What teachers and administrators “need to know” about PBL implementation

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Bradley-Levine, J., Berghoff, B., Seybold, J., Sever, R., Blackwell, S. & Smiley, A. (2010).

This paper presents a road map for what hurdles need to be overcome in the pursuit of an effective implementation of PBL.

An overview is provided by the authors --

"Findings drawn from a mixed-methods research study that examines how a professional development workshop on PBL was sustained by school, district, and higher education support structures, and how these structures affected teacher perceptions of the PBL implementation process in their classrooms, at their schools, and across their district. The findings illustrate that PBL implementation is a complex process requiring educators, students and their families, policy makers, and community members to redefine beliefs and expectations about teaching and learning.

This study is a follow-up to a summer project-based learning institute sponsored by two universities and a local school district in a Midwestern state. About 250 educators from across the state attended the three-day institute, during which middle school and high school teachers, school and district administrators, and higher education faculty members engaged as learners in the PBL instructional approach. The institute began with an overview of PBL, followed by the formation of beginner and advanced groups where attendees collaborated to create driving questions, entry documents, workshops and other scaffolding activities, and assessment rubrics that they would use during the upcoming school year.

Administrators collaborated to develop school or district action plans, working with groups from their school or district to determine what types of support structures teachers would need to implement PBL in their classrooms. This study tracked a group of teachers after the institute to determine their effectiveness in implementing a PBL plan and the support structures that facilitated the process.

Specifically, the following research questions were addressed: (1) How are teachers implementing (or not) PBL in their classrooms? (2) How supported (by all stakeholders) do teachers feel during the PBL implementation process? and (3) What are the challenges to implementing PBL?"

The barriers they discuss make it clear to school leaders that successful PBL implementation has to be a comprehensive, serious, sustained, well-supported effort.

For more information on the source of the study, see the CELL Middle School Project Based Learning web site.

Suggested citation:

Bradley-Levine, J., Berghoff, B., Seybold, J., Sever, R., Blackwell, S. & Smiley, A. (2010). What teachers and administrators "need to know" about project-based learning implementation. Paper presented at Annual Meetings of the American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO. April, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.bie.org/research/study/teachers_and_administrators_need_to_know