Check out these 50 (!!) project based learning activities to engage and excite students and get you started with PBL.
Throughout the school year, I know I would often find myself scrambling for ways to keep my students engaged in their learning and jazz up our classroom routine. As the sun starts shining brighter and summer is in the air, students are restless, and so are we... but the show must go on! Learning must continue, but can be done in an engaging and fresh way with hands on, creative project based learning resources! Grab a few of these PBL project ideas to finish out the year and enjoy watching your students engage in their learning and demonstrate their hard earned skills!
This blog post will introduce you to six simple, fun, and enriching project-based learning ideas for your English Language Arts classroom.
Have students find and implement solutions to real-world problems.
Have you been looking for the perfect project based learning curriculum? If you've been on the lookout for a game-changing approach to captivate your upper elementary students and ignite a passion for learning, you're in for a treat! Buckle up as we dive into the world of project-based learning (PBL) – the secret sauce to turning mundane lessons into exciting adventures.
Are you looking for ways to hold your students’ interest and ignite their passion for learning? Look no further! In today's blog post, we will explore
I love the whole idea of project-based learning! The idea of addressing all subject areas in the context of one project makes so much sense, and allows for better real-life application. I had dabbled in PBL a little bit, but never to the extent of this project, in which I asked students to design a zoo. This was the perfect project for the end of our strange traditional-turned-virtual school year, and the kids really took it and ran with it! They were able to complete it at their own pace, collaborating with their families, and it went so well that I'm already planning to use it again next year when we're (hopefully) back in the traditional classroom. While the task of designing a zoo sounds monumental, I broke it down into individual tasks for my students. Differentiation was easy as I gave families the freedom of doing more or less than suggested for each task, depending on the needs of their child and family. (Let's face it, crisis schooling is not the same as homeschooling; I know some families just didn't have time to go all-out on a project, and that's okay!) Using this in the traditional classroom will make for easy differentiation, too, and I've included teacher tips for both higher and lower lever learners for each task in the download which is available here in my store! This project includes all of the subjects and many first grade standards. First, students select animals to include in their zoo and conduct research on them, making notes about what they eat, what kind of climate they need, and more. Next, they design the habitats based on their research, and create a plaque for each animal exhibit. They work on mapping skills as they create a map of their zoo, and coding as they then use their map to give directions to popular destinations. Math is integrated as they come up with prices for tickets and extra amenities they included in their zoo, and also as they set a feeding schedule for their animals. After all of that work is done, they get to add in art and technology as they design advertisements and create a commercial. Some of my kids even decided to design t-shirts! It was so satisfying as a teacher to see all of the ways my students completed this project. After completing all of the tasks and research, most of them actually set up a physical zoo in their house, and they were incredibly creative! Some of them made animals out of clay, others used stuffed animals--one even used her sister wearing an animal hat! They all truly made it their own, while learning and applying skills along the way. I hope your class has as much fun with this as mine did! You can find it here in my shop or here in my TPT store. Keep teaching with heart and passion!
Read on to get some great ideas for project-based learning in your middle school classroom!
Learn how Project Pals make it easier for educators to find PBL projects that are just right for their classrooms. Upgrade project-based learning with this powerful platform.
The genesis of a great project is the idea itself -- we're providing you with 50 smart project-based learning ideas for your classroom.
How to plan collaborative project-based learning activities in the math classroom. Check out these engaging PBL ideas for 3rd grade students!
Ever wonder how to schedule project-based learning into your already busy classroom schedule? In this post, you'll see sample schedules for every grade!
What is PBL? Project-based learning is an approach in which students explore real-world problems and challenges to acquire a deepe...
Do you want to get started with project based learning, but you’re not sure how? Maybe project based learning sounds too complicated, in-depth, and overwhelming to you? That’s how I felt when I first delved into PBL. But now I know there is nothing to be afraid of! In this post, I will give a quick explanation of project-based learning and then give you some tips and ideas to begin to implement it in your own classroom. What is Project Based Learning? Project based learning, simply stated, is an authentic learning experience
Looking for a new way to teach science to your middle school kiddos? Check out these 13 project-based learning ideas for middle school science the entire family will love doing together. You can also make project based learning lesson plans for each one with these suggested extension activities included!
Looking for project based learning ideas for middle school or elementary school students? They will love planning a road trip from start to finish!
