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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.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) seeks to produce learners who not only remember the theory, they know how and when to apply it. However, providing a problem to a group of students is not a guarantee that they will be able to solve it. Even more uncertain is whether the solution the students offer and the journey they undertook to arrive at it resulted in them learning the intended underlying concepts and theories. As students become increasingly time poor, they are less inclined towards a learning approach which requires them to be self-directed and motivated. This paper reports on a learning design which seeks to scaffold and accelerate the PBL process by providing a balance of facts and concepts to be remembered and tested via an online quiz, followed by an activity-based tutorial session that focussed on the application of those concepts to new problems in conjunction with the use of resource material and memory aids

Thanks!. Is very intersting.

When students are engaged in learning science or math which is personal to them (real world problem solving), they become more engaged in the learning process. Project based learning situations in science and math increase opportunity for students to internalize and make connections.

Project based learning using all or any of the three online resources offers a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges.