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Tag: project based learning

Learning Danish by Selling Potions

Imagine peering down an ordinary school hallway, clutching an entry ticket that was sent to you. You turn a corner and stop in front of a wall. There, you spot a concealed opening and step through to Diagon Alley, the hidden magical market from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.

Solar for All Schools [guest episode from the Climify podcast]

This episode comes from the Climify podcast, which is hosted by Eric Benson, and produced by the Climate Designers Network. Benson interviews Tish Tablan, senior program director at Generation 180, about how going solar can benefit schools’ budgets and provide opportunities for PBL, as well as helping us all thrive as we face an unprecedented climate crisis.

Focus on the “How” of Planning Not Just the “What”

Visitors to High Tech High often misconstrue its approach to planning as “loose” or “anything goes” compared to traditional schools, because teachers aren’t following a pre-set curriculum. In fact, High Tech High is “tight” on things that most schools a “loose” on. 

Convergence

Teachers plan meaningfully and rigorously in ways that allow the synergy of soft and hard skills to interact

The Power of YES

It was the week before the exhibition at High Tech Middle Chula Vista. My eighth-grade class had spent the last eight weeks exploring the question “What makes us resilient?”

Collaboration Doesn’t Always Mean “Group Work”

Lots of teachers come to High Tech High, see how collaborative the teachers are, and get inspired to make their first project a massive interdisciplinary collaboration between, say, English, Spanish, Biology, and Algebra. This is almost always a bad idea. 

Lesson Launch: The Wow Factor

Much like a movie’s opening scene, the launch of a lesson should grab everybody’s attention, spark curiosity, and get students asking questions.

Deconstructing Construction Projects

Last spring I was standing in my fifth-grade classroom, mid-project, rearranging student groups when I realized we had a problem. My students were building scale models of dog houses and cat condos that they had designed—and would ultimately build—to donate to a pet-adoption event later that spring.

Reading List: True Project Stories

This collection is called “true project stories” because it’s all about teachers (and students) telling the stories of the projects they’ve done, from the heights of achievement to the depths of despair.

Can’t I Just Let the Kids Decide What to Make?

Q: It seems restrictive to tell every kid to make the same kind of product when we’re doing a project. How should I decide what parts of the project to be flexible on and which are non-negotiable?

Self-Assessment Strategies for Students

How can assessment practices be designed to best support student learning? In school, the term “assessment” is often shorthand for “grades”—or, perhaps, tests, quizzes, rubrics, and similar evaluative tools. However, thinking of “assessment” as interchangeable with “test” or “grade” limits the potential for assessment practices to lead to meaningful and deeper learning.

The “Totes of Hope”: A Mental Health Humanities Project

To address the youth mental health crisis, 11th grade Humanities teacher Andres Perez and his students at High Tech High Chula Vista sewed tote bags for patients at Rady Children’s Hospital Psychiatric Outward. Along the way they learned about the systematic issues in society that could lead to troubling mental health issues, and how to take action toward them. They also learned the importance of iterating a product and a process, and giving grace to oneself through it all.

What is PBL?

A key question for PBL educators: how will we know if we are doing project-based learning well?

When Place Shapes the Product

Genesee Community Charter School is centering students in a place-based curriculum provides them with a deeper understanding of…

Project Launch

A project launch is an engaging, active experience with multiple entry points for diverse learners that invites multiple perspectives and fosters diverse, innovative thinking.
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