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The Buck Institute has created this short video to help explain the Project Based Teaching Practices in our model for Gold Standard PBL.. Learn more

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Online Course - PBL Jumpstart: Teach

Register for our 8-week course PBL Jumpstart: Teach. You will learn how to incorporate effective teaching practices you already use into the framework of PBL, and you'll learn how to assume a new and rewarding role in the classroom.

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Winter: Mondays, January 8 - February 26, 2024
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Online Course - PBL Jumpstart: Design

Register for our 8-week course PBL Jumpstart: Design. You will learn how to incorporate effective teaching practices you already use into the framework of PBL and you'll learn how to assume a new and rewarding role in the classroom.

Course Dates:

Winter: Mondays, January 8 - February 26, 2024
Summer: Mondays, July 8 - August 19, 2024
Fall: Mondays, September 9 - October 28, 2024
Learn more about the course

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Your gateway to the very best in Project Based Learning, no matter where you are in your PBL journey. Here, you will find a growing set of resources to help you design and implement powerful learning in your classroom.

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Basic and to the point. Feel free to use and edit for your purposes.

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10 Strategies & Tips to Increase Student Engagement

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Formative assessment is a type of assessment that takes place in the middle of a unit of work. It is usually compared to summative assessment which takes place at the end of the learning experience.
The key characteristic of formative assessment is that learning will take place before and after the assessment. The assessment is designed to help students:

Stay on track

Pivot if they are off track

Deepen their knowledge based on an assessment of what they currently know

Receive feedback on their progress

Similarly, it helps teachers:

Change their teaching strategies based on student needs

Assess students' current knowledge to inform future instruction

Reflect on their own teaching practice for continual improvement

Below are some of the best and simplest examples of formative assessment.

Formative Assessment Examples

1. 1-Minute Check In - Check in with every student in the class for one minute throughout the day to see how they are feeling about their tasks. Use the class roll to keep track.

2. 1-Minute Paper - Students get one minute to write a rapid-fire paper on the topic to try to show their depth of knowledge as fast as possible.

3. 3 Things - Students are asked to quickly list 3 things they want to know more about in regards to their topic, or 3 things they don't currently understand.

4. 3-2-1 Reflection (aka Exit Slip) - Have students write down 3 big ideas from what they learned, 2 insights (reflective comments), and 1 question they still have.

5. 3x Summarization - Have students summarize the topic in three ways: in 10-15 words, 30-50 words, and 75-100 words. As they step up in word count, they will need to add some more depth and detail to demonstrate deeper knowledge.

6. 5 W's and H - The 5W's and H method gets students to write down their knowledge of what, when, where, who, why, and how to demonstrate their depth of knowledge about a topic.

7. Anonymous Feedback Box - Have students place anonymous comments about what they're struggling with into a feedback box. This will allow students to share their concerns with the safety of anonymity. It helps gather crowd-sourced formative assessment but isn't good for individual formative feedback.

8. Brainstorming - Have the students come together in groups and write down the key question in the middle of a piece of paper. Then, have them brainstorm ways to answer the question around the central question.

9. Check for Transfer - Have the students transfer the current concept from class to a new context. For example, if students are learning a math problem, check if they can apply it in a supermarket context.

10. Cold Calling - Let students know that you will not ask them to put their hands up to answer questions. Instead, you will call on one student randomly and all students by the end of class. This keeps everyone engaged and allows you to do spot checks of knowledge.

11. Comments on Drafts - Have students submit drafts of their essays to provide formative comments at least two weeks before submission.

12. Compare and Contrast - Have students compare two components of what is being learned to help them demonstrate their current knowledge. For example, in a biology class, you could have the students compare reptiles to mammals based on several key criteria.

13. Concept Map - Have students complete a concept map demonstrating their understanding of how concepts connect to one another in visual form.

14. Corner Quiz - Place letters A, B, C, and D on four separate corners of the room. Students are given a multiple choice quiz on what they are learning. Students have to run to the corner that they think has the right answer, e.g. if the answer is D, they run to the corner with the D on it. The teacher can look to see which students are consistently getting the wrong answer (or following others!).

15. Doodle It (Visualization) - Have students draw a representation of what they have learned in a visual format. This is a great formative assessment task for visual learners.

16. Elevator Pitch - Students give a 2-minute 'elevator pitch' speech about how much they know about the topic. In two minutes or less, they need to show you the depth of their knowledge.

