your classroom. This can be achieved through self-assessment and/or the use of a fellow teacher or an instructional coach in your school or district. Once you know your comfort level, then you can begin to build a professional-development plan for yourself. This can be done alone, as part of your "grade team," or as part of your school or district's personal-growth plan. You can also begin to seek out professional-development opportunities online and outside of your district or school to begin to connect with other educators exploring the same challenges and seeking solutions. For more resources for taking professional development into your own hands, check out our DIY Professional Development page.

It doesn't matter what your comfort level is with technology in your classroom -- without a continuous professional-development plan, you will never be as effective as you can be. Many schools and districts have made the mistake of placing technology into classrooms without a comprehensive plan for training teachers. Often, this technology sits unused or underused. If you are a teacher in a situation where technology has been "thrown" at you with no professional development, be thankful for the new tool(s) that you have at your fingertips -- and then do your best to learn about how they can transform and improve your teaching and have a positive effect on student learning. You can do this either on your own or by asking for help from your colleagues, mentors, or professional learning community.

Unlike many other aspects of teaching, technology changes constantly. Just as in any industry, it is vital that educators stay current with new trends and developments in both pedagogy and new technologies. If you have a tech-integration specialist at your school, then use this person to your full advantage, as they are the front line for the tools you have or may want to bring into your classroom.
Please note, all of these kinds of tools require that students have access to Internet-enabled devices on a regular basis and that they hand in their work digitally.
Hardware and Equipment

While hardware and software vary across classrooms, schools, and districts, one thing can be guaranteed across the board: technology, no matter what kind it is, will fail.

This inevitable part of tech integration is often the number-one fear of classroom teachers everywhere. Whether you are taking the steps to integrate technology into your classroom on your own or as part of a schoolwide or district initiative, this fear must be the first hurdle to overcome.

Here are some basic tips for when technology goes awry:

Using Technology for Feedback and Assessment

One of the most exciting aspects of bringing technology into your classroom -- and into your students' hands -- is the enhanced opportunity for timely and meaningful feedback.

Quick Checks: If you want to know if your students grasp enough of a particular concept before you move on, you can use tools such as Poll Everywhere, Socrative, or Mentimeter to get a quick snapshot of the class. By creating a short quiz or open-ended response question using one of these tools and having your students use an internet-enabled device to answer, you can get quick and easy feedback that will help inform your instruction.

Personalized Feedback: Through the use of course-management tools such as Edmodo, Schoology, or Moodle, it is now possible for teachers to provide personalized feedback quickly and efficiently to their students. All three tools provide the ability for teachers to leave personalized comments and notes on student work, and they provide a messaging service for students who may want to send emails with questions or concerns about the course.

Screencasts can also provide personalized feedback on student work. A teacher can record his or her computer screen while viewing student work, pointing out areas for improvement and areas where a student has excelled. Some great tools for this are Screencast-O-Matic and Jing.

In addition, Evernote is a powerful note-taking tool that can be accessed through any Internet-enabled device through a web browser or the mobile app. It allows users to record audio notes, and it can be a great way to provide personalized feedback to students. Teachers can share these recordings, which are embedded in notes created through the app or website, with students through email. This can be a great way to keep students updated on their progress or to provide feedback on a particular assignment asynchronously. Because the feedback is recorded, students can also rewind and relisten for better comprehension or to refer back to if they like.

For more on using technology to provide feedback to students, you can read this blog post: " Using Tech Tools to Provide Timely Feedback."

The Role of Digital Citizenship

Our students are constantly immersed in technology, yet that does not mean that they know how to use it for learning. We also cannot assume that they know how to use it responsibly either. Just as we teach our children how to handle bullies on the playground, or as we admonish a student for copying someone's work and handing it in as his or her own, we must take the time to explicitly teach about cyberbullying, copyright, plagiarism, digital footprint, and proper conduct online.

Of course, what we teach and how we teach it depend on grade level. We probably wouldn't teach first graders about the nitty-gritty details of copyright law, but we might teach them what kinds of information are safe or unsafe to share online. Likewise, while we may quickly review safe and unsafe information with high school students, we are more likely to focus on digital footprint and plagiarism.

It is worth your time to spend some time early in the year setting expectations for online conduct, use of information found online, and staying safe when using digital tools. For more on teaching digital citizenship, you can visit BrainPOP, Common Sense Media, or Edutopia's Digital Citizenship Resource Roundup.

Since it's clear that tech integration is here to stay, it is not a question of whether teachers integrate technology into their classrooms, but rather how to do it best. By taking small steps, teachers can begin to reap the benefits that technology can bring to their teaching and to student learning. This process does not have to be painful, and no one will become a tech-integration whiz overnight. However, even with limited access, with careful planning, some risk taking, and an open mind, teachers can successfully use technology to enhance their teaching and bring learning to life for their students.

Continue to the next section of the guide, Workshop Activities.

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If your answer is "No," is it because you lack enough access to technology? Is it because you don't feel ready? Or do you feel ready, but need additional support in your classroom? Depending on your answer, your path to tech integration may look different from someone else's.

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"I Wonder" Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry | Edutopia

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"I Wonder" Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry | Edutopia

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By encouraging students' wonder and recording their "I Wonder" questions, teachers can view those questions holistically and use them to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity.

Overview

Harness Student Curiosity

Students always have questions. When's the homework due? How does Siri understand what I'm saying? Why is the sky blue? Student questions can be funny, insightful, and at times wildly off-topic. Rather than fielding these questions one-by-one when they come up, the teachers at Crellin Elementary record student "I wonder" questions so that they can view them holistically, and use what they find to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity.

How It's Done

What Are "I Wonders"?

"I Wonders" is the categorical name that teachers at Crellin Elementary use to describe the individual questions that students ask about their learning. The teachers encourage their students to wonder out loud in the middle of a lesson.

Dana McCauley, Crellin Elementary principal, describes how the process works:

It's when you are immersed in a lesson, and the kids are beginning to make those connections, and they start saying them out loud: "How are magnets related to electricity? Why is that in this unit? That doesn't make sense to me." Or "Why is it that whenever we go to the stream, I'm seeing that green algae-looking stuff on there, when I thought you said we cleaned it up?" Or "I'm wondering why is it that the salt melts the ice out there? Like why do we put that out there?"

"I Wonders" are whatever the kids are wondering about -- whatever connections are happening in their heads as they learn, they're saying these thoughts out loud.

Encouraging and Harvesting Student Wonders

Teachers at Crellin have different methods for recording students' "I Wonder" questions. Some have them write their questions before assignments during writing prompts, some simply write the questions on the board, and others may use posters or sticky notes.

"Some of them are irrelevant to what we're doing at the moment," says McCauley, "and you say, 'Write that down; we'll get to it later. Put it on a Post-it note.'"

TIP: Have students capture their questions in "I Wonder" journals, and use these questions to plan future lessons.

Fifth-grade students began using notebooks called "I Wonder Journals" after a regular learning partner, Dr. Dave Miller, realized that the students had far more questions than he could answer during his limited time in the classroom. He provided each student with a notebook and asked them all to write down everything they ever wonder about. Now he uses the journals to plan experiments for the students during his time in the classroom.

Regardless of the collection method, students are always encouraged to question, wonder, and share their wonderings with their teacher and classmates.

Channeling the Wonder

Every few weeks, teachers go through all the wonderings that have been collected but never addressed because they were off-topic during the current lesson or more appropriate for a later unit. Looking at student questions as a whole, teachers can divine information about where the kids want to go, as well as where they have just been.

"They can be a clue to the teacher in making sure that no misconceptions are being created," says McCauley. "You need to make sure that it's flowing and that it's making sense to them . . . Is there a misconception in their understanding? Or is it sometimes that they are making a connection at a different level that you never even thought of? So it's a way for us to reflect . . . about how we're laying out lessons."

Teachers can also use "I Wonders" to see themes and subject areas about which students are really curious, such as when fifth-grade teacher Brittany German noticed that she was getting a lot of "I Wonder" questions about outer space. She then decided to use space in part of her next unit.

As teachers go through the "I Wonder" questions, they ask themselves questions like:

Where could I go with this?

How can I tie some of these together?

How can I make this meaningful for my students?

What can I teach from this?

And while "I Wonder" questions can definitely affect lesson plans, sometimes teachers use them in smaller, more individualized ways.

"Sometimes they're not full-blown lesson plans," says McCauley. "Sometimes it's a project for one child to look at. Sometimes it's more of a question that they need to research. Other times it turns into being a whole new project for the class or a group of kids."

