How PBL Starter Kit Aligns with
BIEs New Model for Gold Standard
Project Based Learning
October 2015
In 2015, the Buck Institute for Education
developed a new model for high-quality Project
Based Learning that we call Gold Standard PBL.
Although published before the Gold Standards
release, PBL Starter Kit is far from outdated.
The basic concepts and processes for designing,
assessing, and managing projects described in
the book are still the same in the Gold Standard
PBL model. However, some terminology has
changed. This guide is intended to help readers
understand the parallels between the terms
used in the book and the new model.
To learn more about the Gold Standard PBL
model, see the three articles included in this
Older Model of PBL Gold Standard PBL Terminology
Terminology
Essential Elements Essential Project Design Elements
of PBL
Significant Content Key Knowledge & Understanding
21st Century Skills Success Skills
Driving Question Challenging Problem or Question
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document. These are also posted on the bie.org
website for downloading:
Essential Project Design Elements
Project Based Teaching Practices
Why We Changed the 8 Essential Elements
Essential Project Design Elements
The following table shows some key terms used
in our older model that appear in the book
explained in the Why We Changed the 8 Essential
Elements article and how you can translate
them into Gold Standard PBL terminology when
reading the book.
Where It Is Discussed in
PBL Starter Kit
Page 4:
Essential Elements of PBL
Page 30:
Developing an Idea for the Project
Page 31:
Places to Start the Wheels Turning
Pages 35-36:
Specifying Goals for Learning
Page 37:
21st Century Skills: More Than Text
Messaging While Driving
Page 48:
Assessing 21st Century Skills
Pages 31-33:
Places to Start the Wheels Turning
Pages 40-42:
Writing a Driving Question
continued
In-Depth Inquiry Sustained Inquiry Pages 50-53:
An Engaging Project Launch
Pages 81-86:
Creating a Culture of Inquiry and
Independence and Beginning the
Inquiry Process after the Entry Event
Discussed but Authenticity Page 31-34:
not named as an Places to Start the Wheels Turning
Essential Element Pages 33-36:
Selecting Culminating Products
Voice & Choice Student Voice & Choice This concept is reflected in many
sections of the book.
Critique & Revision Critique & Revision Pages 59-60:
Formative Assessment
Discussed but not Reflection Pages 101-112:
named as an Essential Chapter VI: Reflect and Perfect
Element
Public Audience Public Product Pages 54-56:
Presentations to an Audience
Pages 92-97:
Facilitating Presentations to an
Audience

Project Based Teaching Practices

Another component of our model for Gold
Standard PBL is Project Based Teaching Practices.
These practices describe what a teacher does
in the classroom to make PBL successful. As we
explained in the article below, some practices are
the same as those used in traditional instruction,
and some are different in a PBL environment.
The following table shows how each practice is
featured in the book.

Project Based Teaching Where It Is Discussed in PBL Starter Kit

Practice
Design & Plan The whole book is about designing and planning projects.
Align to Standards Page 31:
Places to Start the Wheels Turning
Pages 35-36:
Specifying Goals for Learning
Build the Culture Ideas about building a PBL culture are discussed at several points in the
book, and especially on:
Pages 67-72
If and How to Prepare Students for PBL
continued
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Build the Culture Pages 81-82:
continued Building a Culture of Inquiry and Independence
Pages 86-89:
Managing Group Collaboration
Manage Activities Pages 63-66:
A Project Calendar
Pages 67-72
If and How to Prepare Students for PBL
Pages 73-74:
How Students Will be Grouped
Pages 79-100:
Chapter V: Managing Your Project
Scaffold Student Scaffolding is discussed at several points in the book, and especially on:
Learning Pages 56-58:
Daily Teaching and Learning Tasks
Page 66:
Handouts and Other Materials
Pages 68-72:
Building Skills Before and During a Project
Assess Student Ideas about assessment are discussed at several points in the book, and
Learning especially on:
Pages 46-49:
Summative Assessment: Culminating Products
Pages 59-60:
Formative Assessment
Pages 60-62:
Rubrics
Pages 94-95:
Hat #2: Keen-Eyed, Sharp-Eared Assessor
Engage & Coach Ideas about engaging and coaching students are discussed at several points
in the book, and especially on:
Page 7:
The Role of the Teacher in PBL
Page 91:
Coaching the Inquiry Process
Pages 97-100:
Troubleshooting Common Problems
Pages 102-103:
Celebrating Success
Pages 104-105:
Facilitating Student Reflection About Learning

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Gold Standard PBL:
Essential Project Design Elements
Buck Institute for Education 2015
Its nice that Project Based Learning is becoming
popular, but popularity can bring problems.
