Project-Based Learning That Makes a Difference

Project-based learning is widely seen as a teaching method that promotes student agency—and student agency is associated with words like choice, ownership, and autonomy. While choice and autonomy are part of project-based learning, this approach also often involves students working together, collaborating to solve a problem or create positive change. And student groups don't do it alone: Teacher guidance is needed to instill in students the skills and confidence to undertake significant projects.

Not Just Following a Passion, But Making a Difference

PBLWorks/Buck Institute for Education, the organization we work with, has long championed project-based learning (PBL), which we define as a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge. There's a stereotype that project-based learning (PBL) always means students are each investigating a topic or creating something purely of their own choice, working on a "passion project," either during classroom time or during some kind of "genius hour." Projects carried out by individual students can have a valuable place in a school's program. But individualized passion projects are only one type of PBL. They often reflect a limited view of what student agency means. Agency is not just about making a choice, it's about making a difference. And it's often about working with others to make positive change in the broader community. A definition of student agency put forth by thought leader Tom Vander Ark in a blog post (2015) better captures the kind of agency we at PBLWorks promote when we work with teachers to design and implement high-quality projects: