Best Practice

Planning, running & assessing project-based learning in your classroom

Project-based learning can be effective, but how do you actually introduce it into your classroom? In the second part of his best practice article, Matt Bromley offers practical advice on incorporating this approach

Project-based learning works best when students regard the project as personally meaningful and when it fulfils an educational purpose – in other words, when it is an integral part of the curriculum.

A project can be made personally meaningful if teachers begin by triggering students’ curiosity. In other words, at the start of the first lesson on the project, the teacher uses a “hook” to engage students’ interest and initiate questioning. A hook can be anything: a video, a lively discussion, a guest speaker, a field trip, or a text.

With a compelling project, the reason for the learning becomes clear. A project can also be made personally meaningful to students if the teacher poses a big question that captures the heart of the project in clear, compelling language, and which gives students a sense of purpose and challenge. A big question should be provocative, open and complex. The question can be abstract or concrete, or it can be focused on solving a problem. The big question is the string that binds the project together.

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