Here at the Buck Institute for Education, were
concerned that the recent upsurge of interest in
PBL will lead to wide variation in the quality of
project design and classroom implementation.
If done well, PBL yields great results. But if PBL
is not done well, two problems are likely to arise.
First, we will see a lot of assignments and activities
that are labeled as projects but which are not
rigorous PBL, and student learning will suffer.
Or, we will see projects backfire on underprepared
teachers and result in wasted time, frustration,
and failure to understand the possibilities of
PBL. Then PBL runs the risk of becoming another
one of yesterdays educational fads vaguely
remembered and rarely practiced.
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To help teachers do PBL well, we created a
comprehensive, research-based model for PBL
a gold standard to help teachers, schools, and
organizations to measure, calibrate, and improve
their practice. This term is used in many industries
and fields to indicate the highest quality process
or product. Our conception of Gold Standard PBL
has three parts: 1) Student Learning Goals (in the
center of the diagram below) 2) Essential Project
Design Elements (shown in the red sections of the
diagram), and 3) Project Based Teaching Practices
(which we explain elsewhere).
Student Learning Goals
Student learning of academic content and skill
development are at the center of any well-designed
project. Like the lens of a camera, our diagram
puts the focus of PBL on preparing students for
successful school and life experiences.
Key Knowledge and Understanding
Gold Standard PBL teaches students the
important content standards, concepts, and in-
depth understandings that are fundamental to
school subject areas and academic disciplines.
In good projects, students learn how to apply
knowledge to the real world, and use it to solve
problems, answer complex questions, and create
high-quality products.
Key Success Skills
Content knowledge and conceptual under-
standing, by themselves, are not enough in
todays world. In school and college, in the
modern workplace, as citizens and in their lives
generally, people need to be able to think critically
and solve problems, work well with others, and
manage themselves effectively. We call these
kinds of competencies success skills. They are
also known as 21st Century Skills or College
and Career Readiness Skills.
Its important to note that success skills can only
be taught through the acquisition of content
knowledge and understanding. For example,
students dont learn critical thinking skills in the
abstract, isolated from subject matter; they gain
them by thinking critically about math, science,
history, English, career/tech subjects, and so on.
We recommend all projects include a focus on
these success skills: critical thinking/problem
solving, collaboration, and self-management.
Projects may also help build other skills, habits
of mind and work, and personal qualities (such
as perseverance or creativity), based on what
teachers, schools, parents and communities value,
but we believe the fundamental ability to think
critically, solve problems, work with others and
manage oneself and ones own work are crucial
stepping stones to future success.
Essential Project Design Elements
So what goes into a successful project? Based on
an extensive literature review and the distilled
experience of the many educators we have worked
with over the past fifteen years, we believe the
following Essential Project Design Elements
outline what is necessary for a successful project
that maximizes student learning and engagement.
Challenging Problem or Question
The heart of a project what it is about, if one
were to sum it up is a problem to investigate
and solve, or a question to explore and answer. It
could be concrete (the school needs to do a better
job of recycling waste) or abstract (deciding if
and when war is justified). An engaging problem
or question makes learning more meaningful for
students. They are not just gaining knowledge
to remember it; they are learning because they
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have a real need to know something, so they can
use this knowledge to solve a problem or answer
a question that matters to them. The problem
or question should challenge students without
being intimidating. When teachers design and
conduct a project, we suggest they (sometimes
with students) write the central problem or
question in the form of an open-ended, student-
friendly driving question that focuses their task,
like a thesis focuses an essay (e.g., How can we
improve our schools recycling system, so we can
reduce waste? or Should the U.S. have fought the
Vietnam War?).
Students are learning because
they have a real need to know
something, so they can use
this knowledge to solve a
problem or answer a question
that matters to them.
