Project-based learning: benefits, examples and resources

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING: BENEFITS, EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES
What Is Project-Based Learning?
Project-based learning (PBL) or project-based instruction is an instructional approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world. Project-based learning is more than just “doing a project,” in the way you might remember from your own school days. As the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) explains, with PBL, students “investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex problem or challenge” with deep and sustained attention. ArchForKids, an organization that provides STEAM programs for young learners, puts it even more succinctly: PBL is “learning by doing.”
Why Project-Based Learning? We Live in a Project-Based World
The truth is, many in education recognize that our modern world is sustained and advanced through the successful completion of projects. Or, as the Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, put it, “knowledge is a consequence of experience. » It’s true! Your weekend chores, an upcoming presentation, or organizing a fundraising event—they’re all projects. This is the spirit behind PBL, and we see evidence of its increasing popularity in things like the growth of the maker movement. When we help students have authentic experiences, we prepare them for the real world. In its purest form, PBL prepares students to be self-sufficient, creative, and critical thinkers that can take on any challenge. For most modern workers, their careers will be marked by a series of projects rather than years of service to a specific organization. “Solving real-world issues that matter is important to us as adults—and it’s important to our students,” explain Latham, Lenz, and Vander Ark in their e-book, Preparing Students for a Project-Based World. In short, if we are to prepare students for success in life, we need to prepare them for a project-based world. Therefore, when relating project-based learning benefits to students, we must always include examples of real-world application. This will reinforce for students the notion that they can break down future problems into their component parts, assemble and lead a diverse team of stakeholders to process the problem, and implement a solution.