Why Project Based Learning?

The real "treasure" that educators seek comes from the effective use of technology to help students learn and perform better in the classroom. They seek to engage children in their learning experience and get them active, excited and involved every day.

Today, children aren't learning as they sit rigidly at their desks; they want to be engaged, interested and active. As we listen to our children, we hear them pleading to take learning beyond the four walls of a classroom, out into the real world where they can be actively engaged in authentic learning experiences relevant to life.

What our children are telling us is in complete agreement with research by experts in brain based learning. This research states that traditional instruction is at odds with how the brain learns, and that a typical classroom environment actually inhibits the brain from learning.

We remember:

• 10% of what we read
• 20% of what we hear
• 30% of what we see
• 50% of what we hear and see
• 70% of what we discuss with others
• 80% of what we experience by doing
• 95% of what we teach to others

Project-Based Learning is based on the simple belief that students of all ages learn better when they are active participants in what they are studying.

• The teacher is a facilitator in learning. (Helping rather than controlling)
• Learning tasks are authentic, challenging, and multidisciplinary. (Just like the 'real world.')
• Students participate in interactive modes of instruction. (Doing, exchanging ideas, working together)
• Students learn through exploration. (Freedom from structure)
• Students work collaboratively. (Learning from each other in the classroom or across the world)
• Assessments are based on students' performance of real tasks. (We are moving from theory to practice)

Recent advances in technology have shifted classroom learning from a passive mode to this new active, engaged model in which students are doers as well as thinkers.