Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences

It's no secret that in today's complex world, students face unparalleled demands as they prepare for college, careers, and active citizenship. However, those demands won't be met without a fundamental shift from traditional, teacher-centered instruction toward innovative, student-centered teaching and learning. For schools ready to make such a shift, project-based learning (PBL) offers a proven framework to help students be better equipped to tackle future challenges.

Project Based Teachers encourage active questioning, curiosity, and peer learning; create learning environments in which every student has a voice; and have a mastery of content but are also comfortable responding to students' questions by saying, "I don't know. Let's find out together."

In this book, Suzie Boss and John Larmer build on the framework for Gold Standard PBL originally presented in Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning and explore the seven practices integral to Project Based Teaching:

• Build the Culture
• Design and Plan
• Align to Standards
• Manage Activities
• Assess Student Learning
• Scaffold Student Learning
• Engage and Coach

For each practice, the authors present a wide range of practical strategies and include teachers' reflections about and suggestions from their classroom experiences.

This book and a related series of free videos provide a detailed look at what's happening in PBL classrooms from the perspective of the Project Based Teacher. Let's find out together.

A copublication of ASCD and Buck Institute for Education (BIE).