Leaving Some Questions Unanswered

Students can have dozens and dozens of questions, and the thought of answering all of them could be overwhelming to some. But Crellin teachers say that they don't feel obligated to answer every question asked. They aim to fold in what they can, encourage students to take ownership and seek answers on their own, and most of all, encourage students to continue asking questions. Principal McCauley believes that continued wondering is the ultimate goal:

If they don't wonder, "How would we ever survive on the moon?" then that's never going to be explored. You want to encourage it enough that they continue to ask with the understanding that not all will be answered. But that doesn't mean they should stop wondering, because wonderings lead to thinking outside the box, which makes them critical thinkers. As they try to figure it out, and reflect on what they're doing, that's where it all ties together for them. That's where all that learning occurs -- where all the connections start being made.

Resources

Grades PK-5 | Oakland, MD

Enrollment

109 | Public, Rural

Per Pupil Expenditures

Free / Reduced Lunch

57%

Demographic data is from the 2014-15 academic year. Fiscal data is from the 2013-14 academic year.

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"I Wonder" Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry

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By encouraging students' wonder and recording their "I Wonder" questions, teachers can view those questions holistically and use them to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity. Students always have questions. When's the homework due? How does Siri understand what I'm saying? Why is the sky blue?

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K-12 Math Projects: About Project-Based Learning

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K-12 Math Projects: About Project-Based Learning

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K-12 Math Projects: About Project-Based Learning

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Learn about project-based learning, the methodology, and how to design and assess your own math projects and Webquests.

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Common Core Problem Based Curriculum Maps | emergent math

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Common Core Problem Based Curriculum Maps | emergent math

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The following Problem Based Learning (PrBL) curriculum maps are based on the Math Common Core State Standards and the associated scope and sequences. The problems and tasks have been scoured from thoughtful math bloggers who have advanced our practice by posting their materials online.

The Scope and Sequences for Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Math 9 (Integrated), Math 10 (Integrated), and Math 11 (Integrated) are from Pearson. Other Scope and Sequences were developed by me, modeling a similar visual style.
Grade 3 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Grade 4 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Grade 5 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Grade 6 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Grade 7 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Grade 8 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Math 9 (Integrated) CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Math 10 (Integrated) CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Math 11 (Integrated) CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Algebra 1 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Geometry CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map Algebra 2 CCSS PrBL Curriculum Map
Be sure to check back often as these curriculum maps are bound to change when new cool activities are added on math blogs worldwide. I'll be adding more and more curriculum maps in due time. Also, if you have a favorite particular task that isn't here (or just comments in general), let me know in the comments!

For more on Problem Based learning, you can check out my previous posts on the topic.

- Geoff

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Common Core Problem Based Curriculum Maps

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The following Problem Based Learning (PrBL) curriculum maps are based on the Math Common Core State Standards and the associated scope and sequences. The problems and tasks have been scoured from thoughtful math bloggers who have advanced our practice by posting their materials online. The Scope and Sequences for Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Math...

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Math, PBL and 21st Century Learning for All Students | Edutopia

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Math, PBL and 21st Century Learning for All Students | Edutopia

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Considering project-based learning as a way to teach 21st century competencies? Or perhaps you have already used PBL in your schools and want support for your discussions with administrators, parents or board members? In either case, it might be helpful to know about the strong research evidence that PBL, when supported by good professional development, can in turn support the teaching and learning of 21st century skills significantly better than more traditional alternatives.

Sometimes skeptics will argue that for certain subjects (e.g., math) or some types of students (e.g., lower performers) are harder to teach using PBL. They might enjoy this video of students building a house as an example of good teaching -- but not necessarily an example that could or should be followed. Others, such as Paul Lockhart in his Mathematician's Lament, suggest that applying math to real world situations could actually hurt creativity.

Math teachers and teachers of lower-performing students do have unique challenges for teaching 21st century skills. However, research demonstrates those who use PBL are much better able than more traditional teachers to teach and develop these skills.

Here are two more videos showing students using math while conducting projects, working in groups to create original products or presentations.

These provide vivid examples of PBL helping math teachers promote 21st century learning, but how do we know, and how do we convince others that they aren't just anecdotal and isolated examples?

Evidence from West Virginia

Let's look at the data. Research shows these are not isolated cases. We see the evidence in research conducted with teachers in West Virginia. This statewide study included nine PBL math teachers, who received extended professional development, and 14 non-PBL comparison teachers.

Five out of nine (56%) of the PBL math teachers said students "created an original product or performance to express their ideas" every week, compared to none (0%) of the 14 non-PBL math teachers.

All (100%) of the PBL math teachers said students "generated their own ideas about how to confront a problem or question" weekly, compared to 36% of the comparison group.

Math teachers who used PBL reported more student collaboration than others. For example, 78% said students created joint products using contributions from each student weekly, compared to only 7% of comparison teachers.

Concerning communication technologies, two-thirds (67%) of PBL math teachers said students conveyed their ideas using media other than written papers at least monthly, compared to 7% of other math teachers.

Based on these results, math teachers should feel affirmed in their commitment to pursuing a high quality PBL curriculum as a vehicle for developing and promoting 21st century knowledge and skills.

What about the concern that PBL cannot be used with lower-performing students? Teachers of lower-performing students who used PBL also taught and assessed 21st century skills much more than non-PBL teachers. This was true for teachers of higher-achieving students, too, but they more often taught these skills without PBL as well. This means that PBL may be especially important for lower-achieving students who otherwise get less of a chance to learn these skills.

Are you convinced that PBL can help promote 21st century learning even in math classes and classes with lower-performing students? Based on your experience, would you recommend trying to teach 21st knowledge and skills in these classes using PBL, or trying a different approach? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Suggested Resources

This blog is part of a series sponsored by Autodesk.

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Math, PBL and 21st Century Learning for All Students | Edutopia

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Considering project-based learning as a way to teach 21st century competencies? Or perhaps you have already used PBL in your schools and want support for your discussions with administrators, parents or board members?

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5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners | Edutopia

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5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners | Edutopia

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The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change.

That makes it a most precious "app" today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. And yet, we don't seem to value questioning as much as we should. For the most part, in our workplaces as well as our classrooms, it is the answers we reward -- while the questions are barely tolerated.

To change that is easier said than done. Working within an answers-based education system, and in a culture where questioning may be seen as a sign of weakness, teachers must go out of their way to create conditions conducive to inquiry. Here are some suggestions (based on input from question-friendly teachers, schools, programs, and organizations) on how to encourage more questioning in the classroom and hopefully, beyond it.

How to Encourage Questioning

1. Make It Safe

Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. It's also an admission to the world (and more terrifyingly, to classmates) that one doesn't know the answer. So teachers must somehow "flip the script" by creating an environment where questioning becomes a strength; where it is welcomed and desired. The Right Question Institute, a nonprofit group that teaches inquiry skills in low-income schools, encourages teachers to run group exercises dedicated entirely to formulating questions (no answers allowed!) -- with clear rules and guidelines to ensure that students' questions aren't judged or edited, and that all questions are written down and respected. There are many variations on this type of exercise. The second-grade teacher Julie Grimm uses a "10 by 10" exercise, in which kids are encouraged to come up with 10 great questions about a topic during a 10-minute span. But the bottom line is, designate some kind of safe haven in the classroom where all students can freely exercise the "questioning muscle."

2. Make It "Cool"

This is a tough one. Among many kids, it's cool to already know -- or to not care. But what if we could help students understand that the people who ask questions happen to be some of the coolest people on the planet? As I discovered in the research for my book on inquiry, questioners thought of many of those whiz-bang gadgets we now love. They're the ones breaking new ground in music, movies, the arts. They're the explorers, the mavericks, the rebels, making the world a more interesting place -- and having a heck of a time themselves. How cool is that?

3. Make It Fun

Part of the appeal of "questions-only" exercises is that there's an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? Can you open your closed questions, and close your open ones? There are countless ways to inject a "game" element into questioning, but here's an example borrowed from the business world: Some companies use a practice called " the 5 whys," which involves formulating a series of "why" questions to try to get to the root of a problem. Kids were practically born asking "why" questions, so why not allow them to use that innate talent within a structured challenge? Or, show them how to use the " Why/What if/How " sequence of questioning as a fun way to tackle just about any problem. Whatever the approach, let kids tap into their imaginations and innate question-asking skills in ways that make inquiry an engaging part of a larger challenge.

