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This article from Edutopia, written by Monica Burns, shares the value of having an authentic audience with project- based learning. An authentic audience gives purpose to the work by placing it in the real world with real people interacting with their creations. Different audiences can be selected based on the content and the goal of the learning. Audiences can vary from students in the school, other schools, or members of the community.

Love this! My PBL unit for EdTech 542 is headed in this very direction!

This article by Melinda Kolk, supports the same argument about the value an authentic audience can have on learning as the Monica Burns article. What I liked about Kolk's thinking that was different, was the idea of a flexible audience. Different groups may have different audiences based on the information and stakeholders the groups choose. Kolks also stressed the need for not just authentic audiences, but for authentic and real-world problems, which might influence who the audience is. The article suggests focusing on ideas that matter, work that matters, and effort that matters (Move from Projects to Project-Based Learning, 2022).

Tony Vincent's website with tips and examples of using PBL with handheld computers and devices. "Be inspired to bring project based learning into your classroom, learn strategies for creating effective driving questions, and see how an iOS handheld can play a role in the planning, research/investigation, and presentation of projects."

Three primers for project based learning: Crafting Questions That Drive Projects, Investigating Authentic Questions, and Creating Products to Show & Share Leanring.

This is a PBL designed for Kindergarten, but could be adapted for any elementary grade. It is a great launching pad for some really authentic learning!

The students will work in groups to create a Multimedia Presentation that informs an authentic audience as well as the class about civil rights figures, their speeches/quotes and how these leaders have impacted their life today. Each group will choose different civil rights leaders as their focus.

Here is another great resource I came across today featuring a list of prominent authors and illustrators on Twitter. If you are planning to make Twitter part of your professional development plans ( which I strongly recommend for you ) then you have all kinds of resources to start with.

More resouces for PBL

Project-Based Learning is the anchoring of student-driven learning through the design, development, and publication authentic projects, products, and related learning outcomes. It is a forward-way of thinking about how you can plan learning experiences for students while simultaneously centering them in the learning process itself.

Featuring collaborative projects, virtual field trips, educational games, and other interactive activities. - Some of these activities could be useful to create authentic, collaborative activities within PBL projects.

Great article about how PBL can be implemented into a kindergarten classroom. Younger students can benefit from PBL too.

This project involves local history and working with a local museum--which provides opportunity for authenticity (real world-research and a local context) and a public product.

This article from the Journal of STEM Education presents teachers (who don't normally experience what is like to work in fields outside of education) who took part in externships in STEM jobs so they could learn for themselves exactly the types of scenarios their students might encounter. The results drove authenticity in their PBL teaching. I think it's important for teachers to truly understand these demands, and not just read about them. If we provide these contextualized environments for our students because we believe it's best for their learning, why don't we work toward providing those same experiences for ourselves? Bowen, B., & Shume, T. (2018). Educators in Industry: An Exploratory Study to Determine how Teacher Externships Influence K-12 Classroom Practices. Journal of STEM Education, 19(1), 5-10.