If you’re looking to use project-based learning (PBL) in the classroom next term, a new research review offers some practical pointers for teachers.
The paper, by Durham University colleagues Dr. Dimitra Kokotsaki, Victoria Menzies and Dr. Andy Wiggins, also has six key recommendations for the successful adoption of a student-centred approach in mainstream schools. Writing in the journal Improving Schools, the academics explain PBL is an inquiry-based approach that can be used from early years through to higher education, where students learn by addressing a real-world challenge. They add that its uniqueness lies in the fact that students come up with an end product which represents their ‘new understandings, knowledge and attitudes …’.
Their literature review looked at studies from around the world exploring evidence of the effectiveness of PBL – including the use of concept maps in Hungarian Kindergartens, a primary school PBL program for low SES students in the United States and a STEM-based project involving female high school students in Taiwan.