17. Extension Project - Give students an extension project to see how well they apply the information in a new and less structured context. An example might be getting them to make a diagram about the topic.

18. Five Whys - Have students to ask 'why' five times to see if they can get to the root of their knowledge and understanding on a topic. This helps you understand how deeply they know the topic. For example, if the student says "Shakespeare is the best writer in history" ask why, then they say "because his poetry tells the best stories", then ask why several more times, until they have fleshed out their knowledge to the best of their ability.

19. Flashcards - Have students answer flashcard questions mid-way through the unit of work to check for understanding.

20. Flip Chart Check In - Students get into groups and write anything and everything they know about the topic onto a flip chart. They then present their flip chart to the rest of the class.

21. Formative Presentation - Have the students give a presentation on what they have learned so far. This can be great for a mid-term check-in so you can help students stay on track and go deeper for their end-of-term assessment on the same topic.

22. Hand in, pass out - Students are assessed on a pop quiz. They do not write their own name on the paper. They then hand in their answers and the teacher passes out the answer sheets randomly to the class. The class then grades the anonymous work they are given. The students are given a chance to grade others' work. The teacher can take the answer in afterward to see the questions that were most commonly incorrect to see what to focus on.

23. Homework Task - Homework is perhaps the most extensively used example of formative assessment. When you grade your students' homework you can get a good idea of their level of understanding of content explored in class.

24. Hot Seat - A student sits in a seat in front of their peers and gets rapid-fire questions from their peers to test their quick responses. Great for math quizzes.

25. Hot Topics - Students choose one aspect of what they are learning and present in front of the class for 5 minutes about their knowledge, then take 5 minutes of questions.

26. Identify the Misconception - Give students a common misconception about their topic and ask them to explain what the misconception is and how to improve upon it.

27. Intentional Mistake - Intentionally embed an error into the students' work or instructions and see whether they can identify it part-way through the lesson.

28. KWL Chart - A KWL chart asks students to write down what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned in the lesson. Have students complete this chart at the end of a lesson as a quick formative assessment that can help you structure your follow-up lessons based on student feedback.

29. Lunch Pass - Ask every student a question. If they can get their question right, they can go to lunch.

30. Metacognition - Have the students reflect on what they did, what they learned, why they learned it, how they can apply it, and what they still are unsure about it.

31. More Knowledgeable Other - Have students sit beside a student who is one step ahead of them and learn from the more knowledgeable student. The more knowledgeable student gives them feedback and assesses their progress, giving formative corrections to help them progress. Often, students who are at a similar level to one another are better at explaining concepts than teachers.

32. Open-Ended Questioning - Ask students questions that cannot be answered with a Yes/No answer so you can gather their depth of knowledge in the answer.

33. Paraphrasing - Give students a piece of information then ask them to repeat the information back to you in their own words to see if they understand it.

34. Peer Assessment - Have students grade each other's work. This allows students to see other students' work to gather whether they're on track and how to improve.

35. Photo Assessment - Have students take photos of things they think best represent their current level of knowledge. Students might take photos of their current projects. Then, have them write descriptions underneath that explain what they currently know about the topic.

36. Pop Quiz - Give the students a quiz at the beginning, middle, or end of a lesson that involves just 5 to 10 questions that can allow you to see how much they know.

37. Postcard - The students write a postcard or letter from one historical figure to another describing something. For example, psychology students might write a letter from Bronfenbrenner to his wife explaining his Ecological Systems Theory.

38. Prediction and Hypothesis - Halfway through the lesson, have students make a prediction or hypothesis about what will happen by the end of the lesson. This will help the teacher know if the students are starting to understand what is being taught.

39. Prior Knowledge Onboarding Task - Have students write down what they already know about a topic before the first lesson. This will help you know what level you need to start your teaching at and help prevent redundancy in re-teaching things students already know.

40. RSQC2 - RSQC2 stands for Recall, Summarize, Question, Connect, Comment. Students start with recall which involves listing words or phrases that they recall from class. They then summarize the words by putting them all into a sentence that explains the topic. For Question, they list any questions they have that are unanswered. For connect, students write about connections between the lesson and the overall goals of the unit of work. For Comment, students provide a feedback comment to the teacher evaluating their teaching.

41. Run an Opinion Poll - Poll the students on their opinion of the topic and examine the responses. The teacher can gauge students' knowledge based on their answers in the poll.

