Category Archives: Getting On The PBL Highway

Scaffolds to support PBL learners

Ways to support project-based learning

scaffolds to support PBL learnersSome people have the mistaken idea that PBL is just when you point students in the direction of a project and say, “Go for it!”

Um, no.

If your students have a culture of doing project-based learning and are very independent, it makes sense to give them a lot of freedom — but that’s just not the case for many of our students.

If you have students who are younger, or need more support and structure here are some ideas and examples. It always makes sense to err on the side of having too many supports rather than too few.

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Brainstorming and Research in PBL

brainstorming and research in PBLYou’ve done an engaging entry event. You have a plan for your PBL unit with a focused driving question. Sweet! Now it’s time for the students to embark on research. But the world of information is a vast wilderness fraught with danger: the danger of misinformation!

Before we can research, we need to brainstorm: What do kids want to do about the driving question and about the entry event? What do they want to see happen?

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Entry events for project-based learning

Start with the dramatic, unexpected & memorable

entry events for project-based learningQ: What do we really want from project-based learning?

A: We want students to care about this subject. To really, truly care about it from their own student perspectives. To engage the active learning parts of their brains and the moral imperative for the work.

Entry events are usually dreamed up during the planning stages of project-based learning. They’re just as much a part of PBL as the research, rubrics, and community connections.

So what can an entry event look like?

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