Core Practices for Project-Based Learning

A Guide for Teachers and Leaders

Pam Grossman, Zachary Herrmann, Sarah Schneider Kavanagh, Christopher G. Pupik Dean

• Publisher: Harvard Education Press
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781682536445
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Core Practices for Project-Based Learning offers a framework and essential set of strategies for successfully implementing project-based learning (PBL) in the classroom. Centering on teaching practice, this work moves beyond project planning to focus on the complex instructional demands of the student-centered PBL approach.

Pam Grossman and her colleagues draw on their research with teachers, educational leaders, and curriculum designers to identify the instructional goals, practices, and mindsets that enable educators to effectively facilitate deep learning in PBL environments.

The authors first define the four primary teaching goals of the PBL model: supporting subject-area learning, engaging students in authentic work, encouraging student collaboration and agency, and building an iterative culture where students are always prototyping, reflecting, and trying again. Grossman and her coauthors then equip educators with ten key practices that serve these goals. These practices include methods to elicit higher-order thinking, to engage students in disciplinary and interdisciplinary practice, and mentor student decision making. The authors guide educators from a clear starting place through a series of concrete, manageable steps that apply whether they are initiating PBL or working to improve existing PBL implementation. Extended case studies illustrate the use of the core practices in real-world situations.

Core Practices for Project-Based Learning is an invaluable resource to help educators realize their instructional vision and create meaningful student experiences.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• One. Core Practices of Project-Based Learning
• Two. Keeping the Discipline in View: Practices That Cultivate Subject-Area Learning
• Three. Making It Authentic: Practices That Support Authentic Projects and Audiences
• Four. Learning to Collaborate: Practices That Build Student Agency in Learning Communities
• Five. Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!: Practices That Foster a Culture of Production, Feedback, Reflection, and Revision
• Six. Bringing It All Together: Practices in Action
• Seven. Working Together to Improve PBL Instruction
• Eight. Conclusion
• Appendixes
• Appendix B. Tools for Teachers
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Index