THE HISTORY OF PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Dewey wrote a book in 1897 called “My Pedagogical Creed,” which outlined the
concept of “learning by doing.” While many teachers embrace Dewey’s writings as the true
birth of Project-Based Learning, a quick review of history shows things a bit differently.

By the time Dewey had written his book at the end of the nineteenth century, education had
already become standardized on many levels. For this reason, his concept of “learning by
doing” piqued the interest of schools that already had education plans in place that relied
heavily on book learning.

All of that said, “learning by doing” is a concept that dates back to… well, no one really
knows. Why? Because as humans, the concept of learning by “doing” is innate and intuitive.

Think back to your days as a child. Your perceptions of the world around you were formed
by your five senses. When you accidentally placed your hand on a hot stove, your finger
burned. You learned the hard way that a hot stove will cause burns. In essence, you learned
by doing… and you remembered your lesson well. A parent probably told you not to put your
hand on the stove at one point, but the lesson was hard to remember until you learned it
firsthand.

Even the cavemen learned everything by simply doing. Hunting and gathering methods were
based on trial and error… and in those days, it was a matter of survival.

“Learning by doing” hasn’t always been a matter of survival, however. The human race has
leveraged “learning by doing” for thousands of years in all manners of ways.  From the 8th to
the 5th centuries BC, the Ancient Chinese created many iterations of walls made from
rammed earth before settling on a brick and mortar design that would build the greatest wall
in history. In the 1500s, Galileo observed and tracked the retrograde action of the planets in
the sky and drew the conclusion that the Earth was not the center of the universe. In 1664, Sir
Isaac Newton watched an apple fall from a tree and began to formulate theories about the
force called gravity based on his scientific observations.

It’s no coincidence that most great discoveries in history were a result of “learning by doing”.
The bottom line is that the information contained in books is information that has been
uncovered by another person from another time, whereas “learning by doing” is associated
with discovery and innovation.

So what bearing does this long history of “learning by doing” have on modern day Project-
Based Learning?

When it comes to learning in the classroom, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to teachers that
Project-Based Learning works well.  By implementing this learning technique, teachers are in
essence reenacting the discovery phase of learning. Students are presented with a problem
and they are given the tools they need to find the solution through collaboration. Instead of
simply reading and accepting a concept, they are instead rediscovering it for themselves. As
human beings, we seem to learn best by discovering things for ourselves.

In short, Dewey did not create the concept of Project-Based Learning… he merely helped put
the concept of “learning by doing” back on the radars of educators all over the world. Now,
more than a century later, Project-Based Learning is being used in classrooms across the
globe. If you would like to learn more Project-Based Learning, get in touch with the team at
StratoStar. We can help you implement Project-Based Learning in your classroom.