Learning objective #1: Teachers will be able to select and/or write their learning standards or objectives for the project.

The first step to creating the PBL unit is to determine the learning goals you have for your students, specifically “learning-appropriate goals that lead to deep understanding” (Barron, 1998). While project-based learning can be very motivating for students because they can be fun, it’s critical for teachers to guide the project using clear learning objectives. 

(Common Core State Standards, 2019)

 All American teachers are familiar with learning standards such as the Common Core State Standards. Many teachers design lesson plans by listing the learning standards targeted during the lesson. Some schools have transitioned to using standards-based grading from traditional letter grades. In my experience at an independent school that uses standard-based grading, I used the Common Core as a framework and revised those standards to best suit my curriculum. 

Use the links below to explore the standards assigned to your grade level and subject area. If you are planning an interdisciplinary unit, read the standards for all of the subject areas included in the project. 

Comment below on Scholar: explain how you use standards in your curriculum planning, or discuss a standard that you find particularly challenging to teach.

Common Core State Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

Illinois State Board of Education Social and Emotional Learning Standards

World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages 

After familiarizing yourself with the learning standards, decide which standards your students will work toward mastering. Educational consultant Dayna Laur writes, “Ultimately, we need to start with our standards and our content. Creating a challenging investigation that is too broad might confuse students, while creating one that is too narrow will not allow us to meet our curricular goals” (Laur, 2013). Choosing the standards creates a focus for the project. Also, depending on your school's use of standards, you can also edit existing standards to best fit your students. Many of the standards are packed with skills that may need to be broken down or maybe you want to extend a standard to include interdisciplinary skills by merging it with another content area. 

Here is a website that provides helpful language for writing standards. 

Select or write the learning standards that the project will target. Consider the time you think the project will take to complete when choosing the standards.

Learning objective #2: Considering the learning standards, teachers will be able to write a driving question for the project.

After you have selected or created the project's learning objective, the next step is to write the project's driving question. By definition, a driving question “the heart of the project in clear, compelling language, which gives students a sense of purpose and challenge. The Question should be provocative, open-ended, complex, and linked to the core of what you want students to learn. It could be abstract (When is war justified?); concrete (Is our water safe to drink?); or focused on solving a problem (How can we improve this website so that more young people will use it?)” (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2012). It should also allow students to conduct a real inquiry which means the answer cannot be found in a textbook or website.

The video below shows a PBL unit from an 11th-grade pre-calculus class. Watch the video and then comment on the teacher's use of a driving question in the project. How does the project allow for real inquiry?

(PBLWorks, 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMNwh-hWWzQ&feature=emb_logo

Now you will write the driving question(s) for your students' project. 

Depending on your students, there are a few different ways to approach the driving question.

1. The teacher can create a driving question and introduce it by planning an entry event. An entry event could be a professional coming to class, a mystery taking place in the classroom, or a challenge posed by a community member (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2012).
2. Teachers can survey the students to find out which current events or issues are important to them. Then the teacher can create the question to address the students’ interests.
3. Teachers can work with other teachers in other content areas to generate a question that will lead to an interdisciplinary project.

Below is a framework for writing a driving question and examples of how driving questions can be interdisciplinary.

https://pbltoolkit.weebly.com/driving-question.html

https://pbltoolkit.weebly.com/driving-question.html

Write the driving question for your project. Share with your group from update 1, and discuss the connections between your learning standards and your driving question. Discuss whether your driving question allows for "real inquiry" (the outcome of the project is not pre-determined). 

Learning objective #3: Teachers will be able to outline lessons and activities for their students to develop 21st-century skills, especially the ability to collaborate with a group.

The next step in designing the project is to take a step back and consider the 21st century skills necessary to be successful. Shifting to PBL from direct instruction can be very difficult for students because they may not have the technology, collaboration, or communication skills needed. This because “learning the game of school has become second nature to many” and “we can’t expect our students to innately know how to think critically in the classroom without providing them with support” (Laur, 2013).

If you are not familiar with the term “21st Century Skills,” the video below gives an overview of what they are and why they matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixRBjEW_sFs

After watching the video, comment below on which 21st-century skills you have noticed your students using in the classroom, and which skills you would like to help them develop. 

Now you will create a table of 21st-century skills that your students will demonstrate while completing the project. On the table, describe the expectation for each skill (what it looks like vs. what it doesn't look like). Then, generate activities that the class can complete before starting the PBL unit in order to develop those skills. 

