Why Project-Based Learning?
Classrooms that embrace project-based learning help students thrive in a 21st-century world by building essential skills like collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Unlike traditional classroom learning, project-based education develops the critical thinking skills that are important in today’s society.
WHAT IS PROJECT-BASED LEARNING?
Project-based learning (PBL) is far from a new concept. Pioneer educator Dr. Maria Montessori was using similar methods in Italy as far back as 1907, when she taught a classroom of disadvantaged and previously unschooled children how to absorb knowledge from their environment. Montessori’s students made remarkable progress because she actively engaged them in the learning process — making education hands-on, relevant, and exciting.
Today, project-based learning is widely recognized as an effective approach for students of all ages. In the project-based classroom, students work together in teams to find solutions and accomplish goals. They search for answers to questions that matter, while learning core objectives in the process.
Students involved in this type of learning are searching for answers to pre-determined outcomes. Examples could include:
- How can we keep our classroom neater?
- How can we make our cafeteria meals healthier?
How can we help a local charity reach a specific goal?
The problems introduced in project-based learning help children understand real-world impact. For instance, when working on a project that involves finding solutions for a cleaner classroom, children might brainstorm ideas such as adding different-sized bins for small, medium and large supplies, assigning students to take turns sweeping up play areas or emptying trash cans, and having designated receptacles for pencils, markers and crayons. As a result of the project, students would implement their changes, test their theories, study the outcome, and form conclusions.
Were the changes effective? Do any adjustments need to be made? Could there be further improvements?
It’s this type of real-world practice in collaboration and problem-solving that project-based learning aims to nurture. Along the way, students learn teamwork, effective communication, critical thinking to solve problems.
There are many things project-based learning is and isn’t. PBL is not memorization-based education. Teachers don’t relay facts and require students to memorize them for a test. It’s not handouts given at the start of a class and filled in with answers as the information is covered. While these activities can be part of PBL, they no longer make up the majority of study. At Mi Casita, children learn to work together — whether they’re building, problem-solving, or creating. Through teamwork and play, they practice listening, sharing ideas, and reaching goals as a group—building social skills and confidence along the way. Socialization and communication are required for everyone to succeed, much as they are in the real world.
WHAT PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ISN'T
GOALS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
The focus of this learning model is the formation of critical thinking skills. As students participate, they develop the abilities to problem-solve, communicate effectively, collaborate, innovate, and to stretch the limits of their creativity. They gain confidence in their ability to find solutions and meet new challenges. In doing so, they also play a role in their social and academic success.
PBL teaches students how to take command of their own learning by moving them along, step-by-step, toward predetermined outcomes. Because of this, students are more motivated, more curious and more invested in finding solutions.
In a true project-based learning classroom, the teacher becomes more of a facilitator. They may introduce the topic and then help students decide which questions they would like to answer. The teacher may give examples of ways to achieve goals. Afterward, he or she takes a back seat to allow children to forge the way.
Shifting away from the traditional teacher-student dynamic is necessary for project-based learning to succeed. In PBL, teachers play widely different roles than they do in traditional classroom education:
They must be more of a supporter and less of a leader.
They must have empathy.
They actively inspire curiosity, creativity, and confidence in their students.
They must find ways to encourage thinking, development, and growth.
They must introduce workable questions and allow students adequate time to resolve them.
Teachers must also know how to guide projects along to keep them moving toward conclusion, and they must ensure that core concepts are being learned as part of the PBL activities. Core concepts at preschool involves goals such as socialization skills, emotional control, cognitive and motor development, and language and literacy skills.
ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN THE PBL CLASSROOM
THE COMPONENTS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
In completing a PBL unit, even early learners use multiple skills, including:
Conducting Research
Forming Analysis
Investigating Possibilities
Exploring Solutions
Creating Outcomes
Along the way, they’re strengthening their abilities to question and to speculate, to make informed conclusions, and to predict outcomes. It’s a scientific approach to 21st-century learning that will benefit children for the rest of their lives and help them to compete and succeed in a rapidly expanding world.
Dr. Maria Montessori was an early pioneer of project-based learning, but so was Jean Piaget, whose Theory of Cognitive Development helped influence the science of developmental psychology. According to Piaget, children learn by playing active roles in their own learning process. They experiment, make observations and draw conclusions – all of which are fundamental elements of project-based learning. Piaget published his theory in 1936, laying a foundation that continues to guide how educators understand and support early learning today. Today, we know that most early learners between the ages of two and seven are in their pre-operational stage of learning. This means several things:
They’re just beginning to think about things symbolically.
They’re beginning to recognize letters and numbers, and they can identify objects from words and pictures.
They’re egocentric and have trouble viewing a situation from the perspective of someone else.
They still think about things in concrete terms.
Children in the pre-operational stage develop strong pretend play skills.
Teachers in a project-based preschool classroom must understand these stages and design developmentally appropriate projects that engage children’s natural strengths. In this way, early learners gain the foundational ground they need to become skilled critical thinkers.
