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 Digital Storytelling Using Microsoft PowerPoint As the coach of our school’s Student Technology Leadership Program, I have had the privilege of engaging students in digital storytelling and entering the best stories into a contest held each year at the state level. My students have been quite successful and have won first place in 4 out of the past 5 years. Each year the students have used Microsoft PowerPoint as the building block for the digital stories. Microsoft PowerPoint is quite flexible, but normally is used for lectures or ...

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Project Based Learning Kids Who Code Code-a-thon Our latest project based learning has focused on planning and preparing for hosting our own unique Hour of Code event. On Friday, December 12th our class co-hosted the Code-a-thon with Kindergarten class at Oak Lake Community School. After over the last few weeks, my Grade 2s were very excited to lead their coding activities and share their coding expertise. I was incredibly proud of my students as I watched them teach other (younger and older) students and community members about coding. ...

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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 Nurture Creativity with Computer Programming As kids, we embrace imaginative play, we ask questions, paint colorful pictures, and build elaborate things with our blocks, but somewhere along the way our capacity for creative thinking diminishes. It’s not because we lack the “creative gene”, we just haven’t reinforced it or, as researcher George Land concludes from his longitudinal study on creativity and divergent thinking, we have "unlearned it". There are many aspects of computer programming that can nurture creativity. And if reinforced...

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Project Based Learning Kids Who Code: Exploring and Evaluating Coding Tools The project is well underway in our classroom! Our class has been exploring coding for the last couple of weeks. We've learned that coding is "giving computers instructions/directions" and students have had the chance to try out a variety of coding tools. My students have learned a lot (and so have I!) Here is what we've been up to: Exploration Time: Students have used different devices to explore a variety of coding tools including Lightbot, Hopscotch, Kodable, Code Monkey, ScratchJr., Tynker...

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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 Kids Who Code Code-a-thon Meets Project-Based Learning! My teaching partner and friend, , and I have worked together for a number of years on a variety of learning projects. For the past few years, our collaborations have focused on service-based projects where we have strived to make a difference, both locally and globally. A great deal of rich, real-life learning has taken place, and it has been inspiring to guide our students as they have become change agents in their homes and communities. From selling cookies and iced tea to , to planning and ...

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Project Based Learning 'It's the Economy Stupid...' 'It's the economy stupid' is a variation on what was said by Bill Clinton in running for the 1992 election against George W Bush. What Clinton focused on was an obvious issue: without economic growth there would be no prosperity and not much could happen. I was thinking about this and the response to my last post when I was in Buenos Aires a couple of weeks ago at an educational conference. Great people and huge enthusiasm for change. Yet the country struggles in the light of a global economy ...

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Project Based Learning Progress Slippage... Looking out at education 2014 to 2015 one cannot help but feel that the global context is getting rather worse. Governments around the world are still wrestling with budget difficulties caused by the 2008 collapse. And now new economic gloom is descending in Europe and the Far East. Meanwhile renewed war and instability in the Middle East, the Ebola outbreak and armed conflict in Ukraine all paint a picture of things spinning out of control. Of course the world has been at such cross roads ...

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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 The Pigeon Project: Our Journey to Authoring Pigeon Books I am excited to start a new school year, especially since I know I have a great group of students and parents to work with! For the first time, I am looping up to Grade 2 with my Grade 1 class from last year. I think it is going to be great and I can't wait to see what incredible things we will do together this year! In the whirlwind that occurs during the end of the school year, our class started an incredible writing project. We were so busy that we didn't really even have the chance to share,...

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Project Based Learning Computer Programming Helps Develop Math Skills If you are looking for a project-based way to support math learning in the classroom, try computer programming. Several teachers have described to me how they are using Tynker (a creative computing platform) to support math – by easily creating fun math simulations, or creating real-world connections and structured collaboration with math concepts. If kids are creating games with computer programming, they are using and observing math skills in a fun way! Math is a critical skill for kids to ...

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Project Based Learning Project based learning from the master See this! ...

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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 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 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 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 Human Impact on the Environment It is often the unexpected outcomes that are the most exciting aspect of project based learning. Last year I ran a collaborative project between 12 schools in conjunction with the Environmental Education department of the City of Cape Town and have been lucky enough to be been selected to present this project, Human Impact on the Environment, at the World Forum in Barcelona next week. Schools partnered up to research aspects of Human Impact on the Environment and then made a short video on their...

