Developing the Project Concept:
• What type of Project do you want to conduct with your students and why?
• Will you be collaborating with other teachers in, or out of your school?
• What content areas do you want to craft this project around?
• Take a real-world topic related to the selected content areas.
• Create a Driving Question that will drive investigation into the topic.
Develop a Driving Question that:
• Is aimed at solving a problem
• Will lead to deep inquiry
• Will invite future learning
• Is meaningful to the student, the school, the community, and/or the world
• Is an issue that students believe in or have a passion for
• By answering, they are having a positive impact on something or someone
Understandings/Outcomes:
• What specifically do you want students to understand?
• What facts and basic concepts should students know and be able to recall?
• What will students know and what will they be able to do?
• What curriculum, standards, and performance-based objectives will be addressed?
• Will the learning be meaningful and applicable in their lives?
• Project activities should be connected to curricular objectives.
• Build planning time in to address curriculum connections.
Skills: Students will be able to independently use their learning to:
• Demonstrate citizenship and leadership
• Work through real-world problems by trial and error
• Collaborate and problem solve with others
• Utilize technology to actualize and express ideas
• Guide future independent directed learning across disciplines using the PBL process
Project Design/Features:
• What teachers/colleagues should be involved in the collaborative brainstorming process?
• Is the project part of a curricular unit?
• Do students have choice of topic within a curriculum?
• Will the teacher be guiding students in the framing of a driving question? Will students create their own driving question?
• Is the project interdisciplinary and thematic?
• Will you be collaborating with other teachers in, or out of your school?
• Will students work independently or in groups or a combination?
• Will the project involve class trips and or individual student experiences outside of the school day?
• Does the project have community partners?
• Will the project have a service-learning component?
Technology: How will technology be implemented to enhance the Project by:
• Communication Collaborating with other students/educators via technology
• Information sources, information sharing
• Creating, producing, presenting (Website, documents, etc)
Community Partnerships/Resources:
• Which Community Partners can help you with your project?
• In what ways will Community Partnerships model good citizenship/leadership?
• What resources do you need to see the project through to completion?
• Will project related class trips be taken?
Project Timeline:
• Overall length of time
• Time per week
• Weekly Schedule
Project Activities:
• Planned to achieve overall project objectives.
• Connected to grade appropriate curricular objectives in at least 2 subject areas.
• Engage students to take ownership of their educational processes
• Are the activities FUN?
Benchmarks:
• Set clear time referenced deadlines for each task and/or product.
• Should be scaffolded to build on previously achieved objectives towards success of the project.
• Help build the guidelines in which the project can take place
Reflection/Journals:
• Student journals will offer students the opportunity to continuously reflect and assess their progress toward completion of the project.
• Teachers can use student journals as valuable assessment tools.
• Offer students the opportunity to learn from the strategies that did and, perhaps more importantly, did not work to achieve project objectives.
Assessment:
• Will student be assessed throughout the project cycle or on a final project? Formative/Summative
• An effective assessment program uses multiple strategies to demonstrate growth and performance, and should be closely correlated to your stated goals.
• How are rubrics used as an effective assessment and evaluation tool?
Reporting Out:
• Students will report out to peers, school staff, and the larger community:
• How they addressed their driving question.
• What they learned.
• Their final project products.
Celebration:
How students will be celebrated and recognized for their important work at a Reporting Out Celebration!
• What type of Project do you want to conduct with your students and why?
• Will you be collaborating with other teachers in, or out of your school?
• What content areas do you want to craft this project around?
• Take a real-world topic related to the selected content areas.
• Create a Driving Question that will drive investigation into the topic.
Develop a Driving Question that:
• Is aimed at solving a problem
• Will lead to deep inquiry
• Will invite future learning
• Is meaningful to the student, the school, the community, and/or the world
• Is an issue that students believe in or have a passion for
• By answering, they are having a positive impact on something or someone
Understandings/Outcomes:
• What specifically do you want students to understand?
• What facts and basic concepts should students know and be able to recall?
• What will students know and what will they be able to do?
• What curriculum, standards, and performance-based objectives will be addressed?
• Will the learning be meaningful and applicable in their lives?
• Project activities should be connected to curricular objectives.
• Build planning time in to address curriculum connections.
Skills: Students will be able to independently use their learning to:
• Demonstrate citizenship and leadership
• Work through real-world problems by trial and error
• Collaborate and problem solve with others
• Utilize technology to actualize and express ideas
• Guide future independent directed learning across disciplines using the PBL process
Project Design/Features:
• What teachers/colleagues should be involved in the collaborative brainstorming process?
• Is the project part of a curricular unit?
• Do students have choice of topic within a curriculum?
• Will the teacher be guiding students in the framing of a driving question? Will students create their own driving question?
• Is the project interdisciplinary and thematic?
• Will you be collaborating with other teachers in, or out of your school?
• Will students work independently or in groups or a combination?
• Will the project involve class trips and or individual student experiences outside of the school day?
• Does the project have community partners?
• Will the project have a service-learning component?
Technology: How will technology be implemented to enhance the Project by:
• Communication Collaborating with other students/educators via technology
• Information sources, information sharing
• Creating, producing, presenting (Website, documents, etc)
Community Partnerships/Resources:
• Which Community Partners can help you with your project?
• In what ways will Community Partnerships model good citizenship/leadership?
• What resources do you need to see the project through to completion?
• Will project related class trips be taken?
Project Timeline:
• Overall length of time
• Time per week
• Weekly Schedule
Project Activities:
• Planned to achieve overall project objectives.
• Connected to grade appropriate curricular objectives in at least 2 subject areas.
• Engage students to take ownership of their educational processes
• Are the activities FUN?
Benchmarks:
• Set clear time referenced deadlines for each task and/or product.
• Should be scaffolded to build on previously achieved objectives towards success of the project.
• Help build the guidelines in which the project can take place
Reflection/Journals:
• Student journals will offer students the opportunity to continuously reflect and assess their progress toward completion of the project.
• Teachers can use student journals as valuable assessment tools.
• Offer students the opportunity to learn from the strategies that did and, perhaps more importantly, did not work to achieve project objectives.
Assessment:
• Will student be assessed throughout the project cycle or on a final project? Formative/Summative
• An effective assessment program uses multiple strategies to demonstrate growth and performance, and should be closely correlated to your stated goals.
• How are rubrics used as an effective assessment and evaluation tool?
Reporting Out:
• Students will report out to peers, school staff, and the larger community:
• How they addressed their driving question.
• What they learned.
• Their final project products.
Celebration:
How students will be celebrated and recognized for their important work at a Reporting Out Celebration!
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