SCHOOL-BASED LEARNING

How Does Project-Based Learning Work?

Adria Steinberg suggests six criteria teachers can use as they design project-based learning. As well as having academic rigor, she says, the best projects have some authentic value or meaning outside of school, and use real-world standards by which to assess their quality.

The Six A’s of Designing Projects

Authenticity

  • Does the project emanate from a problem or question that has meaning to the students?
  • Is it a problem or question that might actually be tackled by an adult at work or in the community?
  • Do students create or produce something that has personal or social value, beyond the school setting?

Academic Rigor

  • Does the project lead students to acquire and apply knowledge central to one or more disciplines or content area?
  • Does it challenge students to use methods of inquiry central to one or more discipline (e.g., to think like a scientist)?
  • Do students develop higher order thinking skills and habits of mind (searching for evidence, taking different perspectives, and the like)?

Applied Learning

  • Are students solving a semi-structured problem (designing a product, improving a system, organizing an event, for instance) that is grounded in the context of life and work beyond the school walls?
  • Does the project lead students to acquire and use competencies expected in high-performance work organizations (such as teamwork, appropriate use of technology, problem solving, and communications)?
  • Does the work require student to develop organizational and self-management skills?

Active Exploration

  • Do students spend significant amounts of time doing field-based work?
  • Does the project require students to engage in real investigation, using a variety of methods, media, and sources?
  • Are students expected to communicate what they are learning through presentations?

Adult Connections

  • Do students have opportunities to observe adults with relevant expertise and experience?
  • Does the work of adults become more visible to students?
  • Do adults from outside the classroom help students develop a sense of the real-world standards applied to this type of work?

Assessment Practices

  • Do students have opportunities to review exemplars of similar work products?
  • Are there clear milestones or products at the completion of each distinct phase of the work, culminating in an exhibition, portfolio, or presentation?
  • Do students receive timely feedback on their works-in-progress and engage in periodic, structured self-assessment using clear project criteria that they have helped to set?

The Connected Learning Communities Toolkit for Reinventing High School (pages 47-54) devotes a section to designing projects that incorporates the Six A’s listed above. It includes guides (and examples) for teachers on scaffolding projects to ensure that students have the supports for learning they need to be successful. In addition, there is an actual Project Template designed to help teachers think through, among other things: framing questions; final product(s) or culminating events; content standards and SCANS-type skills addressed; duration and credit; and assessment and evaluation of the projects.

The aforementioned New Urban High Schools: A Practitioner’s Guide also has an extensive Guide to Student Projects, pages 82-108. It includes overview information and guidelines for the different phases, as well as outlines for project proposals and action plans and usable logs, schedules and assessment forms.

Another approach to implementing project-based learning is outlined in a two page guide for Designing Projects "Backwards or Forwards" , developed by Patricia Clark. Designing Forward starts with the learning standards or existing curriculum that you want to teach or enrich with a project and guides you through the planning steps. Designing Backward starts with a project idea (an issue/problem in your school, community or workplace) and then guides you through the planning steps.

Tools and resources are listed at the end of this section under “Tools for Integrating Curriculum and Project-Based Learning”

Top of Page