Contents

TETC Presentation

Defining projects

1. Projects are authentic, real world.
2. Projects use a driving question or problem.
3. Projects require the production of an artifact.
4. Projects value depth over breadth.

Components of projects

1. Projects require a task or series of tasks.
2. Students follow a process or investigation to complete task(s) and produce artifact.
3. Project task(s) afford multiple paths to completion and learning.
4. Students should have choice in the topic(s) and/or process of investigation.
5. Scaffolds help students with project tasks.
6. Resources are evaluated and synthesized to produce artifact(s).
7. Collaborations allows students to negotiate content and receive feedback.
   1. Groups should be used judiciously and purposefully.
8. Assessment encompasses process and product.
9. Artifacts afford multiple representations of knowledge.

Managing projects

1. Projects take time.
2. Good projects offer students opportunities to gauge their learning.
   1. KWL charts
   2. Double entry journals
   3. Reflection
3. Teachers embed mechanisms to help students manage projects.
   1. Deadlines
   2. Progress charts
   3. Checklists

Creating projects

1. Projects should encourage students to at least apply knowledge.
   1. In Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive skills, projects should at least encourage students to apply knowledge, but they may also use analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.
2. Students will segment their learning from one class or topic to another.
   1. Unless specific or explicit techniques are employed to make obvious connections between or among courses, domains, or topics, students will struggle to integrate them.
3. Students will gauge what is easy to do and choose the path of least resistance.
4. Students' previous experiences with projects will impact what artifacts students produce.
5. The amount of time and the resources available to the student will impact the artifacts students produce.

Grading projects

1. Projects should be rigorous
   1. Students believe projects are less rigorous.
   2. "There are projects for fun and projects for a grade."
   3. "It's easier to get a good grade with a project than on a test."
2. Projects take longer to grade...but the final grade shouldn't be the first grade.
   1. Good assessment offers embedded opportunities for formative assessments and revision during the project.
3. Projects may aggregate multiple sources of knowledge into a portfolio.
4. Students will weigh what's good enough versus the amount of time and effort required.
5. It is practically impossible for an artifact to represent all that has been learned.
6. Process and product must be assessed in order to accommodate all that has been learned.

The realities of projects

1. Teachers and students must recognize and accept their roles in project-based learning.
2. Teachers and students must be comfortable with the physical messiness of project-based learning.
3. Teachers and students must have a tolerance for ambiguity in project-based learning.
4. Project-based learning must be integrated with the reality outside a teacher's classroom.

Recommended Resources

1. Overview of Project-based Learning and components
2. Handbook for Project-based Learning
3. A Day in the Life of Project-based learning

   A student-produced video that explains PBL from a student perspective.

4. Changing Classroom Practice to Include the Project Approach
5. Getting What You Ask For

   A nice PDF handout that emphasizes assessment and how to create performance-based assessments that align objectives to projects.

6. Overview of PBL from the George Lucas Education Foundation

Example Projects

1. http://www.edutopia.org/start-pyramid
2. http://carbonfootprints.wetpaint.com/
3. http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/win2002/514/holocaust/index.html