Why Use Project-Based Learning?

Project-based learning is one of the best ways to help students engage with course material in a meaningful way. It allows students to become experts on a topic and remember what they have learned.  Traditional methods of instruction often focus on classroom lectures, assigned readings, and worksheets, followed by tests to make sure the student has memorized the material.  While these methods may work, they do not provide students with the freedom to fully explore topics that they are interested in.  Project-based learning solves this problem by taking a student-led approach to education. 

With project-based learning, teachers present students with real problems in their communities and then ask them a guiding question to help them as they explore the problem and develop their own solutions.  For example, a middle-grade teacher may present their class with data that shows that elementary school students in their community are struggling to read at grade level.  They might then ask their students to find out why the elementary school students are struggling and to come up with solutions to the problem.  The students would create a research plan that might include interviewing parents, teachers, librarians, and elementary school students. Afterward, they would create solutions such as meeting with the school board to recommend that new reading strategies be implemented in the elementary schools, or creating a mentoring program to pair elementary students with middle-grade reading buddies. 

Project-based learning teaches students to be solution-oriented while helping them to develop valuable research and teamwork skills.   By the end of each project, students will become experts on their topic, and the time they have spent developing solutions ensures that they will remember what they have learned. If you are looking for ways to make learning meaningful for your students, consider giving project-based learning a try.  Pick a topic, create a guiding question, and walk alongside your students as they develop solutions to the problems around them.