4. Make It Rewarding

Obviously, we must praise and celebrate the questions that are asked -- and not only the on-target, penetrating ones, but also the more expansive, sometimes-offbeat ones (I found that seemingly "crazy questions" sometimes result in the biggest breakthroughs). Help create a path for students to get from a question to a meaningful result. A great question can be the basis of an ongoing project, a report, an original creation of some kind. The point is to show that if one is willing to spend time on a question -- to not just Google it but grapple with it, share it with others, and build on it -- that question can ultimately lead to something rewarding and worthwhile.

5. Make It Stick

If the long-term goal is to create lifelong questioners, then the challenge is to make questioning a habit -- a part of the way one thinks. RQI's Dan Rothstein says it's important to include a metacognitive stage in question-training exercises wherein kids can reflect on how they've used questioning and articulate what they've learned about it, so they can "pave a new neural pathway" for lifelong inquiry. As for the behavioral habits associated with good questioning, here are a few: Questioners train themselves to observe everyday surroundings with "vuja de" eyes that see the familiar in fresh ways; they're always on the lookout for assumptions (including their own) that should be questioned; and they're willing to ask questions that might be considered "naïve" by others.

So ask yourself this beautiful question: How might I encourage more questioning in my classroom? And how might I instill the habit of questioning in my students? After all, knowing the answers may help them in school, but knowing how to question will help them for life. I look forward to your thougths -- and questions! -- in the comments area.

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5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners | Edutopia

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The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious "app" today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown.

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EdTechTeacher | Five Tips for Assessing PBL – from Douglas

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EdTechTeacher | Five Tips for Assessing PBL – from Douglas

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This post first appeared on Daily Genius.

I love project-based work. It has given my students a sense of purpose and provided a meaningful context for the skills they are learning in my class. But despite its name, I am not grading the project so much as the process of getting there. That's where the real learning occurs.

Consider these three students, each working on an independent project. How would you grade them?

John: Meets all intermediary deadlines on time, turns final project in on time.

Tracey: Late on every single one of the intermediary deadlines, final project is a few days late.

Peter: Misses every single one of the intermediary deadlines, pulls four all-nighters in a row in the final week, and turns final project in on time.

I know how I used to grade them. The two who turned in projects on time would do better than the one who was consistently late. But when I looked more carefully at what I really value, I realized that what I really wanted to reward was sustained effort over a lengthy period of time.

From that perspective, John and Tracey actually did the same amount of work over the same period of time. Tracey just needed that little of jolt of "I'm late!" adrenaline to get into gear. But the pattern of work still looked the same as John - just shifted by a few days.

Peter, on the other hand, may have come in with a fair amount of background knowledge, and rather than challenging himself and struggling over an extended period of time, getting stuck and then getting unstuck, he coasted through the work period, and because he's clever and talented, four all-nighters were sufficient to come up with a decent project.

At Punahou School, with help from Dana Len in our Art Department, we created a system that values the process of learning and provides a number of checkpoints along the way. By the end of the project, kids who turn in a great project but have little to show for the process of how they got there receive a lower grade than those who can show ongoing evidence of their learning over time.

I challenge my students to design a final project that demonstrates their mastery of skills that we have covered in the first part of the semester. My students' final project grades are based on the following five factors: Goals, Work Logs, Records of Thinking, Conference Notes, a Final Reflection, and the Project itself.

I ask students to set goals that are Measurable, Ambitious, and Attainable. They also set Personal Goals, and if they are working on a group project, Team Goals. I point out that these are different. A student could be a highly effective learner but a lousy teammate, or a fantastic collaborator and teammate who never pushes himself to further his own learning. I ask that they be specific; rather than "I want to be a better teammate", they should provide clear criteria, such as "I will e-mail a weekly summary of what everyone's agreed to do, to everyone on the team." We use Google Docs to collect students' goals and I allow them to change or refine their goals as they go (or even add new ones.)

These are completed every few days and account for how students spent their time. I ask that students spend a little time every day working on their project as homework, but because every project is different, I can't give everyone the same assignment. My students need to decide what needs to get done, and assign themselves that homework. They might do research, or watch a video, or ask another classmate how to solve a problem.

A work log lists the tasks they completed and an estimate of how much time they spent. It should only take 30 seconds to do a work log. They are similar to how a professional might keep track of her billable hours. I do not accept late work logs, so a series of missed work logs is a big red flag.

Sample Work Log, November 19-21

Watched TableView video on YouTube: 30 min.

Re-read textbook chapter on Design: 45 min.

Met with Anna to go over sketches and storyboards: 80 min.

I require all of my students to meet with me at least once throughout the course of their project. They must take notes and keep a record of what we discussed. I base my conferences around the goals they set. We talk about any stumbling blocks, as well as additional resources they might employ to solve their problems. We also discuss their progress toward the Team Goals created at the beginning of the project.

Every week, students must file a Record of Thinking,reflective journal entry, talking about the process of their learning over that week. I ask that students go back and review their work logs for the week; write an analysis of what went well, what didn't go so well, what surprised them and how they feel about their progress.

A record of thinking is not a longer work log. I want them to take a higher-level more metacognitive look at how they figured stuff out. A big part of critical thinking is getting stuck and then getting unstuck. The Record of Thinking is the documentation of that learning: the "Making Of" the movie. I ask students to be creative in how they convey their thinking. Many opt for a written narrative, but I also encourage them to use video, screenshots, or other artifacts.

In place of a final exam, students provide me with a final narrative. I ask them to review all of their Goals, Work Logs, Records of Thinking, Conference Notes, as well as their Project, and then compose a comprehensive narrative that tells the story of its development, and their progress towards their goals along the way. How they tell the story is up to them, but they should address most, if not all, of the following questions:

How did you start the process of designing the app/solving the problem/meeting your goals?

What did you hope to learn?

What challenges did you face? How did you overcome them?

What was the outcome?

What did you learn in the end?

To what extent did you collaborate with others? How?

Who in the class provided help to you along the way? How?

What were you proud of?

What would you do differently next time?

The most important part is that the narrative needs to cite their primary source material: their work logs, records of thinking, and anything else that they used to chronicle their progress. Students who have been diligent about documenting their process up to this point really see the benefit of this work, and the final narrative is truly a metacognitive piece grounded in actual evidence. Students who haven't kept up with documentation do poorly, regardless of how the final project turned out.

In the end, I am not grading the finished project nearly as much as the process itself. In real life, plans change, unforeseen obstacles crop up, and project specifications often change in midstream. When I assess a project-based unit, what I am valuing is the ongoing documentation of the good work my students are doing. For my students, the act of going back and reviewing all of their documentation is a valuable part of their learning, as well.

For samples, you can explore the rubrics, examples, and handouts in this Google Drive folder.

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Five Tips for Assessing PBL - from Douglas - EdTechTeacher

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This post first appeared on Daily Genius. I love project-based work. It has given my students a sense of purpose and provided a meaningful context for the skills they are learning in my class. But despite its name, I am not grading ... Read more

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Middle School Maker Journey: Top 20 Technologies and Tools | Edutopia

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Middle School Maker Journey: Top 20 Technologies and Tools | Edutopia

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Before I go any further, let me say that we realize just how fortunate we are. We have resources that many schools can only dream about (but with a great crowdfunding initiative, that needn't be the case). Northfield is a small town of just under 9,000 people, and a single-building K-8 district. Our per-pupil costs ($16,292 in 2014) are consistently less than New Jersey's state average ($18,891 in 2014). We have extremely supportive community organizations that fundraise tirelessly for us. We, in turn, work hard to wisely design innovative educational experiences for our kids.

The Lure of Bright, Shiny Objects

Makerspaces are too often defined by things -- hardware, software, other technologies -- which can engender a shopping-list mentality among people interested in creating such a learning environment. A true makerspace is defined not by what's in it but rather by what comes out of it: projects, experiences, artifacts, and learning. The tools are just a means to an end. With that proviso, here are the 20 most important tools being used in our space right now.

1. Writeable Desk Surfaces

We want students to collaborate effortlessly, express themselves freely, and do so in ways not possible in other classrooms. We painted several walls in our space with clear dry-erase paint, but more importantly, we painted the work tables with it, too. This is by far the most powerful and popular feature in our Digital Shop. Kids love the freedom that comes with writing on the tables with dry-erase markers. It's fun, fast, easy to clean up, inexpensive, and a winner! We also have this fantastic paint on two wall spaces. Check out this hyperlapse video shot by a student!