Be sure to consider the different levels of critical thinking that your students will use while working on the project. Review the table below which outlines the levels your class will probably need to use to address the driving question.

(Laur, 2012)

As you outline the different elements of your unit, organize the information in one document. So far, you should have your learning standards, driving question, and now 21st-century skills with pre-project activities that will help develop these skills before working on the project.

Learning objective #4: Teachers will be able to create a list of authentic audiences for their students’ projects and communicate with appropriate entities.

Now that the learning objectives, driving question, and 21st-century skills for the project have been outlined, you can start planning for an appropriate authentic audience for the project. An authentic audience is a community or career connection that allows students to share their work with individuals outside the classroom. Authentic audiences can be on the school, community, national, or global level, but it's advisable to start at the school or community level until you are comfortable with the process (Laur, 2012). For example, my first experience with an authentic audience outside the immediate school community was the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. My students submitted their short films to the festival, and then several students and their families attended along with a 300-person audience. 

It is important to consider the driving question when planning an authentic audience. Your driving question should directly link to your audience. For example, if your driving question is "How can we reduce the number of traffic incidents in our county?" then the audience would be at the community level (the mayor or traffic committee). On the other hand, if your driving question is "How can we create a plan for U.S. involvement to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians?" then the audience would be on a national or global level (Laur, 2013). It's okay to revise your driving question in order to better align with an appropriate authentic audience. 

Watch the video below. Then comment below: How did the project use an authentic audience? Did the audience align with the driving question?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O8eCdkg0vE&feature=youtu.be

Now, list potential authentic audiences for your students' projects. Consider experts in the community, online activism, and even contests. 

Here are some websites to give you ideas of ways to connect your class to the global community:

Real World Design Challenge

NPR Student Podcast Challenge

Fantasy SCOTUS

Kids Making a Difference

Innocentive Challenge Center

Add the authentic audience to your document. Include the contact information or website of what will need to be coordinated. 

Learning objective #5: Teachers will be able to design an assessment and reflection cycle for their students.

Students will work toward sharing their work with an authentic audience, which serves as a culminating event, not a final assessment. In order for the projects to be successful, students must have "frequent opportunities for formative self-assessment and revision" (Barron, 1998). As you move forward with designing the unit, it's critical to include assessment and reflection structures so that formative assessment and student reflection happens regularly. 

Examples of formative assessment tools (Laur, 2012): 

• Daily journal entries
• Fishbowl discussion
• Socratic seminar
• Recorded discussions (audio or online)
• Individual meetings
• Team meetings

Another useful tool is the app Flipgrid. Flipgrid allows for classrooms to create video discussion boards. Students and film and upload short video reflections on their learning. 

Comment below and describe formative assessment tools you currently use in your classroom. What tools do you think will work well for your upcoming project?

Decide on which formative assessment tools you will use and create a rubric to share with students that outlines expectations for their reflections. Below is a sample journal entry rubric. 

(Laur, 2012)

Create a plan for your formative assessment and student reflection during the project. Include the frequency that each reflection or assessment will occur. For example, during one week of class, students will have one team meeting with the teacher during class for feedback on their project, and each student submits a video relfection at the end of the week. 

Learning objective #6: Teachers will be able to share and build partnerships with other teachers in their school communities and beyond.

The final step to ensuring your PBL unit is successful is to share your work with others. Just as your students are motivated and inspired by an authentic audience, teachers are too. Similarly, you can choose to share your work with a small community or a global audience. 

If you want to share your work within your school community, reach out to a teacher or administrator who you can regularly meet with to discuss the progress of your project. If you are a part of a team at your school, suggest discussing PBL and sharing your work during your meeting time. In my experience, the focus of teacher meetings is often student needs instead of curriculum, so I advise designating a specific time to only discuss curriculum such as PBL. 

Another way to share your work is through social media. This article lists the reasons why using social media is beneficial for teachers. You can decide what works best for you: maybe you want to connect with a teacher you met at a professional development conference, you can join a Facebook group that discusses PBL, or you can create a Twitter and use the hashtag #pbl to elicit feedback or ask questions. 

At the end of your project outline, add to your unit plan a goal for yourself regarding building partnerships to improve your teaching. 

Compile all your plans for the project into one document. It should include the following: 

1. Learning standards/objectives 
2. The driving question
3. 21st-century skills your students will need to be successful and a scoring guide/rubric
4. Potential authentic audiences and if possible, their contact information 
5. An assessment and reflection plan that includes the frequency of feedback and a scoring guide/rubric
6. A goal to connect with other teachers in person or online