42. Running Records - Have students take notes throughout the class on questions they have and things they don't understand. As you come around to check on the student, ask them to show their running records notecard.

43. Spaced Repetition Testing - Students are given pop quizzes at strategically placed intervals to help students remember information they may be forgetting. For example, you might give students a quiz after 1 day, then 3, then 8, then 15. The answers from the quiz can help you assess student retention of knowledge learned in class.

44. Sticky Notes - Have students leave a sticky note on their desk with a comment about what they would like to know more about.

45. Student Becomes Teacher - Have the student teach the concept they are learning to a small group of peers.

46. Students Create a Test - Have each student create a 20-question test that they would use to test someone on the topic. Students write the answers to the test on a separate paper. Then, have the students swap mock-up tests with each other and fill out the answers.

47. Submit a Research Proposal - Have students submit a mock (or real!) research proposal stating what they would want to research further into the topic they have been discussing ( use my research proposal examples). Get them to discuss what they would research, why they are curious about that aspect, and how they would go about it. This can reveal a great deal of new information about the student's current level of knowledge.

48. Submit an Essay Plan - For students writing an essay, get them to submit their essay plan for approval. Using this method, you can catch if a student is off track and correct the course so they submit a high-quality essay.

49. TAG Feedback - Have students assess one another by getting them to tell a peer what they did well, ask them a question about their knowledge, then give feedback to their peer.

50. Text Rendering - Students take one quote that they think is the most important or illuminating from an article and explain why they think it's the best quote.

51. Think-Pair-Share - Students spend one minute individually writing down key points from what they learned. They then pair up with a partner and compare notes. Finally, the pair share what they learned with the class. The class can ask questions and the teacher can assess the pair's knowledge from their presentation and responses.

52. Timeline (Historical) - Students create a historical timeline demonstrating their knowledge of the sequence of events from a historical process or series of events.

53. Timeline (Lesson Reflection) - A lesson reflection timeline gets students to reflect on their lesson by writing down

54. Ungraded Essay - Have students submit an essay or essay draft that is not graded. Students submit the essay only for feedback, which will inform their final submission.

55. Venn Diagram - Students use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two elements of what they are learning. The outer sides of the Venn diagram show unique features of each element. The overlap shows the similarities.

Instant Formative Assessment for Teachers

56. Fingers Up - Have students show their level of knowledge by showing a certain number of fingers. One finger means uncertainty and discomfort while five fingers means strong confidence with the content.

57. Hand Thermometer - Students put their hand up only a distance they think they are comfortable with the knowledge. A low hand up shows mild comfort, a medium shows moderate understanding, and a stretched hand shows high confidence in the content.

58. Quick Nod - Ask students to nod if they understand. This can be great as a very fast way to check for comprehension in the middle of a task.

59. Red / Green Cards - Provide students with red and green cards. They can hold up the green card if they are ready to move on to the next part of the lesson or the red card if they're still confused.

60. Thumbs Up, Middle, Thumbs Down - Have students quickly respond with their thumbs to show levels of understanding or enthusiasm.

61. Traffic Lights - An extension of red/green cards, the traffic lights system also have an amber color for students who are feeling tentative about their progress. For this one, you can pair students who held up green lights with those who held up amber lights to teach each other while the teacher works with students who held up red lights.

62. Two Roses and a Thorn - Have students present two things they are happy or knowledgeable about, and one thing they are still finding "prickly".

63. Watch Body Language - Students who misunderstand may be crossing their legs, looking away, or frowning.

Self-Evaluative Formative Assessment

64. Self-Evaluation on Marking Rubric - Provide students the criteria you will be using to grade their work (also known as a marking rubric) and get them to self-assess what grade they think they will get.

65. Self-Sort - Have students choose which level they are at in a task: beginner, intermediate, or advanced, and have them select the next piece of work based on their self-evaluated level.

66. SMART Goals Self-Evaluation - Have the students complete a personal SMART Goal template demonstrating what their goals are and whether they think they are on track for achieving it.

67. SWOT Analysis - Have students complete a SWOT analysis that demonstrates what their strengths are in relation to what they are learning, what their weaknesses are, opportunities for improvement for the rest of the unit of work, and threats that they could avoid. This will make sure they stay on track.

Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment

68. Blog About It - Have students write weekly 200-word blog posts about what they learned and comment on each student's blog comment assessing what they did well and what they need to focus on in the next week.

