1. IMPLEMENTING PROJECT BASED
LEARNING
RACHEL COOK AND STEPHANIE DULMAGE

2. SESSION AGENDA
The Why and What of PBL
 7 Whys of PBL
 PBL Video
The How of PBL
 Essential Elements of PBL
 Project Vs. Project Based Learning
 Project Planning
 PBL in Action
You Are What You Eat
Energy Makes The World Go Round - 1st grade PBL
Un Restaurante Nuevo - MS Spanish PBL
Getting Started
 Resources and Tools
Q and A

3. WHY PBL?
PBL Helps Students Develop Skills for Living in a
Knowledge-Based, Highly Technological Society
Solving highly complex problems requires that students
have both fundamental skills and 21st century skills:
 personal and social responsibility
 planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity
 strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation
needs
 cross-cultural understanding
 visualizing and decision making
 knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most
appropriate tool for the task
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide-importance

4. THE WHY CONT’D
 PBL and Technology Use Bring a New Relevance to
the Learning at Hand
 PBL Lends Itself to Authentic Assessment
 PBL Promotes Lifelong Learning
 PBL Accommodates Students with Varying Learning
Styles and Differences
 PBL Increases Opportunities For Relationship
Building and Personalized Learning
 Research Supports PBL

5. WHAT IS PROJECT BASED LEARNING
(PBL)? HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LMCZVGESRZ8
What is Project Based Learning?

6. “A project is
meaningful if it fulfills
two criteria. First,
students must
perceive it as
personally
meaningful…
Second, a
meaningful project
fulfills an
educational
purpose. Well-
designed and well-
implemented
Project Based
Learning (PBL) is
meaningful in both
ways.”
- BIE
http://www.bie.org/

7. PROJECT ORIENTED LEARNING VS.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
Remember… this is not simply doing a project or
culminating activity that demonstrates what
students learned from teacher-directed lessons or
lectures.
Watch and reflect…
http://howtovideos.hightechhigh.org/video/265/W
hat+Project+Based+Learning+Isn

8. CONVENTIONAL VS. PROJECT BASED
INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH
Teacher –centered Student-centered
Teacher-directed Self-directed
Listen, memorize, repeat Discover, apply, present
Independence Collaboration
Teacher decision-making Teacher and student decision
making
Knowledge of facts, terms, content 21st Century Skills
Direct instruction Varied instructional strategies
Short, isolated lessons with Long-term investigations
predetermined answers
Standards-based Standards-based
Assessment tests Ongoing assessments
School-based Real-connections
Quizzes and tests Reflections
http://www.intel.com/education/video/pbl/content.htm

9. NOW WHAT?
DEVELOPING AN IDEA AND DRIVING
QUESTION(S)
Begin with the end in mind…sound
familiar?
http://www.bie.org/

10. DEVELOPING A PROJECT IDEA:
Developing a Project Idea
 Summary of the issue, challenge, investigation,
scenario, or problem
 Student-driven
 Project resources
 Planning Forms
 Entry Event

11. Generate Driving Question (s) “A project
without a
Driving
Characteristics of a Driving Question
Question is like
 Provocative or challenging to students, an essay
because it is relevant, important, without a thesis.
urgent or otherwise interesting. Without one, a
reader might be
 Open-ended and/or complex; there is able to pick out
no single “right answer,” or at least no the main point a
simple “yes” or “no” answer. It writer is trying
requires in-depth inquiry and higher- to make, but
with a thesis the
level thinking. Requires action! main point is
 Linked to the core of what you want unmistakable.”
students to learn; to answer it well, BIE
students would need to gain the
knowledge and skills you have
targeted as goals for the project.

12. EXAMPLES OF DQS
 Why do people revolt?
 How do humans compete in an ecosystem?
 Will global warming affect our community?
 What does an in-depth study of a pond tell us about
an ocean?
 How can we educate students so that the amount
of trash decreases and recycling is increased at our
school?
 How can individuals make a difference in the
world?
 Is conquering the impossible possible?
 How are people and plants connected?
 Just because we can, should we?

13. Good Better
 How have robotics and  How have robotics and
automation changed automation changed our
our society in the past town and its businesses
century? in the next century?
 Should we be worried
 What is global about global warming?
warming?
 What does an in-depth
 How are living things in study of a small pond
an eco-system tell us about oceans?
connected?

14. You Are What You Eat Student-directed
First Grade Project-Based Unit Transformative
integration of
Driving Question(s)? technology and
web 2.0 tools.
 What is meant by the saying “You are Communication,
what you eat? “ creation,
collaboration, and
 How do healthy eating habits help me contribution.
grow bigger and live longer?
Focused on inquiry,
 How can we, as first graders, educate problem-solving,
and critical
our school community about healthy thinking.
living?
Perceptions
surveys indicated
high student
engagement.

15. Explored and
Energy Makes The World Go Round researched energy in
our lives.
 How does energy impact our daily
lives? Engaged in 4 STEM
Design Challenges.
 Why should we be responsible for Communicated/
using less energy? Collaborated via
Kidblog & Twiducate.
 How can we, as first graders, change Gathered data on heat
the energy loss at Gretchko loss using FLIP cams,
Ipods, & Google Docs.
Elementary?
Student-led research
on solutions for heat
loss: Kid-Safe Google
Search and
SymbalooEdu
Student-led
presentation to the
Plant Engineer and
Administrator.

16. UN RESTAURANTE NUEVO
MS SPANISH PBL
Driving Questions:
What similarities and differences exist in cultural foods in Mexico, Spain,
and the United States?
How might you incorporate this information into an open-house
presentation of a new restaurant in Mexico or Spain?
How might you justify including artwork we have studied as decoration in
your restaurant?
Products:
Required: Restaurant Open-House Presentation,
Restaurant Menu (Spanish), Artwork (English)
Choice: Presentation Roles and Additional
Written Product (News Article or Diet Plan)
Students Expressed: Teacher Perspective:
More confidence in Spanish, Relationship building,
better way to learn, felt increased student
more real-world ready, more engagement, JUST TRY
fun IT!

17. RESOURCES AND TOOLS
Web Resources
Buck Institute for Education - http://www.bie.org/tools/freebies
Scoop-It - http://www.scoop.it/t/project-based-learning-2
Live Binders - http://www.livebinders.com/edit/index/448454
Suggested Books
Project-Based Learning for Gifted Students : A Handbook for
the 21st-Century Classroom, by Todd Stanley
Bringing Innovation to School and Reinventing Project-Based
Learning– Suzie Boss
Creating Innovators - Tony Wagner
World Class Learners Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial
Students – Yong Zhao

18. CONTACT INFORMATION
Stephanie Dulmage
Gretchko Elementary
West Bloomfield School District
dulmage@wbsd.org or dulmage@westbloomfield.k12.mi.us
Twitter: stephe1234
http://educationvisionleadership.edublogs.org
Rachel Cook
Brownstown Middle School
Woodhaven-Brownstown School District
cookr@wbsdweb.com