Introduction

Hello. My name is Naima. I am the product of the public school system in Philadelphia having attended Fitler A.P. for elementary school and high school at Lankenau Motivation. I am currently a junior at Agnes Scott College in Georgia. I have completed some research here at the Education Fund on the subject of Project Based Learning (PBL) as part of my internship and I have come up with some very interesting stuff.

Coming into the project I didn't think I knew anything about PBL. After reading through the literature, I discovered that this is really a lot of what I now do in college. Having attended schools which used both traditional and PBL techniques has helped me to see the advantages and disadvantages of each. For me project based learning has proved to be very helpful. As the research here also states, I find that I retain much more of what I learn through this process. At the same time I believe that traditional learning styles are necessary for gaining a basic understanding. Here are some links to some interesting site.

Definition

Project Based Learning allows the student to be more involved in his or her learning. It is a way for the student to autonomously solve everyday life problems using their own trials and errors to create a better and more in depth understanding of the material. Research has proved this method of learning to be very useful to students of varied interests, learning styles, and abilities.

Sites to visit

Elementary and early childhood education (ERIC) cites some research which has been done on PBL. This site illustrates the role of the teacher and how he/she can assist the student in the problem solving process.

The Buck Institute for Education (BIE) demonstrates some findings observing both the traditional and project based learning models. The author discusses what he found and the pros and cons of each. Both the students and the teachers who have been involved in the project process are able to express their thoughts after completion. Additionally, many examples of projects which have been conducted by students are demonstrated. These projects are done by students of differennt grade levels-- first through twelth. These are some interesting ideas which may spark some new project ideas for you!

Houghton Mifflin's PBL Space outlines the four basic features which are important in PBL. Also discussed are the issues which have been raised concerning PBL by educators.

The Institute for Research and Learning has a project called Challenge 2000. This project is a collaboration between: Silicon Valley Network, the San Mateo County Office of Education, SRI, and San Francisco Bay Area schools. Challenge 2000 provides a look at various aspects of PBL using the search engine including:

• PBL and equity provide good questions for planning a project
• Questions to reflect on after completion of a project
• In "Evaluation of PBL" some interesting research and statistics are shown
• There are also some web-links to other helpful sites

Global School Net's Project Based Learning: An Effective Approach provides some useful links which could benefit those who are interested in designing or just completing a project.

Aditional websites which may be of interest

PBL teacher's hand-book written by Steven Rudolph

National Institute for Literacy's PBL and other on-line teaching resources

Here's a page set up by Mr. Smith for his third grade class at Granger elementry school in Texas Learning Through Projects

The Learning Tree is a commercial site linking you to many educational vendors.