Sometimes, we're using project-based learning and other times, we're just doing projects. Here's a project based learning ideas checklist to help clarify.
Seven essential elements to include in your next PBL to
Project-Based Homeschooling is based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy. If you're interested in encouraging deep, complex learning, read this!
What is project based learning? How can I implement it in my classroom? These are all questions I had just a few weeks ago that many of you may have...
This blog post will introduce you to six simple, fun, and enriching project-based learning ideas for your English Language Arts classroom.
I love social studies and how it mixes so well with everything that we are doing in ELA!! Right now, we are reading “The Lemonade War”! My kiddos love it and so do I! The best part is that it fits perfectly into our Economics standards! We use this novel study to go through the ... Read More about Market Day Economics Project
Learn what homeschoolers need to know about project-based learning (PBL) from the perspective of a classroom teacher working closely with homeschoolers.
Inquiry-based learning allows teachers to not only help students learn better, but also allow them to tap into their intrinsic motivation to outpreform peers
How to plan collaborative project-based learning activities in the math classroom. Check out these engaging PBL ideas for 3rd grade students!
Have you thought about project-based learning in your homeschool? I developed this step-by-step guide to help homeschool parents use this method.
Interested in trying project based learning but not sure where to begin? This project based learning example from start to finish will show you.
Are you looking to elevate your Ecosystems and Biomes unit? This 4th or 5th grade project based learning unit for ecosystems incorporates science, nonfiction reading, research, writing, and the arts! Read to find out how I organized the research project, what our launch activity was, the driving que
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING What is PBL? The Buck Institute created this helpful video for teachers. Here is a great link to...
Wondering how to get started with PBL? This blog post explores four things you need to get started with a project-based learning planning template!
Are you looking for some great project based learning examples? In education, teachers are continually seeking creative ways to captivate their students' interest and foster a love for learning. One approach gaining popularity is Project-Based Learning (PBL), a student-centered type of learning that allows students to explore real-world problems and challenges. For upper elementary teachers, integrating PBL into the curriculum can be an amazing experience, promoting critical thinking, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of academic concepts. In this blog post, we'll explore a variety of engaging project-based learning examples that can be easily incorporated into upper elementary classrooms.
Looking for project based learning ideas for middle school or elementary school students? They will love planning a road trip from start to finish!
There's still a wide range of understanding of what high quality PBL is and how to plan for it. Here's a step-by-step guide.
Hey there, Matt from Digital: Divide & Conquer, and I just wanted to share why you should be pushing project based learning with your students and in your classroom. I’m sure you’ve seen or read plenty of articles about it, but I felt like a little first hand knowledge would go a long way with this. In fact -I’m going to let you know five of my favorite double-secret probation reasons why PBL needs to be in your classroom ASAP. Secret ONE: Picture Books Kick Butt! You know those love affairs you have with books...well, you get to continue them with PBL. Picture books are perfect (for almost every single grade level). No matter the topic or idea, there’s a book for the topic. Books are the "easy button" of PBL. They’ll pull in your learners, give them ideas, and expand their knowledge of subjects. You use picture books for every subject, so why not continue that when there’s project based learning involved. Secret TWO: Pop Culture Happy Hour! Pop culture isn’t just something I have to read about on magazine covers while waiting in line at the grocery store. Nope. Pop culture can be a driving force because nowadays EVERYTHING becomes sensationalized (this is good and bad, don’t get me started). Find those pop culturally relevant moments and turn them into projects and problems for kids to solve. Some of my favorites involve zombies, food trucks, and lost islands in the Pacific that might have dinosaurs. Photo by @shammanaj One of my all-time favorite PBL activities is seeing if students can design their own tiny house. The past couple of years has been a tiny home explosion on television and in cities around the world. If you want your students to understand area, perimeter, and design a house, this is it. Not to mention -you can throw in real-world pop culture from HGTV shows and even have home builders come to school. Secret THREE: BFFs with STE(A)M Science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics....if there was only a way to weave them all together...wait a second... Project based learning extends to this STEM realm because it is the constant force for problem solving. Rather than just hitting each of the identified content areas in STEM, adding PBL portions helps take it to the next level. If you’re already implementing STEM go further and target more than one area of content. This could take a little time, but it’s worth the effort. Secret FOUR: Attack of the Arts Quite possibly my favorite part, the arts play such an important role in PBL because