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“Project-based learning is a teaching technique that connects school learning with the students’ sense of life.”
I remember the first school project we did with a group of high school juniors in Argentina using Project-Based Learning (PBL). As soon as the citizenship course started, I invited them to get comfortable and asked them what worried them. What would they like to change? Thus, we started the project work beginning with the students’ interests. These included domestic violence, children living on the streets, poverty, and unemployment. In 2007, my students began to do more research on domestic violence, as one of their neighbors suffered physical and verbal abuse. I think they somehow wanted to avoid these kinds of situations.
During the course, students trained with specialists in issues related to domestic violence drafted a series of reports, met with non-governmental organizations, prepared documents, and presented a bill in the municipality. Subsequently, students carried out awareness campaigns on domestic violence, wrote essays, and invited their families to their project presentations. The students learned about human rights and implemented actions and mechanisms to fulfill their compliance. As active and responsible citizens, they intervened in their degree’s social actions prescribed in the curricular design framework.
“Students who experience project-based learning express interest in continuing to learn in this way, since they learn differently and at the same time enjoy it, mainly because they find meaning in being in school.”
Project-based learning is a didactic technique that connects learning with students’ lives meaningfully. Facing real problems, they take on challenges in school that have to do with what they are experiencing. So, the school provides them with the tools for life. The teacher plays a fundamental role by aligning the contents of the curricular design with the learning interests of the protagonists. Studies on PBL indicate that students become more engaged in the content they learn when working with this methodology (Pepe Menéndez, 2020).
Guide to implement PBL in class effectively
PBL is attractive to students because they connect with reality and the vitality of learning. As active protagonists of their learning, they make decisions and act on their acquired knowledge as a team with other students. So, what should be considered when implementing PBL? The first thing to know is what comprises PBL and how to apply it within your school’s context. Sharing ideas with your colleagues and working as a team is very useful to know who would join the project implementation in your classes. Likewise, it is essential to inform the school’s management or administrative team for their support and accompaniment, to connect with various organizations, promote safe learning spaces, and obtain advice along the way.
Below, I share some guidance to implement PBL in class:
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Identify a topic of common interest among the students. A recurring question is whether the teachers or students should choose the project topic. I usually consider both ways. I start from the interest of teachers at first because they know the curricular design or study program. They also need to connect with their desires to teach and awaken curiosity and enthusiasm to learn in their students, but always be clear that students are the ones who will guide and choose the topic in question.
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Define specific project objectives. When designing the project with the students, it is essential to set specific objectives and plan how to achieve them. Defining objectives helps to focus actions and efforts towards what we want to achieve. To do this, use the “SMART” method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely) to analyze the projects’ performance better.
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Work interdisciplinarily. Interdisciplinary work helps students find more profound meaning when learning different areas. Also, keep in mind that the selection of topics must be linked to the reality of the learners.
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Integrate other learning strategies with PBL. The teaching strategies of PBL are challenging for teachers. For that reason, I suggest using the flipped classroom methodology to take advantage of the exchange of ideas and the questions that arise after seeing some content outside the classroom. The accompaniment of the management team is crucial because it can strengthen the teacher’s work and offer an opportunity to improve learning. My colleagues have expressed how valuable it is when managers have confidence in them, value their experience, and support their innovative teaching.
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Work cooperatively with your colleagues. Cooperative work is a space for building knowledge with others. When implementing PBL, cooperation is critical as it enhances students’ skills and enriches heterogeneity in the classrooms. It also promotes the exchange of ideas and critical analysis. Complement the collaborative work with other teaching strategies such as games, where you get to motivate and excite the students, observing their achievements and successes differently.
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Plan and prepare the information your students may need in advance. To provide them with the appropriate information on time, prepare the materials in advance and anticipate the spaces and work modalities. PBL challenges the educational community to work on metacognition skills during the evaluations, which must be continuous and consensual to help students commit to this way of working. Do not forget to design and apply the feedback instruments at appropriate times.
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Prioritize a formative assessment. One way to check students’ learning is through rubrics or checklists with small daily goals, giving them the necessary time to achieve them. You can start by asking questions, providing a challenge, or exploring and researching the project.
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Please communicate with the students and their families about the project and learning objectives. I suggest creating a video for the families to see everything their sons and daughters will do and suggest how to help them if needed. The parents should know how the students will proceed and be evaluated. In PBL, the project must be very well structured and respond to the needs of the students who will set the pace. Feedback from the teacher should be continuous.
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Emphasize the process more than the final product. In PBL, the process must prevail over the final product. Some teachers want to show a perfect end product, ignoring that many students have fallen by the wayside. For that reason, teachers must continuously know where each student is in the learning points to help them achieve the proposed objectives.
Without a doubt, my experience as a student motivated me to teach differently, aiming to involve students in their learning from another perspective. Among students who have experienced PBL, we can observe the following achievements:
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They are strengthening their learning by connecting wit
h knowledge differently and innovatively. -
They work on several competencies in different subjects at the same time.
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They strengthen their capacities by learning to search for information using various technological supports.
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They exercise social skills by cooperating to live with others in society. The skills learned include empathy, emotional intelligence, attentive listening, assertiveness, and others.
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They improve oral expression by exposing their ideas through writing, and oral practices allow them to express themselves.
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They confront situations that they must solve, resulting in learning for life.
I always try to get my students to connect with knowledge and enjoy learning safely in my teaching work. In this effort, I perfected myself and internalized various flexible methodologies and new strategies, intending to teach differently.
Reflection
Students expressed interest in continuing learning under this methodology because they learn differently while simultaneously enjoying it. They find meaning in being in school. For their part, the students’ families express gratitude for the significant changes they have seen in their children learning under this methodology. They felt comfortable accompanying them in this process and belonging to the community that helped the students achieve by learning actively. They also commented that their very valuable and rich family dialogues strengthened the family bonds, and they valued the school space as the power plant of these exchanges.
I invite you to implement these recommendations to implement PBL in your classes. Now, it only remains to assemble the team and enjoy learning with your students. Do not forget to share your experiences through the Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education of Tecnologico de Monterrey.
About the Author
Ma Lorena Vaccher (lorenavaccher@gmail.com) is a lawyer and teacher at the high school and university level (UBA). She has a Masters in Education specializing in Educational Management (UDESA). She is Director of Eureka Educational Consultants and advisor and trainer of trainers in the Innovation and Leadership program of the Varkey Foundation. The author declares herself passionate about education and shares her talk with us at Motivating the teachers – The World of Ideas.
References
Josep “Pepe” Menéndez Cabrera: Mudanzas. Conversaciones educativas transformadoras (Changes: Transformative Educational Conversations) with guest Dr. Melina Furman https://youtu.be/YcfUyQ6hgPQ
Tiramontti Guillermina: El aprendizaje basado en proyectos ayuda a que los alumnos entiendan la realidad.” (Project-based learning helps students understand reality.)
Vaccher, M. (2019). Motivar a los docentes – El Mundo de las Ideas 2019. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWw9peTGsI8
Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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