July 31-Aug. 4, 2017

Each Friday we post a list of articles, blog posts, research studies, and other resources we’ve run across that relate to Project Based Learning.

Here’s what we liked this week:

PBL Ohio Institute
Educational Service Center of Central Ohio
From what I saw on Twitter last week and reports from BIE colleagues, this event was huge success. In addition to BIE workshops, the keynote by Ron Berger was a highlight; he also led sessions based on his recent book, Learning That Lasts.

Three Theories of Educational Change
Education Week
Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, chief research officer at Michael Fullan's education consulting team, joins the debate about Paolo Freire (critical pedagogy & social justice) vs. John Dewey (constructivism—and who we consider the father of PBL). Rincón-Gallardo believes the two camps are closer than they think because they both pursue deeper learning, and ought to band together against the common foe: “schooling as we have known it.”

Soft Skills Are Anything But Soft
edCircuit
Subtitled “Four Ways to Provide Support for 21st Century Problem Solving Skills,” this post describes how a cohort of new PBL teachers realized the importance of teaching the 4Cs.

How to Design a Classroom Built on Inquiry, Openness and Trust
KQED Mind/Shift
This is not a new post, but I hadn’t seen it before and it’s a good one. Canadian teacher Shelley Wright, who used to be a member of our National Faculty, offers lots of wisdom about building a PBL culture.

PBL in a Widely Diverse School District
Remarkable Chatter
Nice podcast on Ginger Lewman’s blog, featuring Dodge City, Kansas instructional leader Jayne Diaz who discusses how she helps teachers make the shift to PBL and other inquiry-based methods.

Critical thinking: how to help your students become better learners
The Guardian
While not about PBL specifically, there’s some excellent advice here, drawn from a toolkit from the Education Endowment Foundation: work on setting goals, encourage self-awareness, prompt self-questioning, and model your thought processes.

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