2. Hot Glue Guns

Yes, that crafting essential has found its way into our space, and it's probably the second-most popular tool so far. Why? Hot glue does amazing things. It binds dissimilar materials with ease and strength, allowing students to quickly create amazingly detailed prototypes. Cleanup is a snap, and the glue is easily removed, making most parts easily recyclable for other projects. The guns are inexpensive and allow us to talk about and practice tool safety.

3. Chromebooks & Google Apps for Education

4. PCs & PC-Based Software

Sometimes, we need software that doesn't run on Chromebooks. When Mrs. Stephanie Terista, our seventh-grade ELA teacher, brought her students in to create 3D dioramas for the book Bud, Not Buddy, she had them use our Dell laptops and the free Sketchup Make program. We have 12 PC laptops for students to use and share.

5. Quadrille-Ruled Pads/Journals

Students learn sketching skills in my program, because sketches help them understand how things work and fit together. With sketches, they brainstorm ideas and document their work. We started the school year with quadrille-ruled pads but have since purchased and given every student quadrille-ruled composition books, which they'll use as design journals for the entire school year.

6. littleBits™ Modules

We were very fortunate that our PTO funded a littleBits Pro Library, a massive collection of sophisticated, LEGO-like electronic blocks that snap together, allowing creative minds to bring ideas to life. When combined with found materials like cardboard, the only limit is the kids' imagination.

7. 3D Design Tools

Before talking about our 3D printers, I want to emphasize that 3D design is the crucial part -- 3D printers don't make kids into engineers any more than laser printers makes them into writers. It's not about the tool, it's about what you do with it. We love Tinkercad. It's free, fabulous, and easy to use. We also love the lessons in Autodesk's Project Ignite, which is based on Tinkercad and is also free.

8. 3D Printers

9. Ready, Set, Design

Ready, Set, Design is a fabulous 45-minute activity that teaches students what it's like to do authentic design via rapid prototyping. It's free, fun, and suitable for learners of all ages.

10. The Extraordinaires™ Design Studio

This imaginative, inexpensive kit is a massive collection of colorful character cards, design challenges, and other resources providing a fantastic introduction to design thinking. Kids are challenged to create solutions that solve problems for these characters using traditional crafting supplies. Their detailed prototypes are whimsical, imaginative, and just plain fun.

11. Dollar Store Items

12. Free Visual Programming Tools

Students love Scratch and Tickle, which they use for a variety of purposes, from creating book-based video games with Raspberry Pi to commanding our drone armies.

13. Robots/Drones

We have a Parrot Rolling Spider, a Sphero, an Ollie, and two sets of Dash and Dot Wonder Robots. To be honest, we haven't done much formal learning with them because it's still early in the school year. However, that doesn't stop kids from constantly picking them up and playing with them. Our intent is challenging the kids to program them instead of just flying or driving them. We'll be reinforcing that need for algorithmic skills and knowledge soon.

14. Raspberry Pi

As mentioned above, we're working on using Raspberry Pi to create book-based video games. Despite our best efforts, though, the Pi cannot run Scratch 2.0, so our programs need to be written in Scratch 1.4. That said, we do love this Raspberry Pi Starter Kit.

15. iPads

We only have two Airs (three, counting my personal iPad) but they've been invaluable for multimedia content creation with iMovie, photography, and green-screening (we prefer the Touchast app).

16. Shop Aprons & Goggles

17. LEGOs

I wanted LEGOs for my classroom but was apprehensive about making such a costly purchase. Instead, I asked for donations and scored big time. One family donated 30 pounds of LEGOs, which we use in projects and also when we have extra time for a five-minute LEGO design challenge.

18. Hand Tools

19. Slatwall

While our versatile walls aren't a tool per se, they're important to the function and style of the makerspace. Slatwall panels add much-needed storage capability and look fantastic.

20. Vinyl Lettering

Inspired by the PBS documentary If You Build It, I wanted our program "mantra" proudly displayed on our wall in giant, colorful lettering. Application was a snap (thanks to dedicated parent volunteer Mrs. Monica Keenan). The letters form the basis of the "threshold experience" as the first thing people see when entering the room.

So there you have it, Digital Shop's Top 20 tools and resources. There are others that we didn't include only because we haven't had time to use them yet. Next month, we'll focus on a more detailed review of what's going well in our middle school makerspace -- and what could improve -- as we head into winter recess. Thanks for reading!

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Middle School Maker Journey: Top 20 Technologies and Tools | Edutopia

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Before I go any further, let me say that we realize just how fortunate we are. We have resources that many schools can only dream about (but with a great crowdfunding initiative, that needn't be the case). Northfield is a small town of just under 9,000 people, and a single-building K-8 district.

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What’s the Difference Between “Doing Projects” and “Project Based Learning”? | TeachBytes

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What’s the Difference Between “Doing Projects” and “Project Based Learning”? | TeachBytes

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Thanks to Amy Mayer of FriEdTechnology for this fantastic comparison describing the key differences between "doing projects" and project-based learning! This, my friends, is exactly what I have been trying so ineptly to explain to educators at my own school. There's a BIG difference, and one that completely changes how the classroom is run and what students take out of it.

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What's the Difference Between "Doing Projects" and "Project Based Learning"?

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Thanks to Amy Mayer of FriEdTechnology for this fantastic comparison describing the key differences between "doing projects" and project-based learning! This, my friends, is exactly what I have been trying so ineptly to explain to educators at my own school. There's a BIG difference, and one that completely changes how the classroom is run and...

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Project Based Learning vs. Problem Based Learning vs. XBL | Blog | Project Based Learning | BIE

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Project Based Learning vs. Problem Based Learning vs. XBL | Blog | Project Based Learning | BIE

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November 14, 2013
Project Based Learning vs. Problem Based Learning vs. XBL

At the Buck Institute for Education, we've been keeping a list of the many types of "_____ - based learning" we have run across over the years.

and our new fave...

Let's try to sort this out.

The term "project learning" derives from the work of John Dewey and dates back to William Kilpatrick, who first used the term in 1918. At BIE, we see Project Based Learning as a broad category, which as long as there is an extended "project" at the heart of it, could take several forms or be a combination of:

Designing and/or creating a tangible product, performance or event

Solving a real-world problem (may be simulated or fully authentic)

Investigating a topic or issue to develop an answer to an open-ended question

So according to our "big tent" model of PBL, all of the newer "X-BLs" - problem-, challenge-, and design-based - are basically modern versions of the same concept. They feature, to varying degrees, all of BIE's Gold Standard PBL Essential Project Design Elements, although each has its own distinct flavor. (And btw, each of these three, and Project Based Learning, fall under the general category of inquiry-based learning - which also includes research papers, scientific investigations, Socratic Seminars or other text-based discussions, etc.).

Other X-BLs are so named because they use a specific context for learning, such as a particular place or type of activity. They may contain "projects" within them, or have some of the Essential Elements, but not necessarily. For example, within a community- or service-based learning experience, students may plan and conduct a project that improves their local community or helps the people in it, but they may also do other activities that are not part of a project. Conversely, students may learn content and skills via a game-based or work-based program that does not involve anything like what we would call a PBL-style project.

Project Based Learning vs. Problem Based Learning

Because they have the same acronym, we get a lot of questions about the similarities and differences between the two PBLs. We even had questions ourselves; some years ago we created units for high school economics and government that we called "problem based" because they used realistic but simulated problem scenarios. But we later changed the name to "Project Based Economics" and "Project Based Government" to eliminate confusion about which PBL it was.

We decided to think of Problem Based Learning as a subset of Project Based Learning; that is, one of the ways a teacher could frame a project is "to solve a problem." But Problem-BL does have its own adherents, history and set of typically-followed procedures, which are more formally observed than in other types of X-based learning. The use of case studies and simulations as "problems" dates back to medical schools in the 1960s, and Problem-BL is still more often seen in the post-secondary world than in K-12, where Project-BL is more common.

Problem Based Learning typically follows prescribed steps:

1. presentation of an "ill-structured" (open-ended, "messy") problem

2. problem definition or formulation (writing a "problem statement")

3. generation of a "knowledge inventory" (creating a list of "what we know about the problem" and "what we need to know")

4. generation of possible solutions

5. formulation of learning issues for self-directed and coached learning

6. sharing of findings and solutions

If you're a Project-BL teacher this probably looks pretty familiar, even though the process goes by different names. Other than the framing and the more formalized steps in Problem-BL, there's really not much conceptual difference between the two PBLs - it's more a question of style and scope:

A note on math and the two PBLs: Teachers at some schools in the K-12 world that use Project-BL as a primary instructional method, such as the New Tech Network and Envision Schools, have begun saying they use Problem-BL for math. Especially at the secondary level, teaching math primarily through multi-disciplinary projects has proved challenging. (Not that occasional multi-disciplinary projects including math are a bad idea!) By using Problem-BL, these teachers feel they can design single-subject math projects - aka "problems" which are still complex, open-ended, realistic scenarios - that effectively teach more math content by being more limited in scope than many typical Project-BL units are. Tackling a "problem" may, for example, not involve as much independent student inquiry, nor the creation of a complex product for presentation to a public audience.

So how does this Tale of Two PBLs end?

One could argue that completing any type of project involves solving a problem. If students are investigating an issue, like, say, immigration policy, the problem is deciding where they stand on it and how to communicate their views to a particular audience in a video. Or if students are building a new play structure for a playground, the problem is how to build it properly, given the wants and needs of users and various constraints. Or even if they're writing stories for a book to be published about the driving question, "When do we grow up?" the problem is how to express a unique, rich answer to the question.

The semantics aren't worth worrying about, for very long anyway. The two PBLs are really two sides of the same coin. What type of PBL you decide to call your, er... extended learning experience just depends on how you frame it. The bottom line is the same: both PBLs can powerfully engage and effectively teach your students!

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Project Based Learning vs. Problem Based Learning vs. XBL | Blog | Project Based Learning | BIE

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At the Buck Institute for Education, we've been keeping a list of the many types of "_____ - based learning" we have run across over the years. and our new fave... Let's try to sort this out. The term "project learning" derives from the work of John Dewey and dates back to William Kilpatrick, who first used the term in 1918.

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Inquiry-Based Learning: The Power of Asking the Right Questions | Edutopia

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Inquiry-Based Learning: The Power of Asking the Right Questions | Edutopia

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The Power of the Right Questions

You might wonder how lesson planning works if you're always reconstructing on the fly. I've found that if the students take the lesson in a different direction than what I've planned for, it's my job to light their way to where my intention and their intention meet. Most often, if their curiosity takes us in a completely different direction, I let them run with it. However, I also let them find the connection between what I need them to learn and what they want to learn.

Everything connects. Having students discover that takes ownership to a new level. For example, I taught a money unit with the purpose of teaching responsible financial management. My students were more interested in what makes a billionaire a billionaire. I didn't want to stop their excitement and curiosity, so we ran with that. We ended up focusing on billionaires with the agreement that the students would let two questions guide them throughout the unit:

What qualities/character traits do billionaires possess that make them so successful?

What evidence proves that billionaires possess responsible financial management?

But kids are kids, so there's always someone who diverges from what I want to teach them. There was one student who kept focusing on what kind of cool cars a particular billionaire had. During class discussions, he brought up the fact that his billionaire had all of these cars, boats, and planes, which really had nothing to do with the financial aspect of the unit. In this moment, I had to refocus the lesson by asking the right questions. For instance:

What financial decisions enabled that billionaire to purchase such luxuries?

Why do billionaires have so many of these luxuries?

This returned my students to thinking about budgeting, spending and saving wisely, and the decisions or traits of proven financial managers. So the right questions foster powerful learning.

Connecting Ideas and Seizing Opportunities

Ultimately, a teacher's job is to light the way for her students, to guide them to their own path of discovery. In this day and age, if students want to know something, they can and will look it up. The true art of teaching is to ask the right questions, become a thought partner (interaction during instruction), and then assist in students' discoveries. The idea behind true inquiry-based learning is to ignite your students' curiosity, the spark that motivates them and makes them want to learn more. If I can bring out my students' curiosity and love of learning, then I've covered what I needed to cover. Google can do the rest!

Good teachers are masters of connecting ideas and finding creative ways to squeeze in the necessary content. I hardly wait to see what my students respond to because I know them and can sometimes predict what will grab their interest. For example, last year I took the opportunity of connecting a grammar lesson to something the students wanted to learn about -- the latest celebrity news. I printed out several celebrity Twitter feeds, gave them to my students, and told them to find all of the celebrities' grammatical errors. My students had fun and learned more about grammar than I could have taught them.

When to Stop and When to Go On

Our units consist of three lines of inquiry that we explore simultaneously. We spend about five weeks doing this, which breaks down to about a week and a half per line. If students are really excited about one line of inquiry, we'll spend two weeks on that one and less on the others.

As a teacher you can always get a feel for when it's time to stop doing something. Once the kids have already inquired about the topic, explored it, researched it, and produced something to demonstrate that they understand it, you can read that they're done. I believe in student voice and choice and giving them time to produce something that demonstrates acquisition of knowledge and understanding. I have them choose how they're going to prove to me that they learned something. When they've done that, we move on.

When students hit roadblocks and want to "ditch" that line of inquiry, I encourage them to take a different approach instead of giving up. All they need is a one-on-one meeting with me for feedback and planning their next steps. They almost always feel refreshed after that and finish what they've started.

First Steps Toward Student-Led Inquiry

If I were a teacher unfamiliar with student-led inquiry, I'd start with inquiry-based activities to get the students used to that kind of learning. That's actually how I start the inquiry process with my new batch of students in the fall. They seem confused at first, so I always ease them in with inquiry-based activities, such as:

Having the students ask questions about primary resources

An activity called "What I See, What I Think, What I Wonder"

Finding time during the day for students to share or record their wondering and questions about any topic

A teacher should also start teaching how to ask questions, because good questions lead the inquiry. Students in inquiry mode can start developing their own questions about the unit being taught.
Image Credit: Georgia Mathis
At the beginning of each unit, my students always brainstorm a list of questions about the unit's title. They do this by recording them in their Inquiry Journals, or by creating mind maps online. After my students create their inquiries, we have conferences to discuss which inquiry path they'll investigate. When that is chosen (based on the question), the students plan how they'll investigate, design, and create a product or project to then share with an audience.

We have an Inquiry Fair at the end of each unit, open to parents, other students, and teachers, because my students really take ownership of their learning and invest so much time in their projects that they want to share them with the world!

Each student should be experiencing the unit in a different way because, as individuals, we are all unique. Inquiry-based learning helps them personalize the content in ways that make it truly meaningful to them.

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Inquiry-Based Learning: The Power of Asking the Right Questions

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You might wonder how lesson planning works if you're always reconstructing on the fly. I've found that if the students take the lesson in a different direction than what I've planned for, it's my job to light their way to where my intention and their intention meet.

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Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning | Edutopia

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Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning | Edutopia

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Discover the Benefits of Inquiry-Based Learning

Create Learning Environments That Foster Inquiry

Plan Curriculum That Supports Inquiry

Use Strategies to Increase Inquiry in the Classroom

Conduct Activities That Promote Inquiry

Downloads and Examples From Schools That Work

Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. Below, find downloads used by practitioners at featured schools, and dive into real-world examples of inquiry-based learning.

At Wildwood IB World Magnet School, teachers use student questions to drive lessons, and channel student curiosity into student-centered projects. Check out a few of Wildwood's inquiry-based teacher tools:

Curriculum Map for Grades K-5 -- Download this chart to understand how Wildwood aligns its lines of inquiry to specific curricular themes, central ideas, and key concepts throughout the year.

Personal Project Questions -- Download a worksheet that includes prompts to help students focus and think through the topics of their research.

Sample Research Worksheet -- Download a sample "My Personal Project" worksheet to learn how teachers at Wildwood help students organize plans for projects; students record questions, research notes, unfamiliar vocabulary, and how they will demonstrate what they've learned. For another resource of this type, see Wildwood's Personal Project Planner.

Personal Project Skills Survey -- Download a project skills survey to discover how Wildwood students reflect on the skills they've tapped and personal work habits they've practiced while working on their projects.

See how Ralston Elementary School teachers guide the inquiry process over a series of lessons and teach students how to ask deeper questions to prepare them to lead their own inquiry into specific problems.

Learn how educators at Crellin Elementary School use students' "I Wonder" questions to drive lesson planning, differentiate instruction, and foster student curiosity.

Science students at Casey Middle School begin with a central question and seek answers through research, experimentation, and data analysis. Review a sample question and lesson plan to understand how this works in practice.

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Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning | Edutopia

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Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. Below, find downloads used by practitioners at featured schools, and dive into real-world examples of inquiry-based learning. At Wildwood IB World Magnet School, teachers use student questions to drive lessons, and channel student curiosity into student-centered projects.

