Why Project-Based Learning?
Project-based learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working over extended periods of time to investigate authentic, engaging and complex questions and problems. PBL provides teachers with flexible educational possibilities for student learning with a high degree of rigor and engagement. All students have access to grade level standards and content. This course will address these challenges through professional discourse and reflective practice while you develop, execute, and reflect upon a PBL unit of study. Participants will create a project-based teaching product to be used in their classrooms during the 23-24 school year. See here for examples of units previously developed in this course. Teams of teachers are encouraged to take this course together to work toward this common goal.
Listen as instructor Sandy Lemon, of the Natick Public Schools, tells more about PBL and her experience using it in classrooms.
About the Instructor
Sandy Lemon has been in the classroom for 30 years, most recently embracing a new position at the district level as a Personalized Learning Coach. Over the past 15 years integrating technology, she has watched student engagement, excitement, and love of learning blossom through project-based classroom experiences. In addition to her coaching responsibilities, she teaches graduate courses on PBL and Student Agency. Integrating Design Thinking, PBL, and technology into classrooms k-12 have become a passion for her. She taught Grade 5 Language and Literacy and Social Studies for 14 years, Grade 6 Language and Literacy for four years, and was a Literacy Specialist (gr. 5-8) for five years. She has presented for the LearnLaunch MAPLE Consortium and MassCUE.