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Project Based Learning Reflecting on Another Successful Project Although reflection is an ongoing part of the project based learning model in our classroom, I want to take time at the end of this special to think about the learning and teaching involved. Some reflections from my perspective: I loved the enthusiasm! Students and teachers alike got really excited about our Olympics project. The interesting sports, inspiring athletes and accessible live coverage were a few things that seemed to really grab our attention and “hook us” on this project! Not to...

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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: The best way to manage to differences between each student! As a teacher, your main task is to prepare student for their future. More and more teachers start becoming more convinced that they need to integrate 21st century skills in their education. A nice development. The next step is that teachers need to be convinced that project based learning can be an effective means to achieve the goals. Lack of time, dare and expertise can’t be an excuse but it must be taken into account by the school director. The greatest advantage of project-based learning is ...

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Project Based Learning Designing Postcards for Our Olympians My Grade 1 students have continued to work with Mrs. Caldwell’s Oak Lake Kindergarten class to learn about the Olympics. Many students have done research at home with their families and made guest blog posts sharing their findings. We have also done some research and posts together as a class. Students worked in small groups to build knowledge of the and recorded their new understandings using . While we were on a Skype call discussing our project with the Kindergartens, students had the neat ...

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Project Based Learning What's the Most Valuable Trait in Learning? If I was to choose one single quality that helps people the most, not only with success in school but also with happiness throughout life, it would be internal motivation. Internal motivation is what drives passion. It drives the quest for knowledge, it drives interest and it drives repeat exposure to something…which in turn creates expertise. Some adults never possess that in their lifetime, and I think it has a lot to do with how we structure our teaching…therefore our learning. I have a niece...

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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 Olympics Project: The Momentum Continues As I explained in my , my students and their families have really taken ownership of our Olympics project and they have been working on research at home. More students have come to school with information to create their own blog posts! (You can view the latest student posts .) I am looking forward to helping students share their learning and their enthusiasm for this project is really motivating for me! In addition to all the great homework going on, we have also been working on research at ...

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Project Based Learning Bett 2014: Project Based Learning in Action I went to the Bett show last week. ‘What did you think?’ my colleague asked when I was back. ‘Well, it’s big.’ I replied. In fact the ExCeL convention centre offers 100,000 square metres of exhibition space and lecture spaces. Outside this vast arena you are greeted with a large number of people hanging around talking or smoking or just waiting for friends and colleagues. Inside the electronic registration is pretty zippy and then you are off walking through a vast interior street full of ...

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Project Based Learning Olympics Project is Taking Off! Our Olympics project is off to a strong start! The morning after our , I had planned a “normal” morning of mini-lessons, Daily 5 English Language Arts, guided reading groups and student conferencing. As we gathered at the carpet for our first mini-lesson, one of my students announced that he “had to get something” and quickly returned with a note paper full of information about the Olympics. The student explained that he had talked to his Dad about the Olympics and found out lots of facts for...

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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 Olympics Project: Modeling Internet Research & Encouraging Digital Citizenship My hardworking and curious group of Grade 1s has jumped on board for our Olympics learning project. After our Skype call with the OLCS Kindergartens on Tuesday, our class did some research together to answer two of their inquiry questions. This allowed me to model some basic research. Students suggested we use the internet to find information, so I modeled a web search and read aloud information from a relevant website. After listening, some rereading and discussion, students were ready to ...

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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 World Events: Olympics Project Launch For our next project, my class is going to be working on a collaborative Olympics project with Kindergarten class! Yesterday morning, we had a call with the Kindergartens. I explained to the boys and girls that a big event is happening in the world this winter, but did not tell them what special event I was talking about. Before watching , Mrs.Caldwell and I asked our students to be detectives and look for clues in the video about what the big event might be. After watching the video, a ...

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Project Based Learning Farmer Appreciation Day: A Success! After weeks of preparation, the big day finally arrived! My students were ready to host our local farmers and show them just how much we appreciate them! Students chose to dress up in farmer clothes for the occasion, which was lots of fun. We had student-created art and posters displayed on our hallway bulletin boards and in our classroom, which students had worked hard to create and display. We had a guest book table, complete with a guest book designed by some of the Grade 1s. Our ...

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Project Based Learning Teaching About Freedom The hot topics site now has more than a million visitors a week from around the world making it one of the most visited education sites in the world. People come from literally everywhere to read, think and sometimes contribute. It is fair to say that many of our teacher readers live in countries where the basic democratic freedoms enjoyed in the west either do not exist or exist in only a watered down form. The internet of course is a great leveller of information and the future looks ...

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