Sustained Inquiry
To inquire is to seek information or to investigate
its a more active, in-depth process than just
looking something up in a book or online. The
inquiry process takes time, which means a Gold
Standard project lasts more than a few days. In
PBL, inquiry is iterative; when confronted with
a challenging problem or question, students ask
questions, find resources to help answer them,
then ask deeper questions and the process
repeats until a satisfactory solution or answer
is developed. Projects can incorporate different
information sources, mixing the traditional idea
of research reading a book or searching a
website with more real-world, field-based
interviews with experts, service providers and
users. Students also might inquire into the needs
of the users of a product theyre creating in a
project, or the audience for a piece of writing or
multimedia.
Authenticity
When people say something is authentic, they
generally mean it is real or genuine, not fake. In
education, the concept has to do with how real-
world the learning or the task is. Authenticity
increases student motivation and learning. A
project can be authentic in several ways, often
in combination. It can have an authentic context,
such as when students solve problems like those
faced by people in the world outside of school
(e.g., entrepreneurs developing a business plan,
engineers designing a bridge, or advisors to the
President recommending policy). It can involve
the use of real-world processes, tasks and tools,
and quality standards, such as when students
plan an experimental investigation or use digital
editing software to produce videos approaching
professional quality. It can have a real impact on
others, such as when students address a need
in their school or community (e.g., designing
and building a school garden, improving a
community park, helping local immigrants) or
create something that will be used or experienced
by others. Finally, a project can have personal
authenticity when it speaks to students own
concerns, interests, cultures, identities, and issues
in their lives.
Reflection on the
content knowledge and
understanding gained helps
students solidify what they
have learned and think about
how it might apply elsewhere,
beyond the project.
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Student Voice & Choice
Having a say in a project creates a sense of
ownership in students; they care more about the
project and work harder. If students arent able to
use their judgment when solving a problem and
answering a driving question, the project just
feels like doing an exercise or following a set of
directions. Students can have input and (some)
control over many aspects of a project, from the
questions they generate, to the resources they will
use to find answers to their questions, to the tasks
and roles they will take on as team members, to
the products they will create. More advanced
students may go even further and select the topic
and nature of the project itself; they can write
their own driving question and decide how they
want to investigate it, demonstrate what they
have learned, and make their work public.
Reflection
John Dewey, whose ideas continue to inform
our thinking about PBL, wrote, We do not learn
from experience. We learn from reflecting on
experience. Throughout a project, students
and the teacher should reflect on what theyre
learning, how theyre learning, and why theyre
learning. Reflection can occur informally, as part
of classroom culture and dialogue, but should also
be an explicit part of project journals, scheduled
formative assessment, discussions at project
checkpoints, and public presentations of student
work. Reflection on the content knowledge and
understanding gained helps students solidify
what they have learned and think about how
it might apply elsewhere, beyond the project.
Reflection on success skill development helps
students internalize what the skills mean and set
goals for further growth. Reflection on the project
itself how it was designed and implemented
helps students decide how they might approach
their next project, and helps teachers improve the
quality of their PBL practice.
Critique & Revision
High quality student work is a hallmark of Gold
Standard PBL, and such quality is attained through
thoughtful critique and revision. Students should
be taught how to give and receive constructive
peer feedback that will improve project processes
and products, guided by rubrics, models, and
formal feedback/critique protocols. In addition to
peers and teachers, outside adults and experts can
also contribute to the critique process, bringing an
authentic, real-world point of view. This common-
sense acknowledgement of the importance of
making student work and student products better
is supported by research on the importance of
formative evaluation, which not only means
teachers giving feedback to students, but students
evaluating the results of their learning.
Public Product
There are three major reasons for creating a public
product in Gold Standard PBL and note that a
product can be a tangible thing, or it can be a
presentation of a solution to a problem or answer
to a driving question. First, like authenticity, a
public product adds greatly to PBLs motivating
power and encourages high-quality work. Think
of what often happens when students make
presentations to their classmates and teacher. The
stakes are not high, so they may slack off, not take
it seriously, and not care as much about the quality
of their work. But when students have to present
or display their work to an audience beyond the
classroom, the performance bar raises, since no
one wants to look bad in public. A certain degree of
anxiety can be a healthy motivator. But too much
anxiety can of course detract from performance
the trick is to find the sweet spot, not the sweat
spot so its important that students are well
prepared to make their work public.
Adapted from Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning: A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom
Instruction, by John Larmer, John Mergendoller, Suzie Boss (ASCD 2015).
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When students have to
present or display their work
to an audience beyond the
classroom, the performance
bar raises, since no one wants
to look bad in public.
