To include multiple products that permit frequent feedback and consistent opportunities for students to learn from experience.
To use performance-based assessments that communicate high expectations, present rigorous challenges, and require a range of skills and knowledge.
To encourage collaboration in some form, either through small groups, student-led presentations, or whole-class evaluations of project results.
Projects have been used as fun or change-of-pace events completed after students have been pushed through homework assignments, lectures, and tests. In
standards-based PBL, students are pulled through the curriculum by an authentic problem that creates a need to know the material. The authentic problem is tied to
content standards in the curriculum, and assessment is explicitly designed to evaluate the students knowledge of the content. Similarly, project-based learning is sometimes
equated with inquiry-based or experiential learning. Though PBL shares some overlapping characteristics with these two terms, standards-focused PBL is designed
to acknowledge the importance of standards and evaluation of student learning.
b. Project-Based Learning Benefits
Practicing PBL is the unique way that it can motivate students by engaging them in their own learning. This provides opportunities for students to pursue their
own interests and questions and make decisions about how they will find answers and solve problems. It is also clear that PBL teaches students complex processes and
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procedures such
as planning
and communicating
Mergendoller, 1999.
Accomplishing these goals, however, requires time for both teachers and students to master the behaviors and strategies necessary for successful PBL.
Recently, numerous research papers on PBL have been published to show the benefits of this paradigm for both learners and teachers. Above all the benefits,
empowering critical thinking is the mainly benefit of PBL Rogers, 2002. Here is a sample list of such benefits: tremendous gains in learners achievements, as a number
of research project show Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound [ELOB], 1999a; Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound [ELOB], 1999b; large gain in learners’
problem-solving capabilities Gallagher, Stepien, Rosenthal, 1992; Williams, Hemstreet, Liu, Smith, 1998; gains in learners’ understanding of the subject
matter Boaler, 1997; gains in understanding relating to specific skills and strategies introduced in the project Boaler, 1997; perceived changes in group problem-
solving, work habits, and other project-based learning process behaviors Tretten and Zachariou, 1995. The other benefits of PBL for today’s students have been reported
by Thomas 1999. He reports that PBL:
Overcomes the dichotomy between knowledge and thinking, helping students to both know and do.
Supports students in learning and practicing skills in problem solving, communication, and self-management.
Encourages the development of habits of mind associated with lifelong learning, civic responsibility, and personal or career success.
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Integrates curriculum areas, thematic instruction, and community issues.
Assesses performance on content and skills using criteria similar to those in the work world, thus encouraging accountability, goal setting, and improved
performance.
Creates positive communication and collaborative relationships among diverse groups of students.
Meets the needs of learners with varying skill levels and learning styles.
Engages and motivates bored or indifferent students. At its best, PBL can be also beneficial for teachers. It helps teachers to create a
high-performing classroom in which both teacher and students form a powerful learning community focused on achievement, self-mastery, and contribution to the
community Thomas, 1999. It allows teacher to focus on central ideas and salient issues in the curriculum framework, create engaging and challenging activities in the
classroom, and support self-directed learning among students Michaelson, 1999.
c. The Students in Project-Based Learning
