Taking an Incremental Approach to PBL

Project-based learning (PBL) is widely recognized as a highly effective educational approach that fosters engaged students who are critical thinkers and problem solvers and who possess literacy across all content areas. PBL also helps to develop culturally and socially competent students who are effective communicators and global citizens. Despite its benefits, PBL remains underutilized in classrooms. 

As professional development specialists, we’ve found PBL to be misunderstood in that educators tend to create overwhelming and complex projects that discourage their students and limit them from fully embracing it. To address this challenge among many others, we developed a four-part framework that simplifies the PBL process by breaking it into smaller, more manageable components.

Here we explore elements of our foundational concepts, which are a crucial part of our four-part framework. Specifically, we focus on establishing a classroom culture that not only supports project-based learning but is beneficial for any educational environment.

Setting the Stage

Creating a physical classroom environment that supports group work and hands-on activities is crucial. Consider flexible seating and collaborative spaces, including whole group and small group areas.

Additionally, incorporate areas for individual reflection to foster an engaging and interactive learning environment. This will prepare you to gather student perspectives and carry out greater PBL work throughout the year.

Understanding Your Students: Insights and Perspectives 

Teachers often spend time at the beginning of the year on getting-to-know-you activities, such as icebreakers. Gaining student perspective, however, goes beyond simple interaction to help teachers understand their students’ backgrounds, needs, strengths, and challenges. It involves activities that encourage students to express their views, preferences, and experiences, which are invaluable to the PBL process. 

Incorporating student perspectives is fundamental to fostering a positive PBL classroom culture. By recognizing and valuing how students perceive education and what they bring to the table, educators can enrich any learning environment. This approach appreciates each student’s unique contributions, promoting mutual understanding and cooperation. It creates a dynamic classroom where students actively engage with the curriculum and each other, deepening their connection to their learning journeys. 

Practical Strategies for Implementation

To effectively implement these concepts within a PBL framework, consider the following strategies.

1. Conduct student inventories. Use digital tools like Google Forms or Mentimeter to create inventories and polls where students can share their thoughts on PBL projects, classroom environment, and teaching methods.
2. Organize student-led conferences or advisory panels. Empower students to take ownership of their learning by presenting their work and reflecting on their progress. You can also form a panel of students who meet regularly to discuss and provide feedback on PBL activities, project ideas, and classroom culture. This gives students a formal platform to voice their opinions and influence decision-making.
3. Encourage reflection journals. Promote self-awareness and growth by having students regularly document the learning process and their learning experiences.
4. Apply design thinking. Engage students in creative problem-solving by guiding them through the stages of empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. As they work through each phase in real time, they are actively shaping and expressing their perspectives in the learning environment, ensuring that their viewpoints are clear to the teacher. 

Launching into Learning: Lesson Zero and the 4Cs 

In a recent dailySTEM podcast, we spoke briefly with Chris Woods, author of Daily STEM: How to Create a STEM Culture in Your Classrooms & Communities, about the concept of Lesson Zero, which involves a series of short preparatory activities (STEAM activities, makers challenges, etc.) that teachers can use before starting comprehensive projects.

Lesson Zero aims to build essential skills for project-based learning by integrating the 4Cs: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. During Lesson Zero you can enhance the work by collaborating with community partners to help students develop their knowledge and support authentic work.  

Design Challenges

Engaging students in team-based design challenges is an excellent method for enhancing the 4Cs while gaining student perspectives across various subjects. Here are some ideas to get you started. Keep in mind that the goal is to develop success skills, not to create perfect prototypes, so these challenges can be completed in just a lesson or two.  

1. Build the Tallest Freestanding Structure. (Science/Engineering) Using spaghetti, tape, string, and a marshmallow, students collaborate to build the tallest freestanding structure.
2. Develop a Math Board Game. (Math) Create a board game with everyday materials that requires players to use math skills to advance.
3. Short Story Challenge. (ELA) Write a short story using a limited set of words or incorporating specific vocabulary.
4. Historical Event Simulation. (Social Studies) Create a simulation of a historical event where students role-play different figures and make decisions based on historical context.

Through this variety of activities, students will develop the 4Cs essential for project-based learning. Building structures requires planning, teamwork, and innovative design. Creating math games involves logical thinking, collaborative refinement, and clear communication of rules. Writing short stories fosters critical word choice, brainstorming, and effective storytelling. Simulating historical events demands understanding context, teamwork, and expressive role-playing.

These activities collectively enhance students’ abilities to think critically, work together, communicate effectively, and innovate across different subjects.

Inquiry Challenges 

Encourage students to collaborate in team-based activities as they ask questions and draw conclusions based on their observations. Similar to design challenges, this approach effectively promotes the 4Cs—critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity—while incorporating student perspectives across all subjects. These activities, like the design challenges, are intended to be completed within one or two lessons. 

1. Plant Growth Observation. (Science) Students observe a series of plants grown under different conditions (e.g., varying amounts of light, water, soil types). They ask questions about the differences and draw conclusions based on their observations.
2. Pattern Identification. (Math) Students are given a series of numbers or shapes that follow a specific pattern. They ask questions to identify the pattern and predict the next items in the series.
3. Picture analysis. (ELA) Students examine a detailed picture (e.g., a historical photograph, artwork). They ask questions about the image and draw conclusions based on visual evidence.
4. Artifact Examination. (Social Studies) Students examine replicas or pictures of historical artifacts. They ask questions about the artifacts and draw conclusions about their use and significance in history.

Students develop the 4Cs through activities such as analyzing plant growth, identifying patterns, interpreting images, and examining historical artifacts. These tasks enhance critical thinking by evaluating conditions and contexts, foster collaboration through group discussions, improve communication by sharing findings, and stimulate creativity in developing hypotheses and imagining scenarios. This comprehensive approach cultivates essential skills across various subjects, preparing students for effective project-based learning.

Incorporating project-based learning (PBL) in the classroom fosters critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity, essential for developing engaged and competent students. Through structured yet manageable activities, students can tackle real-world challenges, enhancing their problem-solving skills and global awareness.

Our book, The Tapas Approach to Project-Based Learning: A Culinary Map for Educators on the Transformative Power of PBL, and the companion website, PBL Tapas, provide more details, including a step-by-step guide and free resources using a small-bite approach that builds to comprehensive experiences.

By adopting strategies outlined here and in the book, educators can simplify the PBL process, making it more accessible and impactful, ultimately creating dynamic and supportive learning environments that prepare students for future success.