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Here's a new Edutopia post where I use Tim Brown's strategies from his book, Change by Design, as guidelines for project-based learning. Feedback welcome.

Project Based Learning is an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the science or math classroom.

How to use PBL to design a Professional Learning day.

Art DIY Tech Electronics Gadget design make

At the core of FreshBrain is an open and free web site freshbrain.org that provides teens with the opportunity to explore, engage, and create through activities and projects. FreshBrain takes advantage of the latest technologies, such as web conferencing and social networking, to provide a very progressive environment where teens can complete activities and work together on projects. This experience is enhanced with Advisors, available to support and mentor teens who are working on projects, with the intention of increasing the likelihood of success. In addition, FreshBrain provides teens with tools and training in the latest technologies to complete these projects. Providing the latest tools in technology, and a social interactive networking environment, has enabled teens to explore, create, and share with others. A result of pulling these two key online arenas together into one solution has enabled FreshBrain to attract teens comfortable with technology and communicating online. Creations from FreshBrain users range from music videos to logo designs.

The Original online adventure games were text adventure games in which you were faced with puzzles and obstacles to overcome to complete your quest. They existed only on large corporate or academic mainframe computers in the 1970s. In the early 1980s these intriguing games became available to a much wider audience as classic adventures such as 'The Hobbit' fuelled sales of the first home computers such as the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair Spectrum. Since then online adventure games have evolved into multiuser games (generically known as MUDS) and are infinitely more challenging than the original adventure game designers could ever have dreamed. Many players share the same environment and adventure alongside you or compete against you as the whim takes them. The linear nature of the old adventure games has now mostly disappeared and the best of the new generation of online text adventure games are multi-dimensional in their game play and may be better described, perhaps, as interactive novels - often without end. A few highly commercial multiuser graphical adventures games are also now available, but they tend to lack depth and none are yet rated here.

This is a fantastic start page option for teachers and students. It has everything teachers want (widgets, privacy controls, booksmarks, calendar, RSS, mini blog(journal), notes, to-do, video, and more). The file upload is a big bonus. Students and teachers can personalize the designs and add/share tabs. You can make each tab public or private and grant specific privileges for the tools (widgets).invitIe students individually or bulk upload from a file.

Strategy Tutor is a web-based tool designed to support students (esp. middle school level) and teachers doing reading and research on the internet. Strategy Tutor helps students read, research, collect and understand information better and more efficiently. For teachers, Strategy Tutor provides a way to easily create web-based lessons embedded with research-based, highly effective learning strategy and vocabulary supports

The History Game Canada is a game based on Canadian history that lets anyone play the past. Based on the award-winning, best-seller Sid Meier's Civilization III, The History Game Canada is the "What If" game of Canada... and you're the author. Will you replay our history or rewrite it? History teachers and high-school students are our primary audience, but we think we've designed a game that will appeal to all ages, all Civilization players, and anyone with a passing interest in the history of North America and particularly Canada. You'll need a copy of Civilzation III Conquests (patched to version 1.22) or a copy of Civilization III Complete. (Canada pack is free)

Note: The model for Science Kit Writing Resource was designed by Chris DeCosta and a team of twenty-six K-6th grade teachers.\n\nEach section includes Prompts, Quick Writes, Word Wall

Thom Markham is a psychologist, educator, and president of Global Redesigns, an international consulting organization focused on project-based learning, social-emotional learning, youth development, and 21st-century school design.  He discusses the connection between Project-based learning and social and emotional learning.  

"I wrote a blog about one of the pitfalls of personalization for the ASCD Whole Child Blog. Specifically, that pitfall is the lack of engagement. With all the focus on personalization through time, pacing, and place, it can be easy to forget about the importance of engagement. No matter where students learn, when they learn, and the timing of the learning, engagement drives them to learn. When we factor all the pieces of personalization together, we can truly meet students where they are and set them on a path of learning that truly meets their needs and desires. Project-based learning can be an effective engagement framework to engage students in personalized learning."

"Well-designed project-based learning (PBL) has been shown to result in deeper learning and engaged, self-directed learners. Learn more about the five core elements of successful PBL. "

Project-based learning offers promise as an instructional method that affords authentic learning tasks grounded in the personal interests of learners. While previous research has presented results of learning gains, motivations and teacher experiences, still limited empirical research has presented the student perspective in project-based learning. This research sought to explore how learners created projects. Using a case study design and five purposively selected participants from eighth grade geography, five themes emerged: (1) internal influences, (2) external influences, (3) beliefs about projects, (4) tools for technology-rich environments, and (5) learning outcomes and products. The first four themes describe influences to shape the fifth theme, learning products. The term learning products was used to describe both the learning garnered by the participants and the learning artifacts the participants produced as part of the instructional unit. Implications for practice and future research are considered.

Prayer has become more meaningful, intentional, and personal for fourth graders at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, Massachusetts, thanks to Project Based Learning (PBL). The fourth graders created a siddur all their own that is now used by their fellow students in K-5 classes. Guided by questions about why people pray and the importance of the siddur, the fourth graders worked in groups based on their interests. One group was in charge of siddur design and layout, a second group focused on kavanah, a third group worked on the siddur's illustrations and graphics, and another group decided on the siddur's content and the order of the prayers. Students combed through a library of siddurim as research, interviewed people about what's important to include in a siddur, and reflected on their own prayer in the process. The project culminated in a dedication ceremony for the new siddur.

Project Based Learning has made a splash in the secular education world, and it can be a powerful tool for Jewish classrooms, too. In fact, project based learning can be a dynamic technique for teaching a wide range of Judaic topics, especially Jewish values. Why? Because we want students to live Jewish values, not just study them, and PBL is all about learning in the context of real life: Project based learning is hands-on, student-driven, and involves projects designed around real-world activities. Students build life skills while researching and tackling issues that are meaningful to them, resulting in learning that can be deeper and more lasting.

As most of you know, the uber gods of PBL are BIE. I was first introduced to the BIE PBL 'model' from mate Dean Groom who handed me over what I still refer to as my 'PBL Bible' - a ring-binder full of the BIE Freebies that help teachers plan effective projects and keep students on track as they move through the different phases of each project. The cool thing is that you can use as much or as little as you want … PBL is a very personal process that (like all good teaching) should be tailored to the expertise and needs of the teacher and students. However, there are 8 Elements of Project Based Learning that can be called the 'essential elements' of PBL … keeping an eye on these and 'testing' your project design based on them can help you determine if what you're creating isn't just a 'project'. I really like this statement from BIE contrasting PBL and traditional 'projects':

A typical unit with a "project" add-on begins by presenting students with knowledge and concepts and then, once gained, giving students the opportunity to apply them. Project Based Learning begins with the vision of an end product or presentation. This creates a context and reason to learn and understand the information and concepts.

PEEK (also called portable eye examination kit) says as 'Pocket Optician', is a tool that contains smartphone app and low-cost adaptor that allows professional eye tests anywhere in the world. This appreciation goes to London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine team of eye care specialists, software developers and product designers, who saved millions of poor people across the world from blindness.

We provide an inflammatory platform to burn and fire your knowledge in technical horizon.Our industry molding program will take you from theoretical simulation world into real life engineering designs, which will be a propellant to an engineering career.

We provide an inflammatory platform to burn and fire your knowledge in technical horizon.Our industry molding program will take you from theoretical simulation world into real life engineering designs, which will be a propellant to an engineering career.