Project-Based Learning

Our latest report, How to Innovate: Options for School Districts explores innovation opportunities and identifies New Tech Network as an exemplar design partner for comprehensive school change.

Project-based learning means going beyond assigning projects and instead, promoting student agency by having students drive their learning.

Artificial Intelligence will have more influence on the livelihoods of young people over the next several decades than any other factor. To contribute now and in the future, they will need extended challenges that encourage them to build agency while solving harder problems with fewer answers.

By: Beth Holland. Numerous current initiatives focus on creating personalized learner experiences through modern trends such as high-quality project-based learning (HQPBL) and design thinking. However, this pursuit to deliver learning that fuels each whole child has its roots in the Reggio Emilia Approach that Loris Malaguzzi first envisioned in the 1940s.

Caroline Vander Ark has long appreciated community and school gardens but worried that they often didn’t connect to student learning and create a lasting impact. However, when she heard about the work of Big Green she was intrigued and reached out to Kate Waller, who manages their national growth to learn more.

Does brain research support the belief that if you want to produce a student outcome such as creativity you first must build a classroom culture in which creativity can grow and then you must adopt a pedagogy (like PBL) that allows it to bloom? David Ross explains.

High expectations are an important part of a school model, culture and community. Here are several examples of schools and programs that are helping students learn to deliver on professional grade expectations.

By: Kathy Hay. A technology integrator shares how 23 districts in Iowa are promoting STEM learning while limiting the time students spend in front of tablets or laptops.

As we look back, it is evident that project-based learning not only increases student engagement, it helps students develop academic and social and emotional skills for life and careers. Over the year, we visited 8 schools where students are having HQPBL experiences, here is what we discovered.

By: Reid Whitaker. Here are five ways to help students — and teachers — overcome a fear of failure and learn to love engineering design.