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"I Wonder" Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry | Edutopia

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"I Wonder" Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry | Edutopia

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By encouraging students' wonder and recording their "I Wonder" questions, teachers can view those questions holistically and use them to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity.

Overview

Harness Student Curiosity

Students always have questions. When's the homework due? How does Siri understand what I'm saying? Why is the sky blue? Student questions can be funny, insightful, and at times wildly off-topic. Rather than fielding these questions one-by-one when they come up, the teachers at Crellin Elementary record student "I wonder" questions so that they can view them holistically, and use what they find to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity.

How It's Done

What Are "I Wonders"?

"I Wonders" is the categorical name that teachers at Crellin Elementary use to describe the individual questions that students ask about their learning. The teachers encourage their students to wonder out loud in the middle of a lesson.

Dana McCauley, Crellin Elementary principal, describes how the process works:

It's when you are immersed in a lesson, and the kids are beginning to make those connections, and they start saying them out loud: "How are magnets related to electricity? Why is that in this unit? That doesn't make sense to me." Or "Why is it that whenever we go to the stream, I'm seeing that green algae-looking stuff on there, when I thought you said we cleaned it up?" Or "I'm wondering why is it that the salt melts the ice out there? Like why do we put that out there?"

"I Wonders" are whatever the kids are wondering about -- whatever connections are happening in their heads as they learn, they're saying these thoughts out loud.

Encouraging and Harvesting Student Wonders

Teachers at Crellin have different methods for recording students' "I Wonder" questions. Some have them write their questions before assignments during writing prompts, some simply write the questions on the board, and others may use posters or sticky notes.

"Some of them are irrelevant to what we're doing at the moment," says McCauley, "and you say, 'Write that down; we'll get to it later. Put it on a Post-it note.'"

TIP: Have students capture their questions in "I Wonder" journals, and use these questions to plan future lessons.

Fifth-grade students began using notebooks called "I Wonder Journals" after a regular learning partner, Dr. Dave Miller, realized that the students had far more questions than he could answer during his limited time in the classroom. He provided each student with a notebook and asked them all to write down everything they ever wonder about. Now he uses the journals to plan experiments for the students during his time in the classroom.

Regardless of the collection method, students are always encouraged to question, wonder, and share their wonderings with their teacher and classmates.

Channeling the Wonder

Every few weeks, teachers go through all the wonderings that have been collected but never addressed because they were off-topic during the current lesson or more appropriate for a later unit. Looking at student questions as a whole, teachers can divine information about where the kids want to go, as well as where they have just been.

"They can be a clue to the teacher in making sure that no misconceptions are being created," says McCauley. "You need to make sure that it's flowing and that it's making sense to them . . . Is there a misconception in their understanding? Or is it sometimes that they are making a connection at a different level that you never even thought of? So it's a way for us to reflect . . . about how we're laying out lessons."

Teachers can also use "I Wonders" to see themes and subject areas about which students are really curious, such as when fifth-grade teacher Brittany German noticed that she was getting a lot of "I Wonder" questions about outer space. She then decided to use space in part of her next unit.

As teachers go through the "I Wonder" questions, they ask themselves questions like:

Where could I go with this?

How can I tie some of these together?

How can I make this meaningful for my students?

What can I teach from this?

And while "I Wonder" questions can definitely affect lesson plans, sometimes teachers use them in smaller, more individualized ways.

"Sometimes they're not full-blown lesson plans," says McCauley. "Sometimes it's a project for one child to look at. Sometimes it's more of a question that they need to research. Other times it turns into being a whole new project for the class or a group of kids."

Leaving Some Questions Unanswered

Students can have dozens and dozens of questions, and the thought of answering all of them could be overwhelming to some. But Crellin teachers say that they don't feel obligated to answer every question asked. They aim to fold in what they can, encourage students to take ownership and seek answers on their own, and most of all, encourage students to continue asking questions. Principal McCauley believes that continued wondering is the ultimate goal:

If they don't wonder, "How would we ever survive on the moon?" then that's never going to be explored. You want to encourage it enough that they continue to ask with the understanding that not all will be answered. But that doesn't mean they should stop wondering, because wonderings lead to thinking outside the box, which makes them critical thinkers. As they try to figure it out, and reflect on what they're doing, that's where it all ties together for them. That's where all that learning occurs -- where all the connections start being made.

Resources

Grades PK-5 | Oakland, MD

Enrollment

109 | Public, Rural

Per Pupil Expenditures

Free / Reduced Lunch

57%

Demographic data is from the 2014-15 academic year. Fiscal data is from the 2013-14 academic year.

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"I Wonder" Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry

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By encouraging students' wonder and recording their "I Wonder" questions, teachers can view those questions holistically and use them to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity. Students always have questions. When's the homework due? How does Siri understand what I'm saying? Why is the sky blue?

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Inquiry-Based Learning in the Science Classroom | Edutopia

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Inquiry-Based Learning in the Science Classroom | Edutopia

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Ian Schwartz, a science teacher at Casey Middle School, says:

Having kids engage in inquiry-based science lessons really provides them with a way to explore on their own. It removes the teacher as somebody who is providing them with information that they need to memorize. And instead, what the kids are really doing is they're experiencing, they're discovering as they go. And that's what real scientists do.

How It's Done

Designing an Inquiry-Based Lesson

To design an inquiry-based module, teachers at Casey Middle School use a central question to frame a series of classes. Every class is then organized to help answer that question through readings, hands-on activities, group work, and student discussions. A good central question can frame several classes, or can even take weeks to answer as students work to piece together their learning and understanding of the subject matter.

At Casey MS, a good starting point is the Boulder Valley School District Adopted Standards. The standards are used to form big questions (i.e. How does where you live affect how you live?), which can then be broken down into more specific questions that speak to a particular theme or unit. For example, eighth grade students take earth science, which is divided into four curriculum units during the year:

1. Atmospheric science and weather

2. Earth systems

3. Space science

4. Energy resources.

Each unit can have a central guiding question, or can be broken down even further into modules with mini guiding questions.

Sample Question and Lesson Plan
"Would you recommend to friends visiting from out of town that they tube in Boulder Creek?"
In Ian Schwartz's science class, students look at whether their neighborhood creek is clean enough to tube in. All students at Casey MS know the creek as a place for recreation, often going there with friends and family on the weekends. By connecting students' learning to something they are familiar with, Ian has made the learning relevant and utilized the Boulder community as an outdoor classroom. He says:

The kids see the creek as a place to recreate and have fun with their friends. But suddenly they're looking at it through a different lens. They're looking at it through a lens as a place where we're now going to be doing some sampling and some scientific thinking.

During week one, students talk about the cycle of water in the Boulder community, the limited supply, and how it gets treated and reused by the community. Week two starts with a class lecture and discussion on the types of pollutants that might be in water. Later in the week, students are introduced to basic water tests and water sampling. They also begin to hypothesize and discuss what they think about the "answer" to the Boulder Creek question. Some students think the water is healthy because it is clear, and therefore safe to tube in. Others are not so sure. All observations and hypotheses are recorded in students' science notebooks.

The week concludes with students going to the creek to sample and analyze the water. They use LaMotte water-testing kits and to test for things like dissolved oxygen, the pH of the water, and nitrates and phosphates. While at the creek, they compare their findings to a chart that gives them some qualitative measures of how much dissolved oxygen is in the water, and whether or not that falls into a healthy bracket. In addition, they record things like the day's weather, the air temperature, and the water temperature, all of which may affect the creek's water quality.

During the third week, students compare their data with other groups, and start to get a picture of what's going on in the creek. They also start to work on their final presentations, a lab report, and an infographic (electronic poster) about their findings and conclusions, ultimately answering the question about whether they would recommend whether friends should tube in Boulder Creek.

Inquiry-Based Learning vs. Hands-On Learning

Inquiry-based learning utilizes hands-on learning, but not all the lessons pertaining to the central question are hands-on. Though hands-on strategies are often integrated, sometimes inquiry-based learning is about reading material, discussing it with other students, or doing some research. Hands-on learning (like we saw at Boulder Creek) is part of the experience, though not all classes will be hands-on in an inquiry-based learning unit.

Resources

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Ian Schwartz, a science teacher at Casey Middle School, says: Having kids engage in inquiry-based science lessons really provides them with a way to explore on their own. It removes the teacher as somebody who is providing them with information that they need to memorize.

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Inquiry-Based Learning: From Teacher-Guided to Student-Driven | Edutopia

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Inquiry-Based Learning: From Teacher-Guided to Student-Driven | Edutopia

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How It's Done

Begin With Guided Inquiry

Teacher-guided inquiry can build background knowledge of the topic before letting students take the reins in developing their own inquiry. With guided inquiry:

Teachers start with an overall guiding question.

