Project Based Learning (PBL) prepares students for academic, personal, and career success, and readies young people to rise to the challenges of their lives and the world they will inherit.

Project-Based Learning
Project-based learning is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge.

Project-based learning is an instructional approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world.

Project-based learning, or PBL, is more than just projects. As the Buck Institute for Education(BIE) explains, with PBL students "investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex problem, or challenge" with deep and sustained attention. 

Although definitions and project parameters may vary from school to school, and PBL is sometimes used interchangeably with "experiential learning" or "discovery learning," the characteristics of project-based learning are clear and constant.

In essence, the PBL model consists of these seven characteristics:

Following fifteen years of literature review and distilled educational experience, the Buck Institute for Education also identified seven essential elements for PBL but focsed them on project design. Collectively these elements are called Gold Standard PBL.

According to the BIE, the key elements to project design include:

All these elements, if combined well, result in students learning key knowledge, understanding, and skills for success.

An example where all these elements come together is in our high school Business Incubator class. Teams of students propose and design a product based upon a challenging need or intricate problem. These young entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to business and community leaders in an effort to gain support for launching their product.

One team of students designed a mobile app providing real-time air quality readings at locations around the world. Raising awareness about air pollution, supporting health-conscious travelers, and making global connections were galvanizing real-world provocations for their project.

It’s worth noting that while project-based learning may seem like some specific or isolated instructional practice, the lists above should look familiar. They are really the elements of great learning experiences. You don’t have to subscribe to project-based learning to incorporate elements of it in your classrooms.

Having said that, there are benefits that true project-based learning provides.

Too often, traditional learning never ventures beyond the realm of the purely academic. Project-based learning connects students to the real world. PBL prepares students to accept and meet challenges in the real world, mirroring what professionals do every day.

Instead of short-term memorization strategies, project-based learning provides an opportunity for students to engage deeply with the target content, bringing about a focus on long-term retention. PBL also improves student attitudes toward education, thanks to its ability to keep students engaged. The PBL structure lends itself to building intrinsic motivation because it centers student learning around an essential central question or problem and a meaningful outcome.

Daniel Pink, in his TEDTalkand influential book, Drive, says people are intrinsically motivated by three things—autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Popular terms like grit and rigor become embedded dispositions when learners sink their teeth into meaningful endeavors.

A recent collaborative studyconducted by the University and Michigan and Michigan State University suggests the implementation of project-based learning correlated positively with student achievement, particularly in schools serving high-poverty communities. This research emphasizes the importance of projects being standards-aligned and supported with research-proven instructional strategies.

Because of its focus on 21st-century skills, the PBL model also enhances students' technology abilities. Jennifer Gonzalez noted how project-based learning helps students develop teamwork and problem-solving skills, along with the ability to communicate effectively with others. The collaborative nature of projects also reinforces the social-emotional learning (SEL) programs being implemented at progressive schools around the world.

These interpersonal aspects of PBL dovetail perfectly with the use of technology in the classroom. Technology-based projects are interdisciplinary, collaborative, inquiry-based, self-directed, motivating, and address the full range of student needsand learning styles, according to Christa Love of TechnoKids. Additionally, digital literacies and digital citizenship objectives become ingrained in tech-based projects.

Speaking of learning objectives, a quick review of ISTE’s recently revised standards for studentswill disclose the relevance of PBL to modern learning. By highlighting standards including empowered learner, innovative designer, creative communicator, and global collaborator, you would think these standards were tailor-made with PBL in mind.

In one science-based project, students begin with a visit to a zoo, learning about animal habitats and forming opinions on which habitats best suit a selected animal. For this example, the project component included teams of students collaborating to develop a research-supported habitat plan for presentation to professional and student zoologists.

While the sciences fit neatly into PBL environment, the instructional strategy lends itself naturally to interdisciplinary learning. In an example that blends English language arts and the social studies, students answer the classic essential question, "What role does censorship play in society?" Following introductory instruction, students select a banned book, read it, compose a persuasive essay and take part in a censorship-related mock trial experience conducted in the presence of experts.

Want to find solace from the boring, "drill and kill" Math lessons? In this example, students assume the role of a National Security Agency code breaker, with a life-or-death project scenario in which they must decode a message potentially revealing the location of a planned terror attack on the United States. Students decrypt the message, send a coded message of their own and present their work. A professional in a related field visits the class to launch the project and connect it to real-world experience.

Are you looking for more examples of PBL schools? John Larmer, Editor and Chief for the Buck Institute for Education PBL Blog, shares several shining examples of schools making a commitment to deeper learning through PBL instruction. Larmer suggests investigating schools belonging to the Deeper Learning Network. These innovative schools include the essential elements frequently mentioned in BIE’s Gold Standard PBL.

- Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University

Abstract

In this research, an experimental study was carried out in social studies 4 th grade students' to develop students' conceptual achievement and motivation to succeed academically. The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in social studies. A quasi-experimental research design (pre-and posttest) was used in the research. While the experimental group of students received an interactive social studies instruction including completely PBL in a team format activities, the control group students received an instruction including direct instruction method (whole class teaching and individual work in the worksheet of the topics) in the fourth 4 th grade social studies curriculum for six weeks. The findings indicated a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group on the concept achievement and motivation. Students who participated in the PBL environments not only enriched and expanded their knowledge but also achieved a higher level of motivation than the control group. The PBL in a team format activities were provided to promote the experimental group students' motivation to succeed academically and to develop their conceptual achievement. The results demonstrated that the PBL improved students' understanding regarding social studies concepts and helped them achieve the behaviours which were aimed academically. The experimental group's intended behaviours in academic motivation at the beginning of the experimental treatment turned into performed behaviours at the end.