so much of it relies on students using their creativity, imagination, willingness to explore, and opportunities to take chances. I highly encourage my students to draw and design throughout all the stages of PBL (maybe more than most) but I feel it’s necessary and allows students to really get into what they’re working on and learning. When I say "the arts" I'm not just talking about drawing. I'm including visual design, storytelling, music, technology, and so much more. The arts are a crucial and under appreciated part of PBL. Secret FIVE: It Is For All Learners If someone tells you that PBL is just for the talented and gifted, (take a deep breath) and feel free to laugh at them. But maybe not too much. Seriously though, if we’re only giving “top” students a chance at PBL we’re missing out. All kids need opportunities to show off their own differentiated sets of skills. And the chances are pretty great that many kids are craving opportunities to show that they think differently. Give them that chance. As a special education teacher, PBL gives me unlimited abilities to engage my students with the material and concepts AND give them space to create and solve problems in ways I never even imagined. PBL is worth it. So if you're looking to unlock double-secret probation reasons of project based learning that no one ever told you about check out some of my PBL resources to get you started. It's easier than you think. You can find more from me at Digital: Divide & Conquer where I tackle project based learning, technology, and the space in between. SaveSave
The past few years I’ve had the opportunity to teach a course entirely through project based learning. Our local university approached a couple of schools in our district and asked us if we were interested in teaching a cross-curricular PBL program where our grade 12 students can earn college credits. Ummmm…. heck yeah! Basically, the ... Read more
This blog post will introduce you to six simple, fun, and enriching project-based learning ideas for your English Language Arts classroom.
Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a new Project-Based Learning initiative with my students. Working in groups, the students have developed business models, created budgets, filled out loan applications, met with loan officers, developed advertising campaigns, and placed purchase orders for materials. They've corresponded by email with their loan officers and tracked their work in business portfolios. They've presented their business plans to leaders in our school community, and are preparing to start production when we get back from spring break. My students are seven and eight years old. They don't even have all of their teeth yet. It sounds unbelievable, but I promise--it's true. If you haven't experienced Project-Based Learning in your classroom, I can't WAIT to share all about it with you, and how I make it come to life for my second graders. I won't lie--it's a lot of work. However, teaching in and of itself is a lot of work, and I've actually found that committing to one large project is a far better use of my time, effort, energy, and resources than planning 25 separate, smaller, unrelated activities. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll share how to practically apply Project-Based Learning in a primary setting, and give you the tools and resources you need to make it happen in your own classroom. Before I dive into the specifics of the project we're currently working on, though, I want to outline some of the core principles of Project-Based Learning and some of the practical first steps you need to consider before you write even a single lesson plan. Project-Based Learning is an instructional strategy defined by several key components. First, students need to have a real-life problem that they are trying to solve. This is written in the form of an essential question. All lessons and learning activities are tied to this essential question, and the question helps to focus the unit of study. This leads to the next component of Project-Based Learning, inquiry. Project-Based Learning allows for open-ended exploration of the essential question. This means that students working in groups might all come up with slightly different answers to the essential question, and that's okay. This also means that students might fail at first, and that's okay, too. A final characteristic of Project-Based Learning is that the project is integrated into all content areas over a long period of time, and eventually the project is shared with others. Project-Based Learning is NOT a single day of lessons, and it isn't something you do from 9:30 to 10:30 each morning. Instead, your reading, writing, grammar, science, social studies, and math lessons ALL point back to the essential question, and help students move forward in their project in some way. Where is the teacher in all of this? The teacher is a guide and facilitator, but not the source of all knowledge. Of course, direct instruction is involved, but there's a huge, collaborative problem-solving component woven into the instruction, as well. I'll be completely honest: when I first heard about Project-Based Learning, just thinking about it made me feel exhausted. This was a major shift from how I had previously taught my primary students! I used to approach planning on a week-to-week basis, and would look up activities and crafts on Pinterest for each separate content area. I'm certainly not knocking Pinterest (in fact, you can see my own overflowing Pinterest boards here!); I always found great activities that really engaged my students. The difference with shifting to Project-Based Learning, though, is that I'm no longer searching for and prepping 25 separate activities each week. Instead, each subject area is seen as an opportunity