Microsoft Educator Network

Project Based Learning National Sweater Day: A Chilling Project! Our most recent project was organizing National Sweater Day at our schools this month to promote energy awareness and energy conservation. National Sweater Day is a which Kindergarten class invited us to take part in. (You can read about their project ) Although this was a "smaller" project compared to some of our more massive PBL undertakings, it was a meaningful learning experience. Students researched National Sweater Day and learned some of the reasons why turning down the heat can help ...

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Project Based Learning Step by step with history and ICT in Project Based Learning When I look back upon my life, I get aware how much my students and I appreciate project based learning and how immense its didactic role in our school daily life is. Whatever the topic of the project is – all the interdisciplinary subject areas of PBL open us to the world – its present, past and the future, with all the branches of world knowledge we are interested in. It seems that PBL has always made a big difference in well planned didactic processes, and resulted in tangible achievements ...

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Project Based Learning Curiosity in action Working on a video on the most important skills for the XXI st century trainers, I asked myself, if we, as teachers using Project Based Learning, need curiosity too. What about our students? Are they curious about what they do at school or how to make them be curious about at least a few educational areas? What is curiosity? According to Oxford University Dictionary, it is a strong desire to know or learn something. Numerous dictionaries inform that it is a quality related to inquisitive ...

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Project Based Learning Knowledge in action – our paths of ICT I have always wanted to do something exciting, something creative, something artistic. As a girl I was taught to play the old piano, my grandma had; I really liked drawing and painting and I loved writing compositions because I dreamt of being a journalist. In fact, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my mum, who as a teacher, had the best of all – she was loved by her students. Since the beginning of my school career, the role of a teacher has changed, although this feeling of being liked ...

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Project Based Learning Project based learning- Creating a culture of inquiry Project based learning allows the students to create a culture of inquiry by making them curious. They start testing theories, sharing discoveries and move towards innovative solutions. When the students are encouraged to ask know-how and know-why questions, they are indulged with intellectual thirst. Reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes will lend a way for constructive restructuring. It is a teacher's job to give them opportunities to maintain and develop analytic skills. I ...

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Project Based Learning The Pigeon Meets Flat Matt Once you get the PBL train rolling, it's hard to stop and sometimes... projects collide! My class has been working on the since earlier this spring and they are doing a great job of planning, writing, illustrating and publishing their own books. When we were invited to join the "" project, we enthusiastically accepted. Eventually the two projects collided and The Pigeon met Flat Matt. Here's the details: Matt, also known as "Flat Matt", was sent to us by a 1st Class (six and seven year olds) at ...

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Project Based Learning Decide the theme and design for change The teachers and the students can project their views and identify the real issues and concerns in the community and bring a change for a better world.Diverse issues can be jotted down and the ideas can be implemented with systematic strategies. I have taken an issue for 3 months as a project and thereby planned 4 issues per year. I have devised strategies to implement the same through brainstorming session and by informed choices of the students. So, active participation and motivation was ...

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Project Based Learning Project Based Learning and Multiple Intelligences Project based learning situations allow students to choose their own topics and create learning activities based on their interests and capabilities. ,"the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn,remember,perform and understand in different ways." According to his MI theory,we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis,spatial representation,musical thinking,the use of the body to solve problems or to make things,an ...

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Project Based Learning Observations on gender differences while engage in PBL Although the day was so busy with students and usual obstacles and challenges in daily routine at school ,I feel really wonderful at the end of the day.Because i have succeeded with my "tricks" to attract more girls to ICT integrated learning activities! Usually boys lead project activities in the field (outside classroom) and integrate with ICT tools.When the project was started boys initiated with ideas,plans,activities-girls just nodding heads agree or pretend to agree.Activities were assigned...

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Project Based Learning Design an app One of the problems in school is that scenarios - even PBL scenarios -- are not authentic. So business classes can end up making banal products that sell to family and friends based on sympathy rather than actual use. What to do? Well you could start here and learn how to make a real product - an app in this case. See: Yes maybe it sounds crazy. But why not? A lot of new businesses start with a crazy idea and a lot of conviction. Could students do this too? Why not try! ...

