First of a Series on Project-Based Learning
In hopes that your children or grandchildren will be doing school projects later this year, for the next few weeks I will devote this space to project-based learning and some ideas for projects.
Project-based learning has significant benefits. First of all, students become producers of knowledge, not mere consumers of information that others decree they must know. They own what they learn, and they reap the satisfaction of possessing expertise. Moreover, they develop (or sharpen) a skill the adult workplace values: the ability to work with others.
The best projects meet these five criteria:
1) The topic is of interest to whoever’s adopting it;
2) The issue is significant, not trivial;
3) The project follows ‘The Goldilocks Rule.’ Neither huge and grandiose (“Solving the Middle East crisis”) nor tiny and trivial (“Comparing the rate of growth of avocado pits under different conditions“). Instead, it’s “Just Right” so that students can get their CONTINUE READING: First of a Series on Project-Based Learning | The Merrow Report