69. Clickers - Use clickers (instant Yes/No responses - technology required) to provide instant feedback to the teacher on their level of understanding.

70. Forum Comments - Have students submit one forum comment per week to their online discussion board for the teacher to provide a formative assessment and comment on what they did well and how to improve.

71. Padlet - Have students use the Padlet app to contribute their ideas to a virtual notice board to show their thoughts and knowledge to the group.

72. Text the Answer - Have students text an answer to you in 50 words or less once they have completed the task.

73. Twitter Comment - Have students tweet what they learned in class today and tweet a reply to a friend's comment.

74. Write 1 if you Understand, 2 if you Don't - This is a task for online lessons. Have students simply write a 1 or 2 in the chatbox. This can also get quiet groups to start contributing in a small no-risk step.

75. YouTube Communities Poll - Have students complete a YouTube poll using the YouTube communities tab.
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Conclusion

Formative assessment are usually informal evaluations that give students an opportunity to pivot and improve based on the teacher's feedback. A the same time, it's valuable for the teacher who needs to assess students' current knowledge and pain points in order to adjust their teaching practices and maximize students' chances of passing the summative assessment that will occur at the end of the unit of work.

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75 Formative Assessment Examples (2023) - Helpful Professor

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Formative assessment is a type of assessment that takes place in the middle of a unit of work. It is usually compared to summative assessment which takes

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This has MANY MANY subjects

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GPB Educational Resources

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The Green Tree Frog: How a Bill Becomes a Law is an animated short film inspired by the true story of how a Georgia fourth grade class proposed the green...

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GPB Educational Resources Please select one or more options from the form filters and click Apply. Displaying search results for 1 to 15 of 1187 total results The Green Tree Frog: How a Bill Becomes a Law is an animated short film inspired by the true story of how a Georgia fourth grade class proposed the green...

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pHet is a great place if you need ideas for labs or want to have the students work on hands on labs at home.
https://phet.colorado.edu/

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ThinkWave is a free grade book program (I have used this for several years!)

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Easy-to-use cloud-based gradebook with flexible grading, online access for students & parents, and custom reports. An integrated element of ThinkWave school management software or available free to solo teachers.

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Focused notes template

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this is an example of the syllabus that I distribute to my students.

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Great strategy for your LTeL's

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Excel Spreadsheet template for gradebook

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Excel Spreadsheet template for gradebook

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a great alternative to YouTube

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TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity, with subtitles in 100+ languages. Ideas free to stream and download.

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Great structures to get kids up and moving around

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How do you know if they are getting it?

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Not sure what it lookslike? Here is an example of a lesson plan template for the Workshop Model.

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Edutopia

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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A list of 50 Project Based Learning Projects

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by TeachThought Staff
This post has been updated with new ideas and clearer formatting
At TeachThought, we're huge fans of project-based learning.

While there is no magic bullet of practice, program, or framework that automatically produces progressive and effective learning, what makes project-based learning exceptional is its flexibility. As it is, first and foremost, simply a curriculum planning tool, so much other 'good stuff' that can support learning (game-based learning, learning simulations, place-based education, self-directed learning, etc.) can all be 'embedded' in project-based learning.

With PBL, there is no 'either/or' proposition: anything from open-ended, play-based learning to data-driven, research-based instructional environments can all use PBL effectively.

While there are all kinds of great resources necessary to teach and learn through PBL, from apps to planning templates and more, the genesis of a great project is the idea itself-the purpose and/or audience of the project itself.

Below, we've shared dozens of ideas for projects, and we're going to constantly update the list with new ideas, suggestions from our community, resources, etc. In that way, this page can become a kind of guide for project-based learning in your classroom. The focus will be on the ideas for the projects themselves but we'll also include apps, tools, and other pedagogical bits and pieces you'll need to effectively realize this approach in your classroom.
6 Posts To Get Started With Project-Based Learning

1. The Difference Between Projects & Project-Based Learning

2. 5 Types Of Project-Based Learning

3. 11 Tools For Better Project-Based Learning

4. 4 Keys To Designing A Project-Based Learning Classroom

5. 23 Ways To Use The iPad In The 21st Century PBL Classroom

6. 12 Timeless Project-Based Learning Resources

The Constantly-Updated List Of Project-Based Learning Ideas

Note: This list is intentionally not separated into 'content areas' as many of the projects could be approached from a number of angles (the math of design, the language of planning, and so on).