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Project Based Learning What about an envelope? We all know what an envelope is - something that (mostly) contains paper. But what about a container form ideas at school? Where do we find such an envelope for that? Too often ideas for students appear that show little overall connection. This can be true for PBL as much as anything else, so it all seems as someone wrote about history, 'just one damn thing after another.' So I would like to recommend an idea. A book no less. A short one and a significant one: Jean Francois Rischard: 20 Global ...

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Project Based Learning Projects Based Assessment What is the best way or ways for assessment of project based learning? Is it possible to conduct project based assessment on prior learning ( non PBL)? How can each individual be given a score on their individual knowledge building when the final product is a group effort? ...

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Project Based Learning Back to the Future: It's all about skills An article by two academics (Frey and Osborne) late last year looks at the number of jobs that are currently under threat from computerisation. By that they mean either robots or computer algorithms. After a lengthy analysis their conclusion is nearly half (47 per cent) of jobs could be replaced (or are being replaced) today and this figure is only likely to go higher in future years as computing power increases. You can read the whole piece here: Straws in the wind maybe but last week the well ...

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Project Based Learning One Hour, No Power Challenge My Grade 1s have been working on reducing our classroom energy consumption as part of the . One part of is the One Hour, No Power challenge. The task was to go without power in our classroom for an hour or try to accumulate multiple hours without power. Student Goal Setting: Students chose to aim for accumulating 10 hours without power. For this challenge, the description stated "One hour of no power is defined as one classroom not using power for one hour. That is to say, if you have two ...

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Project Based Learning New thoughts on... assessment. Just to summarise: assessment in PBL does not have to be simply or even mostly undertaken by the teacher. There are other routes: External assessment: setting a real life task and having someone from the world of work come and listen to the students talk about their work is always a good idea. The only proviso is that the external person needs a good communicative personality that students can respond to. Peer assessment: this is an increasingly popular avenue in all areas as it allows ...

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Project Based Learning A Strong Start to the Track Your Trash project! Our latest focuses on tracking our garbage and finding ways to reduce the amount of trash we create in our classroom. We are learning about measurement right now, so measuring the amount of trash fit well with our current math goals. Our class is good at using a balance scale for comparative measurement, but we had to learn to use a different scale to measure the amount of garbage in our classroom garbage cans. I purchased a new bathroom scale to try, but our garbage was too light to ...

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Project Based Learning Our Latest Project: The Classroom Energy Diet Challenge Our latest project work has a little different twist than our usual project based learning format. If you are a teacher using PBL or considering PBL, keep in mind that a challenge or contest can be a great way to incorporate a project into your teaching! We have been participating in the , which is a contest for K-12 students that encourages energy awareness and energy-saving actions. There are key components that I like to include in our projects and this challenge includes a number of those ...

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Project Based Learning Project Based Learning Webinar Highlights I was pleased to be a presenter for the webinar on Project Based Learning. The evening presentation which I was part of was not recorded, however you can view the similar morning presentation . Project based learning has become an important part of my approach to teaching and learning. I really enjoyed hearing from the other presenters, and , and it was nice to share what I've learned and experienced with PBL. Some of the key ideas which resonated with me were: The best projects are the "...

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Project Based Learning Find Your Starting Place for PBL If one of your goals for this school year is to give project-based learning a try, now’s the time for a check-in. Have you introduced at least one in-depth inquiry project yet? If so, what have you—and your students—learned from the experience? If not, you may find that spring offers an ideal time to remodel a traditional unit of study into a project that puts students in the driver’s seat of their own learning. Recently, I listened to a team of three grade-one teachers reflect on their first ...

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Project Based Learning Promoting Student Engagement and Learning Incorporating the 8 Elements of PBL It is wonderful to join this professional learning community. As a National Faculty member of BIE (BUCK Institute) I wanted to share a posting on Project Based Learning's eight essential elements. As you know PBL is an amazing process that allows students to engage in authentic work while allowing students to discover connections between content and real world applications. PBL is made up of these Eight Elements as identified by researchers and educational experts at BIE (BUCK Institute)… a ...

