Project Based Learning Initiative
RESA 2 in collaboration with the Buck Institute for Education and the WVDE
Presents Project Based Learning
This initiative provided a team of teachers from the RESA 2 region a two day workshop that focused on Project Based Learning. In addition, principals were immersed in a one day session that builds an understanding of support of project based learning in their schools. Continuing and ongoing support will be continued throughout the school year.
Why PBL? The world has changed. Nearly all teachers understand how the industrial culture has shaped the organization and methods of schools in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they recognize that schools must now adapt to a new century. It is clear that children need both knowledge and skills to succeed. This need is driven not only by workforce demands for high-performance employees who can plan, collaborate, and communicate, but also by the need to help all young people learn civic responsibility and master their new roles as global citizens.
The What? In a sense, the need for education to adapt to a changing world is the primary reason that PBL is increasingly popular. PBL is an attempt to create new instructional practices that reflect the environment in which children now live and learn. And, as the world continues to change, so does our definition of PBL. The Buck Institute for Education defines the following criteria of a PBL:
- Recognize students’ inherent drive to learn, their capability to do important work, and their need to be taken seriously by putting them at the center of the learning process.
- Engage students in the central concepts and principles of a discipline. The project work is central rather than peripheral to the curriculum.
- Highlight provocative issues or questions that lead students to in-depth exploration of authentic and important topics
- Require the use of essential tools and skills, including technology, for learning, self-management, and project management.
- Include multiple products that permit frequent feedback and consistent opportunities for students to learn from experience.
- Use performance-based assessments that communicated high expectations, present rigorous challenges, and require a range of skills and knowledge.
- Encourage collaboration in some form, either through small groups, student-led presentations, or whole-class evaluations of project results.
Buck Institute for Education
Project Design Template - revised