Scope
First PBL Project needs to be modest in scope to achieve the best result. Andrew Miller stresses that if you are just getting started with Project Based Learning, “Don’t Go Crazy”. Miller’s article “Getting Started with Project-Based Learning (Hint: Don’t Go Crazy)” suggests a few things to consider if you are just started with PBL:
Limited Scope:
Try to focus on two or three priority standards for your first project. Concentrate the learning on one subject rather than multiple disciplines. Aim for a two-to-three-week project, or approximately 10 to 15 contact hours.
In addition to limiting the time, you might consider narrowing choice. Instead of many product options, offer a short menu. Allow students to choose how they want to work but choose the teams for the project yourself. There are many ways to build voice and choice into a project, but these aspects can be limited.
By narrowing the scope of a project, teachers and their students can have short-term success that builds stamina for more complex projects later.
Plan Early:
One of the challenges of PBL, but also one of the joys, is the planning process. In PBL, you plan up front, and it does take a significant amount of time. You need to plan assessments and scaffolds and gather resources to support project learning.
While you might be able to do some of this during scheduled planning time, ask your leadership for creative structures to carve out time for planning. Perhaps staff meetings can be used for this time, or release days can be offered.
It is important to get ahead and feel prepared for and confident about a project. By using the backward design process, you can effectively map out a project that is ready to go in the classroom.
Once you plan, you can differentiate instruction and meet the needs of your students, rather than being in permanent crisis mode trying to figure out what will happen tomorrow.
Gather Feedback:
When you have a great project planned, contact colleagues both digitally and in person to get feedback. This can be done through posting an idea on X or having a gallery walk of ideas, where teachers walk your project gallery and leave feedback on Post-its. If you can, have a 30-minute conversation with a teacher colleague or instructional coach.
Main Course, Not Dessert:
It is easy in a short-term project to fall into the trap of a “dessert” project that isn’t necessarily inquiry based. With PBL, the project itself is the learning- it’s the “main course.” In fact, many teachers who think they are doing PBL are actually doing project. In PBL you are teaching through the project-not teaching and then doing the project.
Use an effective PBL project checklist to ensure a high-quality experience, while still keeping a narrow focus and timeline. It helps ensure that you focus on aspects such as inquiry, voice and choice, and significant content.
Commit to Reflection:
We are all learners, and when we start something new, we start small, limiting our focus to help us master the bigger thing step by step. A key aspect of this is that when you finish a project, you should take time to reflect on it.
Consider journaling, having a dialogue with an instructional coach, or following a structured reflection protocol with a team of teachers.
Through reflection, projects become better and may live on for many years, so that reflection time pays off with time saved on subsequent runs through the project.
Tips From the Classroom
From PBL in the Elementary Grades Step-by-Step Guidance book provides the following tips:
First Project? Modest is Best
A project ambitious in scope might last a month or more. It would involve multiple subjects and complex products, community outreach, presentations to a large public audience, advanced technology…but if this is your first project, you don’t need to go there yet. You might want to get comfortable with the basics of PBL first. Here’s what we advise for a modest first project:
- 2 weeks in duration
- 1 curricular area of focus (with integrated literacy standards)
- limited complexity and number of student products
- takes place completely in the classroom, does not include trips into the community
Hallermann, Sara; Larmer, John; Mergendoller PhD, John. PBL in the Elementary Grades: Step-by-Step Guidance, Tools and Tips for Standards-Focused K-5 Projects (p. 28). Buck Institute for Education. Kindle Edition.
Reminder:
If you have no idea for your first Project Based Learning, you can read my post Explore Project Idea with 5 Tips for Authentic Learning.
You can read my next post PBL Project Design Focus on Content Knowledge & 3Cs Students Need
