Project Based Learning

While edutopia.org had some very good articles on PBL, I found one article that outlined pointers for jumping in to project based learning. The article was from 2015, however the information is still pertinent to today’s practices in the classroom. The article, titled PBL Elementary Teachers Offer Field–Tested Advice, by Andrew Miller, have several tips on integrating project based learning successfully. Some of the tips offered were, start slow with your integration, build background knowledge, be intentional with your assessment, and stick with it, even though you may get some naysayers and questions. Above all though, I thought the most important advice given was to build success skills first. This means take the time to teach your students how to collaborate, communicate, and critically think before jumping into a project. I believe this is crucial! How can you work well together if you have not been first taught the skills to do so? This article was the most beneficial to me as it was written by teachers using these methods with real world advice. Instead of just telling me what PBL is the article addressed the underlining and foundational points to making project based learning a success in the classroom. These factors are points that can be easily forgotten when creating a project based unit.