Project-based learning is not just a fun “hands-on” activity tacked on to the end of a unit.

PBL is the driver of the learning. It is real work, with a real need, for a real audience. The emphasis on the word “real” is intentional as all of our students at all levels desire and require a deep level of engagement that is relevant to them.

HOW ACS EDUCATES

There are many ways to educate students, but we believe one of the most effective ways is through project-based learning. Our teachers use PBL to engage students, make their learning relevant, and prepare them for the real world. If you’re new to the concept of PBL, continue reading for a crash course on what it entails!

8 KEY ELEMENTS OF PBL

1. Focus on Significant Content

At its core, PBL projects are focused on teaching students important knowledge and skills, based on key concepts at the heart of academic subjects.

2. Develop 21st Century Competencies

Students build competencies valuable for today’s world, such as critical thinking/problem solving, collaboration, communication, and creativity/innovation.

3. Organize Tasks Around a Driving Question

Project work is focused by an open-ended question that students understand and find intriguing, which captures their task or frames their exploration.

4. Engage Students in In-Depth Inquiry

Students are engaged in a rigorous, extended process of asking questions, using resources, and developing answers.

5. Establish a Need to Know

Students see the need to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills in order to answer the Driving Question and create project products.

6. Encourage Voice and Choice

Students are allowed to make some choices about the products to be created, how they work, and how they use their time, guided by the teacher.

7. Incorporate Critique and Revision

The project includes processes for students to give and receive feedback on the quality of their work, leading them to make revisions and conduct further inquiry.

8. Include a Public Audience

Students present their work to other people, beyond their classmates and teacher.

WHAT IS PBL?

By Julius Siebenga, ACS Executive Director


Project-based learning (PBL) is a term that has become popularized by those in education who have deliberately transitioned the way we teach and learn to one that is predominantly focused on students’ experience of their learning. It is more than just a fun “hands-on” activity tacked on to the end of a unit.
It is the driver of the learning.

As one teacher put it, “Project-based learning is the closest we’ve come to understanding God’s intent for teaching and learning.” Put another way, PBL is real work, with a real need, for a real audience. The emphasis on the word “real” is intentional as all of our students at all levels desire and require a deep level of engagement that is relevant to them.

What does project-based learning look like? Perhaps the following list encapsulates what one might observe from a school that is effectively beating the “PBL drum” in a Christian setting:

  • Students are busy. Projects are going on everywhere. Things are happening and the vitality is contagious!
  • There is a clear and distinctive sense that students love their school. They are proud of it and love showing it off.
  • Discipline problems are limited because students are deeply engaged.
  • Due to an emphasis on projects, kids (of all ages) speak well both privately and publicly. They are articulate and not anxious.
  • Students and staff share a special bond. Kids love their teachers and rely on them as mentors and Christian role models.
  • In general, the school does not dwell on why they can’t do certain things. They find ways to do what they want to do…there is a “can do” attitude.
  • They embrace change. They are willing to try things and if it doesn’t work they make suitable adjustments. They don’t regard new ways of doing things with suspicion.
  • Problem solving carries the day…
  • Students are viewed as producers not consumers—and they start to view the world in this way—“What can I give to the world?” as opposed to “What I can get from the world?”
  • Most projects are integrated through many disciplines.
  • Most projects go beyond the student and have a social justice component.
  • 21st Century skills are applied everywhere—and technology is extraordinarily evident.
  • Students have a voice (in age appropriate ways).
  • There are student presentations happening all over.
  • Student collaboration is the norm, yet there is room for quiet yet bold independence.
  • Teachers have very high standards of performance. Students are expected to do excellent work and are sent back to the “drawing board” with help, constructive criticism, and more time until they produce their best work.
  • Teachers are expected to collaborate regularly for project planning. Teachers do not go by themselves to plan.
  • There is a high expectation of staff professional development in this area.
  • There is less “sage on the stage” from teachers…it looks more like “the guide on the side.” Teachers have become facilitators as opposed to lecturers.
  • Stewardship and creation care are highly valued as well as service and social justice.
  • Students are better prepared for university and for real life upon graduation.

Is this us—are we this school? We certainly want to be. At ACS, we definitely believe that this is the most faithful approach to meeting our mission of engaging minds, nurturing hearts, and shaping God’s world.