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Project Based Learning What Makes Accounting Exciting? For almost 11 years of teaching, I observed that most of my 4th year high school students find business and accounting lessons in our Business Technology class difficult. It is because most of the activities require computation and analysis which they find confusing and not interesting. So what I did, I designed a project based learning in business technology that motivated my students to learn and acquire business and accounting skills. This project has different activities to accomplish in 1 ...

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Project Based Learning Knowledge Building with PBL As a perk of the Expert Educator program, I have spent a couple of conference calls learning with colleagues from around the world. One primary focus has been the , which outline important features of effective learning activities. Examining these rubrics has pushed me to try new things in my classroom and one area I've focused on is knowledge building. According to the rubric, knowledge building is all about students forming new understandings (NOT "regurgitating" information). Since our ...

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Project Based Learning Project Based Learning with Tynker Adriene Guiriba is a third-grade teacher at Walter Hays Elementary School in Palo Alto. Some time ago her students were learning about the Baylands, one of the largest tracts of undisturbed marshland remaining in the San Francisco Bay. Guiriba is an ardent believer in Project-Based Learning (PBL) and she usually has her students explore topics in the form of posters, dioramas, and presentations. “PBL ensures that kids are engaged, drive their own learning, collaborate, and connect and apply a ...

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Project Based Learning Want more time for Project Based Learning in the Classroom? Flip it! The Flipped Classroom goes hand-in-hand with Project Based Learning. When you move some learning content delivery out of the classroom, you free up class time for whatever types of Active Learning you like your students to engage in. Project Based Learning is a powerful form of Active Learning. Teachers and other education thought leaders have shared their thinking about, and resources that focus on, the powerful potential of the flipped classroom and PBL in numerous articles and web tools....

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Project Based Learning DREAM BIG, DESIGN THE DREAM AND GO FOR IT! How to Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate a Project Based Learning Activity DESIGN, DEVELOP, IMPLEMENT AND EVALUATE The fundamentals of Instructional Design are design, develop, implement and evaluate. That is my perspective as a graduate from Syracuse University’s Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation program. The purpose of this blog post is to explain my Instructional Design (ID) process in an effort to help educators with creating learning activities that are highly effective and prepare students for 21st Century challenges. PROJECT BASED LEARNING What ...

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Project Based Learning At The Year's Turn: Next Steps.... Take a look at this: Sugata Mitra makes some significant points about education. The traditional model that we still see in most schools can trace its ancestry back to the days of the British Empire. It was an excellent model then for a world with poor communications and the system produced identikit individuals to service the needs of the empire. But today something else is needed. And that’s the rub. We can all agree with this. See Dan Buckley here on the WISE conference this year: But the...

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Project Based Learning Moving On from PISA: Ways of Thinking about Schools When I was growing up forty years ago in a small rural community in England technology was the problem as most things technological were unreliable. My dad had a series of second hand cars that were always breaking down or rusting out. Driving from A to B was frequently interrupted by the car failing. After a tow back home my dad would get under the bonnet and start taking the engine apart. Hours later covered in oil he would emerge saying it was fixed – only for something else to go wrong ...

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Project Based Learning Should we Mention the Economy Then? Last week I was in a school with the principal as we watched 1600 students stream in from their buses. There was a greasy rain falling and it was very much a late autumnal scene of greyness. What, we pondered, would happen to all these students. What would they do for work one day? It’s a compelling question wherever you are and one that we don’t tend to talk much about in schools. Maybe we should. Last month something remarkable happened at Manchester University. Economics students told ...

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Project Based Learning Help With The Common Core? There is a great deal of debate going on amongst US teachers about the common core curriculum that has currently been introduced in 47 out of 50 states. Interest too in skills. What if the two could be fused together. I argue that the best way to teach knowledge is to focus on non cognitive skills. If we can improve these - especially grit (resilience) and self management then students will learn better for themselves. It takes the pressure off teachers too. Time to turn the ship around ...

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Project Based Learning How do you teach about love? How Do You Teach About Love? Always a tricky topic for a teacher. But watch this animation and be moved! Your students will be too. Lots of things to talk about here and a gentle introduction to a difficult topic. Could PBL be used to look at great love stories produced in simple animated formats? And ask the question about why animation is such a powerful emotional format? What can we learn about ourselves from this format? ...

