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Highlights from PBL Camp, including webinar archives at Edutopia and project-planning wiki. Projects connect in some way to Gulf disaster, and plans are available to join, borrow, adapt. Dig in!

Edutopia post about sticking with PBL, even when it's hard, with hat tip to Bianca's Blog.

In a growing number of schools, educators are echoing Papert's assertion that engaging students by starting with the concrete and solving hands-on, real-world problems is a great motivator. Ultimately, they say, such project-based learning that freely crosses disciplines provides an education superior to the traditional "algebra at age nine, Civil War at ten, Great Expectations at eleven" structure.

The school's approach to reengaging students in learning has an important twist: Downtown's curriculum is entirely project based. Its alternative format allows students to choose a thematic, integrated pathway of subjects each semester, find connections among these subjects in real-world settings, and, hopefully, discover their passions along the way.

Grade 9 math teacher is blogging about her team's collaborative project design. Good insights into working with colleagues, across disciplines, with technology, etc.

Questions abound about the inquiry-based teaching approach. Here are answers, from how to meet standards to how to keep control of the classroom.

PBL and blended learning prove to be two educational approaches worth combining.

The end of the school year provides educators with opportunities to reflect: blogger Bob Lenz used his time to create a working definition of project based learning.

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.  

Blogger Kenneth Olden shares the thinking and feeling behind a project-based learning unit that brings Homer's Iliad to life and increases student engagement. 

Telling our story is an essential part of our humanness. It allows us to feel part of the community that knows our story, and it fosters empathy for those that surround us. Story is a powerful force in shaping mental models, motivating and persuading others, and teaching the lessons of life. Telling story extends back to a time when oral history dominated the tools of communication. And now the flood of technology tools that allow for instant communication has spun us back into a golden age where story again dominates the media landscape.

t's no secret that curiosity makes learning more effective and enjoyable. Curious students not only ask questions, but also actively seek out the answers. Without curiosity, Sir Isaac Newton would have never formulated the laws of physics, Alexander Fleming probably wouldn't have discovered penicillin, and Marie Curie's pioneering research on radioactivity may not exist.

In 1968, two researchers conducted a fascinating study that proved the extent to which teacher expectations influence student performance. Positive expectations influence performance positively, and negative expectations influence performance negatively. In educational circles, this has been termed the Pygmalion Effect, or more colloquially, a self-fulfilling prophecy. What has always intrigued me about this study is specifically what the teachers did to communicate that they believed a certain set of students had "unusual potential for academic growth." The research isn't overly explicit about this, but it indicates that the teachers "may have paid closer attention to the students, and treated them differently in times of difficulty." This begs the following questions: Why can't teachers treat all of their students like this? How do we communicate to students whether we believe in them or not?

Students engage more passionately when trying to answer a question that interests them. Here are ten opening questions that have inspired this kind of learning

Good reflection by Andrew Miller