What is PBL?
Project Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional strategy that enables students to learn meaningful content and practice skills needed for 21st century success. If we are serious about reaching 21st century educational goals,…
Does PBL Work?
There is forty years of accumulated evidence that the instructional strategies and procedures that make up standards-focused Project Based Learning are effective in building deep content understanding, raising academic achievement and encouraging…
What do students say?
“It really, actually changed my life.”
High school students reflect on their experience of project based learning and describe how they not only learned a great deal of content, but also practiced the 21st century skills needed for personal and workplace success. [Time: 4:00]
What does PBL look like?
Water Quality Project: Media Saves the Beach
During an interdisciplinary project, High Tech High students use the power of media and the knowledge of scientific data to educate the public about the water quality at local beaches. [Time: 5:32]
How to do PBL
Wing Project: Manage the Process
Students at Aviation High School in Seattle form permanent teams with defined roles during the engineering design process. [Time: 5:43]
How to do PBL
Watershed Project: Craft the Driving Question
Instructors at the Marin School of Arts and Technology refine an abstract idea into a concrete driving question relating local Watersheds. [Time: 5:06]
Cool Tools
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PBL Starter Kit ($24)
The PBL Starter Kit contains BIE's latest guidance for planning & managing projects with planning forms, rubrics, handouts, 6 example projects, and practical advice for successfully running your first project.
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PBL Handbook ($35)
The PBL Handbook gives an overview of PBL, explains how to design and manage successful projects, provides sample rubrics, forms and handouts, and describes five example projects.