Second, by creating a product, students make
what they have learned tangible and thus, when
shared publicly, discussible. Instead of only
being a private exchange between an individual
student and teacher, the social dimension of
learning becomes more important. This has an
impact on classroom and school culture, helping
create a learning community, where students
and teachers discuss what is being learned, how
it is learned, what are acceptable standards of
performance, and how student performance can
be made better.
Finally, making student work public is an effective
way to communicate with parents, community
members, and the wider world about what
PBL is and what it does for students. When a
classroom, school, or district opens itself up to
public scrutiny, the message is, Heres what our
students can do were about more than test
scores. Many PBL schools and districts reinforce
this message by repurposing the traditional open
house into an exhibition of project work, which
helps build understanding and support for PBL
among stakeholders. When the public sees what
high-quality products students can create, theyre
often surprised, and eager to see more.
Gold Standard PBL:
Project Based Teaching Practices
Buck Institute for Education 2015
Teachers who make Project Based Learning a regular
part of their teaching enjoy their new role, although
for some it might take time to adjust from traditional
practice. Its fun to get creative when designing
a project, instead of just using off the shelf
curriculum materials. Most teachers like working
collaboratively with their colleagues when planning
and implementing projects, and interacting with
other adults from the community or the wider world.
And PBL teachers find it rewarding to work closely
alongside students, tackling a real-world challenge or
exploring a meaningful question.
When transitioning to PBL, one of the biggest
hurdles for many teachers is the need to give up some
degree of control over the classroom, and trust in
their students. But even though they are more often
the guide on the side than the sage on the stage, celebration.
this most certainly does not mean that teachers dont
teach in a PBL classroom. Many traditional practices
remain, but are reframed in the context of a project.
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Design & Plan
Teachers create or adapt a project for their context
and students, and plan its implementation from
launch to culmination while allowing for some
degree of student voice and choice.
Align to Standards
Teachers use standards to plan the project and
make sure it addresses key knowledge and
understanding from subject areas to be included.
Build the Culture
Teachers explicitly and implicitly promote student
independence and growth, open-ended inquiry,
team spirit, and attention to quality.
Manage Activities
Teachers work with students to organize tasks
and schedules, set checkpoints and deadlines, find
and use resources, create products and make them
public.
Scaffold Student Learning
Teachers employ a variety of lessons, tools, and
instructional strategies to support all students in
reaching project goals.
Assess Student Learning
Teachers use formative and summative
assessments of knowledge, understanding, and
success skills, and include self and peer assessment
of team and individual work.
Engage & Coach
Teachers engage in learning and creating
alongside students, and identify when they need
skill-building, redirection, encouragement, and
Adapted from Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning:
A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction, by John
Larmer, John Mergendoller, Suzie Boss (ASCD 2015).
Why We Changed Our Model of the
8 Essential Elements of PBL
John Larmer and John Mergendoller
Buck Institute for Education, May 2015
Back in the daySeptember 2010 to be exact, but it
feels like long agothe Buck Institute for Education
(BIE) published an article entitled 7 Essentials
for Project-Based Learning in ASCDs Educational
Leadership magazine. Soon thereafter we added an
eighth element, Significant Content, to counter
stereotypes that PBL was not an effective method for
teaching standards-based knowledge, understanding,
and skillsand to remind teachers to design projects
with a clear focus on content standards. These 8
OLD MODEL for PBL:
Essential Elements of PBL became the framework for
our publications and PBL 101 workshop, which has
now been experienced by over 50,000 teachers. That
article, and the hexagonal graphic above, has been
widely circulated and cited over the past few years.
In 2014, however, we decided a revision was needed,
and developed a more comprehensive, research-
based model that we call Gold Standard PBL.
With PBLs growing popularity, we worried that if
too many teachers and schools jumped on the PBL
bandwagon without clear guidance and adequate
preparation, problems will crop up. A lot of practices
and curriculum materials labeled as PBL will not be
rigorous or even truly PBL, and yield disappointing
results. Some projects will really be only hands-on
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activities. Poorly designed and implemented projects
could frustrate students, disappoint teachers, and
damage PBLs reputation. PBL could become another
fad on the trash heap of failed efforts to transform
education. We believe a Gold Standard PBL model will
help ensure this does not happen, and we look forward
to seeing high-quality projects in all classrooms, in all
settings, for all students.