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Project Based Learning We start to work with PBL¡¡¡ In our school, we are very glad because we have been chosen as a Mentor School; this is very important for us because it shows we are working in the correct way; we are interested in working with projects, as we believe that allows the integration of technology, and the development of other skills of the XXI century, as critical thinking, problem solving, etc. Obviously, there are limitations imposed by legislation (specific content to develop in the classroom: teaching programs, limited ...

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Project Based Learning Challenges faced by teachers when using PBL. Challenges faced by teachers when using learning projects include the following: identification of the suitable topics for implementing project based learning. Restructuring problems to become learning opportunities. Collaborating with colleagues to develop projects include different school subjects.Using technology effectively and efficiently. Continuous assessment throughout the project. ...

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Project Based Learning PBL - can curiosity be creative? Working on a video on the most important skills for the XXI st century trainers, I asked myself, if we, as teachers using Project Based Learning, need it too. What about our students? Are they curious about what they do at school or how to make them be curious about at least a few educational areas? What is curiosity? According to Oxford University Dictionary, it is a strong desire to know or learn something. Numerous dictionaries inform that it is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such ...

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Project Based Learning Implementing innovative pedagogies by unlocking the power of collaboration Educators who are striving to help their students meet the Common Core Standards and develop 21st century skills recognize the need to adopt pedagogies like Project Based Learning and New Pedagogies for Deep Learning () to better prepare their students. This recognition hasn’t always translated into successful adoption. Working alone many educators are struggling. What is required to help teachers successfully adopt innovative pedagogies? Experts tell us collaboration among educators is one key ...

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Project Based Learning The International Day Of The Girl My school has celebrated the International Day of The Girl for the first time this year. For the past week my Students have been sharing their projects.The main topic for projects was girls 'The International Day of the girl'.These projects allowed them to explore a new international event for girls which we do not have enough time to discuss in class.In these projects they searched, analyzed, cooperated and presented.They were introduced to challenges faced girls in developing countries,...

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Project Based Learning SKILLS FOR STUDENTS IN 1 MINUTE! Globally there is a new interest in giving students skills and we can’t argue with that. See here: The problem is that there are so many and the assessment appears so complex that teachers with 30, 40 or 50 children to deal with cannot cope. This is especially acute when undertaking PBL. So the solution? Why not focus on the top two skills which drive everything else. These are resilience and the ability to manage oneself. We know that people with these skills do better both academically and...

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Project Based Learning Project Based Learning is Not Limited on One Stage. From my experience ,I think teacher can go to further and should not limit their projects on one stage. I mean that by adopting PBL to all stages of a child's life, from kindergarten to the secondary school stage. Because PBL makes learning active and easily it is easy for students to learn new things and absorb knowledge much easier, it will also stay with them forever. My team and I thought about sharing learning experiences with homeless children living on the street vs. those in orphanages....

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Project Based Learning Project based learning- The Experiential approach Project based learning involves experiential learning. The students are able to understand and learn the concepts easily and effectively. They are able to identify the issue or learning concept, clarify the objectives, analyze the alternatives, decide on strategies or solutions, implement the effective solution when PBL is facilitated throughout the learning process. It provides room for scaffolding and peer assistance/motivation in teams. Brainstorming session conducted to reach decision ...

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Project Based Learning Project based Learning - Moving from Theory to Practice Project-based learning is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying. I have made Info- graphic on Project based Learning (PBL). which explains the meaning , reason and methodology of Project based Learning (PBL) Also check my Project based on PBL under Learning Activities Teaching Corporate Social Responsibility (...

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Project Based Learning A Small PBL Idea That You Could Do! Now here is a simple idea: a vegetable garden in a school organised and run by children. It’s a simple project and doesn’t need very much in terms of resources: a piece of land and some seeds. It is an idea that is beginning to catch on in the UK. (see: ) The idea behind it is: a) Children should know where and how food is produced. b) By growing food they might take a greater interest in healthy eating and learning how to cook. c) Healthy food consumption would help reduce obesity rates ...

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