Teachers know what they want their students to understand beforehand.

Students know what the outcome of the inquiry will be.

"Guided inquiry is like a typical science lesson," explains Anne DiCola, Ralston Elementary's instructional coach. "The teacher knows that they want kids to understand what happens when water boils. So they take them through an inquiry process; they make a hypothesis, what they think will happen. They talk about all of the materials they're using. They're going to have one or more guided questions. But the teacher knows in the end how the lab's going to end. They know what they want the students to know or do by the end of the lab."

Ralston teachers build toward student-driven inquiry throughout the course of the unit. Through teacher-guided inquiry over a series of lessons, teachers model how to develop questions, show their students that there are multiple ways to problem solve, and prepare them to lead their own inquiry by the end of the unit.

Teach Students How to Question

Explore and Model Different Types of Deeper-Level Questions

An important aspect of inquiry-based learning is teaching students how to ask deeper questions. When the teachers at Ralston had students begin creating their own inquiries, the questions were the type that could be answered with a Google search. Because they weren't coming up with deeper-level questions, the teachers had to pause and reflect on how they were modeling questioning to their students. They asked themselves, "What's an appropriate question? What kinds of questions work?"

According to Principal Dawn Odean, the following two tips helped Ralston teachers:

Across grade levels, reflect on how you model questioning from kindergarten and up.

Pose big questions that don't necessarily have a single answer -- or any answer.

"We're really looking at students being creative problem solvers," explains Odean. "For example, if students are reading a common text together, or posing questions about how they're relating to the text, or how they think it might impact the world, there may not be one answer for that. As we start to pose those questions, we're hoping that students start to pose those questions for themselves in a way that they can create an inquiry. Teachers are guiding with higher-level questions to really get students thinking and learning how to question themselves."

Example Questions

D.J. Osmack, Ralston's art teacher, integrated science and art together by having his students create their own paint. In his first art class, they followed a specific paint-making recipe. In the second class, they created a paint that fit their needs as artists. This is where the student-driven inquiry came in. What kind of paint did they want to create?

To guide his students in creating their own questions, Osmack asked:

How can you make this paint fit your needs as an artist?

As a scientist, how are you going to change or modify this paint so that it works?

What is your reaction to your paint?

Did your paint turn out the way you wanted it to?

Encouraged by these questions, his students began asking questions like:

What kind of artwork do I want to create?

Does my paint need to be thick, thin, consistent, or chunky to create the artistic effect that I'm looking for?

What ingredients would I need to add to create the type of paint that I want?

"You have to form your questions the right way so you're not really taking over their creative process, but helping that creative process," clarifies Osmack, who noted how these student-generated questions encouraged them to explore and experiment on their own.

Let Your Students Drive Their Own Inquiry

Student-Driven Inquiry Led by a Question

In the guided inquiry example of boiling water, the teacher knows that she wants students to understand what happens when water boils. She creates a question that will guide students to an outcome already known to them.

The student-driven inquiry is what happens after the guided inquiry. Now that students know what happens when water boils, what questions come up for them? Their inquiry questions might be:

How much time would it take to melt a few ice cubes in boiling water?

How much time would it take to boil twice the amount of water?

"Whatever it is that they're wondering about, that's the student-driven piece," elaborates DiCola. "That may or may not be something that the teacher envisioned happening afterwards. So they're having the opportunity to say, 'This is what I'm wondering about now. Now I'm going to go through that same process. I'm going to create a guiding question. I'm going to make a hypothesis. I'm going to gather the materials that I need.' It really flips the classroom in the sense that the student is then in the driver seat. And what's really exciting is when they can pose a question that maybe the teacher doesn't know the answer to, and they're really saying, 'Yeah, let's learn this together.'"

Guide Your Students' Inquiry With a Problem

Inquiry isn't driven only by questioning, but also by introducing a problem.

"Being the second-grade math teacher," explains Lindsay Ball, "I found that giving students an opportunity to really inquire and then solve their own problems in math has been a great opportunity. I can pose a problem for them and then let them find a different way to solve that information and to share what they're thinking. We do a lot of collaborative conversations. The students are able to share what their thinking was, but then at the same time, listen to another child's thinking, and recognize there can be different ways to get to the same conclusion or the same outcome -- and [realize] that everybody thinks in a different way, and everybody's thoughts are valuable."

An Example Problem

Ball, who also teaches science, created a lesson that introduced eggs and seeds to her students and had them discover which material was which through this problem:

Two scientists have mixed up two materials. They know one is seeds and one is eggs, but they have no idea which is which. How can we help them solve that problem?

Explore Student-Driven, Problem-Led Inquiry

Ball's seeds vs. eggs problem inspired student inquiry that led their process of discovery. They came up with six stations, and their experiments came from their own inquiry. "I like doing it this way because you get to touch what you're actually doing instead of just looking at it," explains Logan, a second-grade student.

1. The Planting Station

Some kids planted the seed and the egg, pulling from their prior knowledge that a seed would likely grow and nothing would happen to the egg.

2. The Dissecting Station

Other students broke the egg and seed open, thinking that they might find a yolk or animal inside of the egg.

3. The Heating Station

Others put their egg and seed under a heating lamp, knowing that a mother chicken will sit on her eggs to make them hatch.

4. The Water Station

Some students put their eggs in water, knowing that fish eggs hatch when in water. Other students thought about density. If one of the materials were to sink or float, it might help them determine which was an egg and which was a seed.

5. The Weighing Station

Others thought that eggs would be heavier than seeds and weighed both materials.

6. The Size Station

Some kids thought that the egg would be bigger than the seed, and they looked at both under a microscope to compare sizes. They also measured them with a measuring tape.

"We found that the students really are able to take a bigger and a deeper passion in what they're learning because it's really what they care about versus what they think their teacher cares about," emphasizes Ball.

"We really don't have a limit," adds Kendall, a fourth-grade student. "We get to learn how to do this stuff with our own ideas."

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Giving Students the Opportunity to Drive Lessons | Edutopia

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Teacher-guided inquiry can build background knowledge of the topic before letting students take the reins in developing their own inquiry. With guided inquiry: Teachers start with an overall guiding question. Teachers know what they want their students to understand beforehand. Students know what the outcome of the inquiry will be.

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Social Media for Teachers: Guides, Resources, and Ideas | Edutopia

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Social Media for Teachers: Guides, Resources, and Ideas | Edutopia

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Although students are evermore connected to the social web, many of these networks remain out-of-class digital playgrounds where students congregate. In a 2014 survey of 1,000 teachers, just one in five said they use social media regularly with students.

Of course, it can be a challenge to incorporate social media into lessons. There are many gray areas for teachers to navigate, like setting guidelines, accessibility at school, and student safety. But to help teachers navigate this ever-changing landscape of social media tools, here are some of the best guides on the web for four popular networks, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The Teacher's Guide to Twitter via Edudemic: This is a great guide from Edudemic for all teachers -- both the experienced tweeters and those new to the platform. You'll find everything you need to know about using Twitter in the classroom, including a list of useful education hashtags, search strategies, and ideas for the classroom. Also check out these resources:

Facebook for Educators and Community Leaders Guide: Published in September 2013 by Facebook, this guide is the perfect resource for teachers interested in using the world's largest social network with students. Three main subject areas are covered, including digital citizenship, mobile safety, and guidelines for social media at school. Also check out these resources:

Using Instagram in an Educational Context: The EmergingEdTech blog is a wonderful source for tips, strategies, and ideas for using social media and other new technologies in the classroom. This guide is a great primer for understanding what Instagram is and how it can be used to teach and reach students. "5 Ways Teachers Can Use Instagram in the Classroom" is another great blog post from the site. Also check out these resources:

The Educator's Guide to the Use of Pinterest in the Classroom: EducatorsTechnology.com published this useful guide for teachers interesting in using Pinterest with students. Here, you'll find everything you need to get started, including tips for building boards, pinning basics, and ideas for using Pinterest in the classroom. Also check out these resources:

More Great Reads From Edutopia

In addition to those great guides, there is a lot of useful information right here on Edutopia. You can explore all things related to the subject on Edutopia's social media page; here are a few of the more popular, recent posts:

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Social Media for Teachers: Guides, Resources, and Ideas | Edutopia

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Although students are evermore connected to the social web, many of these networks remain out-of-class digital playgrounds where students congregate. In a 2014 survey of 1,000 teachers, just one in five said they use social media regularly with students. Of course, it can be a challenge to incorporate social media into lessons.