What we call the new model
In our new conception for Gold Standard PBL, we
have created two separate but related components
of the model: Essential Project Design Elements,
and Project Based Teaching Practices. We call them
the Essential Project Design Elements because thats
precisely what they arenot the elements of PBL
the instructional methodology, which is a much
broader topic than the design of a project itself. The
Project Based Teaching Practices expand on what it
means to implement PBL well, beyond designing the
project. You can read more about our new model in
another post, but as you can see in the diagram below,
while some of the familiar 8 Essential Elements
remain, others are gone. Lets explain where they
went and why.
Whats gone and what replaces it
n From Significant Content to Key Knowledge and
Understanding. To describe the student learning
goals that are the central focus of a project, we
think the word key still captures the idea that
what students learn should be significant, in terms
of state or local standards and whats important to
students, teachers, schools and districts. The term
knowledge and understanding means the same
thing as content but says it in more everyday
language, since we want to use as little edu-jargon
as possible for a broad audience.
 NEW MODEL for GOLD STANDARD PBL:
n From 21st Century Competencies to Success Skills.
Our older model separated this element from
contentalbeit with a dotted line, to indicate a
connectionbut we now combine the two into
one set of student learning goals. Recent standards
now explicitly include such competencies as
critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration,
and making presentations; they are to be taught
together with content, since students need to, say,
think critically about something, such as history,
science, math, literature and other text, and so on.
Furthermore, we think the term success skills
is more readily understood by all audiences, and
has less baggage, than our older language or other
terms such as college and career readiness skills.
n From Driving Question to Challenging Problem or
Question. Our new model defines the fundamental
element of a projectwhat it is about more
broadly as a challenging problem or question.
This may be expressed as a problem statement
in classrooms and schools where problem
based learning is the preferred style of PBL. In
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other settings, teachers may prefer to organize
projects around an essential question or design
challenge. Although we welcome multiple ways
to describe what a project is about, we continue
to suggest in our PBL workshops and project
design materials that teachers operationalize
the challenging problem or question by putting
it in the form of a student-friendly, open-ended
driving question to focus the project.
n From In-Depth Inquiry to Sustained Inquiry.
Inquiry is pretty much, by definition, not a
superficial process. So instead of depth, we decided
to emphasize the point that in PBL, inquiry
should take place over an extended period of time.
Students could, during a not-at-gold-standard
project, investigate a topic in depth but only on
one occasion. But by extending inquiry over several
occasions, students have enough time to engage
in an iterative process that involves questioning,
finding and evaluating sources of information,
posing new questions, and applying what has been
learned to the solution of a problem or creation of
a product.
n From Public Audience to Public Product. Its hugely
importantboth for motivational reasons and
to make learning visible and discussiblethat
students make their work public in a project. It
adds to a projects authenticity. But we dont want
to suggest that students always have to make a
formal presentation to an audience. There are
others ways to make work public; students can put
it online, display it on a wall, or provide a product
or service that is actually used by people in the real
world.
n Goodbye Need to Know. The fact that an engaging
project creates a genuine need to know in a
learner is one of the most powerful arguments
for PBL. As opposed to learning for the sake of a
test, grade, or approval from teachers and parents,
students in PBL are motivated to learn because
they want to successfully complete the project.
However, we think this term belongs in a Why
PBL? argument, not as a thing teachers design in
a project they way they would, say, an authentic
product or opportunities for student voice and
choice. This concept also was easily confused with
the need to know list used as a tool in a project.
Instead, our Gold Standard PBL model places a list
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of student-generated questions (which is initiated
by an entry event that launches a project) as part
of the sustained inquiry process. The list of
student questions could still be given the heading
What do we need to know? or it could be called
something else, such as a KWL (Know, Want to
Learn, Learned) chart.
Two new elementsand where to
learn more
Hello Authenticity and Reflection. BIEs Essential
Project Design Elements contain two new items, both
of which are familiar to those who know PBL. One is
authenticity, which has to do with how real-world
the project is. The other is reflection, which we have
previously coupled with revision but now stands
on its own; students should reflect on what theyre
learning, how theyre learning, and what they have
accomplished in a project.
To learn more about our model for Gold Standard PBL,
the research behind it, and how to implement PBL
across a school or district, see our new book, Setting
the Standard for Project Based Learning, published by
ASCD and available at bie.org/shop.