to make progress towards one big goal of completing a final project. Instead of planning on a week-to-week basis, I plan on a unit-to-unit basis. Before you get totally overwhelmed, let me encourage you: Project-Based Learning takes no more effort than you are already putting into your teaching. If you are a week-to-week planner like I was, you'll find that planning a whole unit at a time is actually easier! I'll be sharing an overview of our current Economics unit in a future post so that you can have a practical example of what this looks like, but first I want to share the initial steps for putting together a Project-Based Learning unit. 1. Create a Curriculum Map Gather all of your standards for each of your content areas in one place. Are you working on narrative writing? Jot down that standard. What ELA standards are you focusing on? What math standards will you be working on? Most importantly, what science or social studies standards will you be covering? (These last ones will be key in designing your Project-Based Learning unit.) Put all of these standards into one document, and now you have your Curriculum Map! 2. Identify a Central Theme Now that you have all of your standards together in one place, what kind of themes do you see? Can you tie together social studies and science standards? Do any specific math concepts correlate with your topic? Consider what books or articles you could study that are related to your topic. By starting a unit with a particular theme in mind, you'll be better equipped to make smart decisions about the resources you choose to plan your lessons around. You might also spot some ways you could group your standards and identify concepts that would lend themselves to being taught in tandem. 3. Write Your Essential Question After you've identified a central theme, craft an essential question that encompasses a real-world problem related to that theme. Essential questions are broad, but they help define the purpose behind a project. For example, the essential question for our Economics unit is, "How can we use economics to bring justice to the world?" This encompassed our topics of economics and countries working together, and defined a purpose for why we would care about buying a cow for a family in the developing world. 4. Outline Your Project Once you have your unit theme and essential question, you can start to think about a project that would give your students a real-world problem to solve. In our Economics unit, I focused on the problem of economic injustice in the world. Not all problems that are presented to students need to be on a global scale, though. We happened to be studying about how countries work together for our social studies standards, so choosing a global problem was appropriate. In other units, though, we've identified problems on a school level. When choosing a project, just remember that it should be spread out over weeks, not hours. It's completely reasonable to break up a project into a lot of tiny steps, especially with primary kiddos. Sketch out what you want your final project to be and list off the small steps your students will need to take over the course of the unit. 5. Create a Weekly Pacing Guide Whew, last step! Now it's time to make your Weekly Pacing Guide. I promise that this upfront work will make your weekly planning a breeze. Pull out your Curriculum Map, Project Outline, and calendar. In a new document, map out how many weeks your unit will take. Divvy up your standards by week, deciding how long you want to spend on each content area standard. For each week, make a note about your project goals for that week. What portion of the project will your students be working on, and how will that tie to the standards? Now when you go to do your detailed weekly planning, you won't be doing a search on Pinterest for each individual content area. You'll still be searching for resources (Pinterest is great!), but you'll be carefully and intentionally choosing activities that all relate to each other and to your essential question. If this still feels like a mystery, don't panic. I'll be sharing with you all of the start-to-finish details of my class' most recent Project-Based Learning experience in Part 2! If you're ready to get started and want to integrate Project-Based Learning into your classroom right away, I've put together a resource to make your first experience a breeze. I've included ALL of the printable materials you'll need for a project, along with a detailed daily pacing guide, in my Marketplace Economics packet. If you're interested, you can find the printable materials here. For those of you who have already implemented Project-Based Learning in your classrooms, what has your experience been like? I'd love to hear all about it!
Inside: Get 10 winter project based learning ideas that your students will love. Create a hot cocoa stand, using real-life math and writing skills!
This post is part 1 in my inquiry series. To learn more about inquiry click through to see my many other posts about inquiry. If you are new to my blog,
Looking forward to trying PBL in your classroom, but at a loss about what topic to do it on? Learn how I choose the best project based learning topic!
The following is a guest post from Jorge Valenzuela . If you're new to Project Based Learning (PBL), the concept of doing projects can seem daunting, overwhelming, and perhaps outright tricky. Moreover, many educators do have some experience with having their students do or create projects.
If you are getting started with inquiry, you may wonder where to start and how to prepare for something that is student-led. Although using an inquiry
Looking for project based learning ideas for middle school or elementary school students? They will love planning a road trip from start to finish!