1. Create an interactive family tree with voice-overs from living family members.

2. Design an app with a specific purpose for a specific audience.

3. Inventory the world's most compelling ideas in an elegant and browsable interface.

4. Problem-solve 'screentime' for yourself and family (identify problem, overcome those challenges, monitor progress, evaluate effect of changes, etc.)

5. Solve the problem of negative and/or 'fake news.'

6. Using the best thinking of major world civilizations, design the perfect civilization. Identify critical characteristics, resources, and habits, etc.

7. Mash any three social media apps and explain the purpose and features of the new app.

8. Help local businesses increase environmental sustainability (e.g., reduce waste).

9. Identify, analyze, and visualize recurring themes in human history; then contextualize those themes in modern society.

10. Make a compelling case for a viewpoint other than your own on any issue.

11. Create 'visibility' for something beautiful, useful, or otherwise deserving of attention (e.g., music, parks, people, acts of kindness, effort, movies, nature, etc.)

12. Leverage the wisdom of people living in nursing homes.

13. Artfully express, analyze the causes-effects of, or otherwise evaluate population growth.

14. Debate the relationship between technology and humanity from a historical (Mary Shelley?) or modern (Steve Jobs?) perspective.

15. Reimagine major coastal cities in light of 6 degrees of warming.

16. Measure the sociological impact of social media on local communities (using a self-selected parameter).

17. Design an alert system to publicize the spread of viruses/disease.

18. Plant and manage a garden to feed local homeless/hungry.

19. Solve a personal problem.

20. Analyze the impact of architecture-or lack thereof-on a community.

21. Dissect the 'anatomy' of viral web content, memes, or social media arguments.

22. Help a local business that does 'good work' market itself to younger audiences. Create a proposal, present to business, refine proposal based on feedback.

23. Artfully illustrate the global history of human/civil rights.

24. Visually demonstrate the galaxy's behavior from changing a single parameter (e.g., the gravity level of a single planet).

25. Design the next Google (the next method of content and data discovery).

26. Start and run a profitable business that is 'aware' of its impact on the world.

27. Plan a Mars colony using current data of the Martian landscape and atmosphere.

28. Create a photo documentary, then turn that into a film documentary, then turn that into a short eBook.

29. Define, Analyze, and Visualize an Abstract Concept (Wisdom, Freedom, Conflict, etc.).

30. Develop a feasible response to potential asteroid-> earth collisions.

31. Analyze the cause and effect of low voter turnout on both democracy, and the health of the local community.

32. Re-imagine the American Constitution-or similar governing documents-as if they were designed today.

33. Perform a cause-effect analysis on consumerism (or any self-selected topic)

34. Create and publish a weekly or monthly podcast on a self-selected topic based on market data.

35. Film a documentary on an under-served social issue few people see.

36. Imagine and articulate a community where neighbor-to-neighbor and neighborhood-to-neighborhood interaction was necessary to survive.

37. Design a better book (physical/printed) that's affordable and accessible to a wider range of readers.

38. Identify an emerging musical genre, then write/perform a song that fits in that genre.

39. Design a school, including new content areas, grading, collaboration, and community involvement.

40. Create and manage a YouTube channel for a self-determined and authentic purpose.

41. Solve a problem your parents have (scale is important here-choosing what to try to solve that's worthy of an entire project and your best thinking and design).

42. Analyze, visualize, and socialize the long-term impact of coal on the environment.

43. Revise the United Nations in some way, shape, or form to better respond to international crises.

44. Answer the following: What would (insert historical figure) say about (insert relevant social issue)?

45. Re-conceive YouTube as an aggregation tool and player for traditional literary forms (e.g., poetry, fiction).

46. Redesign your city to reduce the need for extended commutes.

47. Research all modern tools sued to provide clean water access, then design a better tool.

48. Study local land regions and resources to identify a geological-based response to the Zombie Apocalypse.

49: Design a 21st-century library by first analyzing macro-purpose of a library, then reimagining one in a modern context.

50. Design a modern bookstore by integrating both physical and digital media and categorizing them all by something other than traditional genres.

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50 Smart Ideas For Project-Based Learning

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by TeachThought Staff This post has been updated with new ideas and clearer formatting At TeachThought, we're huge fans of project-based learning. While there is no magic bullet of practice, program, or framework that automatically produces progressive and effective learning, what makes project-based learning exceptional is its flexibility.