Project-Based Learning is Returning!

We are seeing signs – like the first robin we see after a long winter, or the first crocus popping its head up through the snow – of a return to Spring, a return to life, in education.

Unfortunately, standardized testing mania has paralyzed teaching and learning. Like "the Blob"it has eaten schools alive.  Like Godzilla terrifying humans, it has terrorized million of educators, parents and worst of all - students.
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Image from filming of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, 2000.

NCLB was signed into law in the United States  in 2002, which started an increasingly ominous impact on education as schools began their transformation from "places of learning" to "test prep centers".  ​
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​It began with reducing or eliminating music, art and physical education;  then cutting recess, then a reduction of time devoted to social studies and science.  In short, all that mattered were test scores for reading, writing and math.  To my horror, I read about districts that were canceling nap time for kindergarten children so that they would have more time to "hit the books".
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Out went interdisciplinary and integrated curriculum, project-based learning, service learning,  in short - anything and everything that was relevant to helping students become as prepared as possible for success in the 21st century or that served the purpose of enabling students to become fully actualized as individuals.

In the recent few months we have begun to see a glimmer of recognition, an acknowledgement of what it means to provide meaningful curriculum and instruction.  After a prolonged hiatus, project-based learning is once again on the radar, if only barely.
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​Like Rip Van Winkle waking up after years of slumber, a few schools, and hopefully, many more very soon, are once again coming back to their senses, realizing that teachers and students are humans, not machines.  A slow recognition and remembrance of things such as child development, learning theory and the need for creativity, inquisitiveness and the joy of teaching and learning will emerge once again.  And this time it will be burgeoned by the amazing resources and opportunities available to education as we approach the end of the first major milestone of the 21st century - almost 20 years in, and still floundering.  
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There is light at the end of the tunnel; and this time maybe it's not the headlight of the oncoming NCLB train!

Very gradually, educators at all levels, from the classroom teacher to the superintendent, are reaching out, seeking alternatives and asking for help.  They are taking a look again at project-based learning (if they are old enough to remember it), or perhaps exploring it for the first time.  It has  a ring of truth, humanity and a feeling of being "right" for kids and teachers.
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Many are struggling to completely throw off the shackles of Standardized Testing Mania, and to seek out what is real when it comes to education.  It is not easy to do, but at least they are trying!
Now we are seeing signs – like the first robin we see after a long winter, or the first crocus popping its head up through the snow – of a return to Spring, a return to life, in education. 

The robin, the crocus and PBL are returning!

Learn about PBL21 - the next step in the evolution of project-based learning!

Here are some ideas and resources for relevant, rigorous and real-world project-based learning.  The first few are examples of how you can find all sorts of amazing, incredible ideas and resources for project-based learning - just by pausing and looking around!

1. A Wealth of Curriculum Resources - from Mexico City to Your Own Back Yard - for classrooms around the world, not just in Mexico.
2. From Science Fiction to Science Fact:  a PBL21 Curriculum
3. STEM/STEAM Curriculum Ideas Are All Around Us!

Here are some suggestions on how you can take any topic:  from an item to an article in a journal or newspaper, to a piece of literature (poem, short story, novel), media production (tv show, film, advertisement, a song), an event, an issue . . . and develop it into a high level, interdisciplinary, integrated curriculum that is project-based, and teach above and beyond the standards:  Serendipity in Curriculum Design 

On this web site you can find ideas for PBL, along with suggested ideas and resources are a variety of themes - from Candy to Cowboy Day, from Civil Rights to the Zombie Apocalypse to American history topics (the American Revolution, Constitution Day . . .), "Green Themes" and STEAM themes. . . you and your students do not have to suffer through mind-numbing worksheets and textbooks when you have the whole world at your fingertips!
See the 21st Century Schools web site for more.

[1]  Wagner, Tony and Ted Dintersmith.  Most Likely to Succeed – Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era, Scribner, New York, NY, 2015. P. 214-215

See more ideas for curriculum and classroom management here.