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Avoiding "Learned Helplessness" | Edutopia

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Avoiding "Learned Helplessness" | Edutopia

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Similarly, we want students to be reflective, to ask themselves, "How do I know if I'm on the right track?" or "What could I do next?" Instead of coming immediately to the teacher, we want students to experiment on their own. Many of us wonder why students constantly do the opposite instead. I've got news for you. It's our fault. We, as educators, are often responsible for learned helplessness, and we have a responsibility to change it! How can we empower our students to be self-directed learners?

Curate and Create Learning Resources

If we want to have students seek out other information from sources other than the teacher, then we must make sure those resources are available. Many teachers using the flipped classroom approach already have created or found these kinds of resources. However, think broadly about the word resource. People are resources, texts are resources, and community organizations are resources -- to name just a few categories. We have to be comfortable not always knowing the answer, and instead suggesting we find the answer together through the vast amount of learning resources that we have at our disposal. Try curating these resources before, during, and after a unit. Work with students as well to create a culture where the answers are everywhere.

Questions "For" (Not "About") Learning

What do I mean by this? Instead of using questions to check for understanding and getting the right answer, we can use questions to probe students' thinking and push them to think about their learning. Questions can serve as powerful redirection tools that promote metacognition. Instead of responding with "Yes" or "No," ask a student, "Why do you think that?" If you notice an error or gap in learning, try using questions that push the student to think:

What else could you try?

Have you experimented with another idea?

Why do you think this is true?

Questions are powerful tools for helping students own the process of learning.

Stop Giving Answers

Often, when a student fails or makes mistakes, we want to fly in like a superhero and give the answer. "This is what you need to do." We come to save the day, and pat ourselves on the back for being a great teacher. In fact, we may have done that student a disservice. This doesn't come from a bad place, or suggest that we're bad at teaching. On the contrary, we care for our students, so we want to help them whenever we can. Ask yourself this: By helping that student, will he or she own the learning, or are you doing the learning for him or her? This means that sometimes we need to get out of the way. If students are working in teams, for example, and are arguing (safely) about what to do next, we need to let them solve the problem on their own and then check in. "I heard an argument. Did you guys figure it out? Great work at problem solving!" Of course, if students are floundering, and failure is not productive, by all means step in. But also feel free to allow yourself wait time before you do so!

Allow for Failure

I firmly believe that failure is a powerful learning tool, but we have to make sure that we create a culture where it is OK to fail forward. Do you grade everything? If so, you may not be communicating that it's OK to fail. Do you allow for multiple drafts and revisions and demand high-quality products? If so, you are communicating to students that they have multiple tries to learn and, more importantly, that they can be creative and experiment. In addition, we should be there to support students when they do fail, and to help get them back on the right track.

We need to take responsibility for empowering our students, and to scaffold the process of self-direction. Self-direction doesn't happen overnight, especially, when many of our students, based on specific structures of schooling, are trained to be helpless. Although we can take steps as individual educators to avoid learned helplessness, we need to reexamine the systems of schooling, from curriculum to assessment and instruction, to allow for empowerment rather than always getting the right answer.

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Avoiding "Learned Helplessness" | Edutopia

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Similarly, we want students to be reflective, to ask themselves, "How do I know if I'm on the right track?" or "What could I do next?" Instead of coming immediately to the teacher, we want students to experiment on their own. Many of us wonder why students constantly do the opposite instead.

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edutopia on Twitter: "4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. https://t.co/8QbfR6tZtW"

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edutopia on Twitter: "4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. https://t.co/8QbfR6tZtW"

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm.

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. https://t.co/8QbfR6tZtW

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. pic.twitter.com/8QbfR6tZtW
— edutopia (@edutopia) June 15, 2016

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. https://t.co/8QbfR6tZtW

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. https://t.co/8QbfR6tZtW

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm.

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edutopia on Twitter: "Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting. https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi"

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edutopia on Twitter: "Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting. https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi"

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Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting.
https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi

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Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting.
https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi

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Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting.https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi
— edutopia (@edutopia) June 16, 2016

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Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting.
https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting.
https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi

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Place-based learning curriculum can connect to standards AND work in any setting.
https://t.co/MLNE6a1Vyi

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Jeff Padgett on Twitter: "Check this one out https://t.co/Ml1ICXy560"

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Jeff Padgett on Twitter: "Check this one out https://t.co/Ml1ICXy560"

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Check this one out https://t.co/Ml1ICXy560

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Check this one out https://t.co/Ml1ICXy560

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4 ways to help students transition into self-directed learners: https://t.co/nnt5SN4Mnm. https://t.co/8QbfR6tZtW

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Check this one out https://t.co/Ml1ICXy560
— Jeff Padgett (@PadgettinME) June 16, 2016

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EdTechTeacher on Twitter: "Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat https://t.co/Uj9tPY4FOS"

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EdTechTeacher on Twitter: "Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat https://t.co/Uj9tPY4FOS"

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Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang  https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat

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Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang  https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat https://t.co/Uj9tPY4FOS

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Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat pic.twitter.com/Uj9tPY4FOS
— EdTechTeacher (@EdTechTeacher21) June 15, 2016

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Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang  https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat https://t.co/Uj9tPY4FOS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang  https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat https://t.co/Uj9tPY4FOS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Five Tips for Assessing #PBL – from @dkiang  https://t.co/AYzjOvQ5Ta #caedchat #edchatma #stemtosteam #edtechchat

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edutopia on Twitter: ""It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF. https://t.co/lupFiSLrNO"

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edutopia on Twitter: ""It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF. https://t.co/lupFiSLrNO"

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"It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF.

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"It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF. https://t.co/lupFiSLrNO

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"It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF. pic.twitter.com/lupFiSLrNO
— edutopia (@edutopia) June 18, 2016

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"It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF. https://t.co/lupFiSLrNO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
"It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF. https://t.co/lupFiSLrNO

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"It's not about the tool," they say -- but in a #makerspace, it is: https://t.co/2rArgzg2gF.

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NHSTE on Twitter: "The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech"

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NHSTE on Twitter: "The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech"

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech

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The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech
— NHSTE (@nhste) June 27, 2016

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The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech

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The latest The NHSTE Weekly! https://t.co/EJAtYoFklr Thanks to @michaelebraun @nhpr @techspire #iste2016 #edtech

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EdSurge on Twitter: "When Tech Meets Project-Based Learning: https://t.co/pe0WnctjBw #edtech #PBL https://t.co/YmDwtgjdb6"

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EdSurge on Twitter: "When Tech Meets Project-Based Learning: https://t.co/pe0WnctjBw #edtech #PBL https://t.co/YmDwtgjdb6"

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When Tech Meets Project-Based Learning: https://t.co/pe0WnctjBw #edtech #PBL

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When Tech Meets Project-Based Learning: https://t.co/pe0WnctjBw #edtech #PBL pic.twitter.com/YmDwtgjdb6
— EdSurge (@EdSurge) June 24, 2016

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techlearning on Twitter: "5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L"

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5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L

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5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L

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5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L
— techlearning (@techlearning) June 30, 2016

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5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L

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5 tips for teachers new to Twitter #edchat #edtech https://t.co/KSQpfIXh8j https://t.co/H0Uao4Nm0L

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Eduporium on Twitter: "Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD"

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Eduporium on Twitter: "Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD"

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD

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Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD
— Eduporium (@Eduporium) June 30, 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Elementary School Project Spotlight https://t.co/GLUXaUvaKB via @BIEpbl #PBL #STEM #education #edchat #21CL Go: https://t.co/Hw9xl83ynD

# data[].attributes.headline
edutopia on Twitter: "Encourage students to value questions above answers: https://t.co/65CXeBGRZe. #inquiry #inquiryed https://t.co/jBP3KZ0UEI"

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edutopia on Twitter: "Encourage students to value questions above answers: https://t.co/65CXeBGRZe. #inquiry #inquiryed https://t.co/jBP3KZ0UEI"

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Encourage students to value questions above answers: https://t.co/65CXeBGRZe. #inquiry #inquiryed

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Encourage students to value questions above answers: https://t.co/65CXeBGRZe. #inquiry #inquiryed pic.twitter.com/jBP3KZ0UEI
— edutopia (@edutopia) July 1, 2016

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Encourage students to value questions above answers: https://t.co/65CXeBGRZe. #inquiry #inquiryed